The Vibrant Floating market

It was drizzling when I left the hotel at 6.30 AM for the floating market. The surprising fact was that the roads in Bangkok were well maintained, inspite of the incessant rains. The rainy season is similar to that in Kerala which is attributed to the gutters of Kerala roads. Rains does the same things every where…if allowed they clog, roads lines with trees will have rain water dripping on to the tar roads….but only in kerala it uproots the metal and the tar delicately (miserly) laid by the government contractors.

There were three families in the mini bus; two from Dubai – a Swedish couple in their late 40s and a Lebanese family with a 10 year old girl and another family from Singapore with 2 kids. This group was the most reserved and cold. For me it was a solitary tour as I rarely interacted with them.

After 20 minutes of drive huge salt fields were seen spreading over a 10,000 hectares. The fields become active during Dec to May and when the rain arrives the workers migrate to other villages and cities in search of work. Since the ground is salty, people collect rain water in huge pots for domestic purpose.

Our first stop was at a Coconut factory and Orchid farm. At the factory coconut sugar was being produced. Coconut was dried and cooked in huge bronze vessels and the cooked juice was allowd to cool in small cups. Once cooled they were like jaggery cakes.

The Orchid farm had a wide variety of orchids and they had a nursey selling saplings….but sales were very few obviously due to the in-flight restrictions.

I bought a Buddha portrait from the stall and had a quick tea and set-off to the floating market. We reached the entry point of the canal which leads to the floating market. The group was split into two and along with the Lebanese family I boarded a small boat.

The water was murky black. I am told that the canal earlier was inhabited by crocodiles and poisonous sankes. With the advent of toruirns and plying of engine boats they soon vanished. The canal is also famous for being part of a Bond movie – Roger Moore had a boat chase in this very same canal.

The either sides of the canal offers the backwater life of Thailand. Houses erected on wooden platforms with their very own private jetty with a boat parked; it brought back visuals of Kerala and more so with the sights of mango tress, banana, shoe flower, tamarind, coconut and Bougainville lining either sides of the canal.

The driver slowed down whenever a chedi or a Buddha statues appeared in the vicinity – for us to capture it in our cameras. The 30 minute boat trip was refreshing apart from the sight of the murky waters – the cool breeze, fresh green air and the aroma of coconut oil being processed from a near by coconut factory.

Finally we reached the floating market - a huge shopping complex erected on a wooden platform selling almost everything including ‘batik’ paintings and pearls. The sides of the platform are lined with small boats packed with leather bags, Buddha memorabilia, mat products etc a cooking corner that dishes out freshly made thai food. I bought two banana leave trays of pan cakes for 20batt - they were the size of ‘Usha Utup’s bindhi - 16 0f them. They were oven hot and tasted so good…. full of coconut milk, rice powder and sweetened banana paste.

On our way back we had a stop at th ‘Royal Thai Hnadicraft Centre’. The intricate wooden carvings on huge slabs of wood were amazing. I met Anil Chander and family. What a small world!

i send an SMS to Amin - wishng Eid. Later he told me he had send an SMS which i never got.

I had lunch form the Italian restaurant at the hotel – ‘Da Vinci’. Red Mullet dressed with olives and tomatoe with grated cheese and an Italian herb soup. In the evening I visited the Paragon mall. An amazing mall with all the premium brands in attendance and the food court was swarmed with residents and tourists. I ended buying a few clothes and a leather office bag and later had deep fried pork balls. It was one of the spiciest dish I ever had for as long as I can remember. I swallowed 2 cups of coffee to douse the fire within – the mild throat infection got killed in the process.