Nonthaburi
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Actually on Friday night, I wasn't really sure where I would like to explore the next day. Flipping through my guide book, I decided that I will put off the Wat Pho where the institute of massage is for a later date. I heard from my colleague that it may cost us 200 baht (that's about RM20) an hour for the massage. But if you're a local (or can pass off as a local by speaking fluent Thai), you can get a rate of 250 baht for two hours! I hope to come to this place to experience some 'karate chops' on my back during the later phase of the project when things are stressful. Maybe I could get my Thai colleague to get a group rate. But that's just the plan and most of my plans never work!

Initially I have no interest at all in the massage. I wasn't really comfortable with the idea of wearing just a towel and letting someone else touch and pinch (whatever) your flesh (how about you?). But then I saw a picture in the guide book where a fully dressed lady being massaged. Must check out first...

I didn't want to visit other temples anymore. Same goes for museums and places that aren't too striking. I wanted something different... hopefully unpredictable. Nonthaburi seemed interesting - a small town 10 km from Bangkok, has a lively market, durians. There, one can take a boat ride through durian plantations and past riverside houses. Alternatively, there's also a river journey to Wat Chalerm Phrakiet - a 17th century fortress. This comes from the book. The picture of Nonthaburi pier looked inviting. So there... it wasn't a hard choice after all.

So, Saturday morning, I took the free shuttle van provided by the service apartment to Chong Non Si skytrain station again. It's a solo trip also because my other colleagues are either back in Malaysia or working on Saturdays. Anyway, I enjoy being on my own too so I was pretty much looking forward to it. I don't think this is about being brave. It's no choice - either that or stay at the apartment.

The route to Nonthaburi is the same as Grand Palace except that I had to go further on the express boat. Met another Japanese tourist guy on board the boat. He was heading to the Grand Palace. Aiyah... too bad I went already. I think I would have enjoyed his company as he was quite friendly.

The journey was about 1 hour. I didn't expect it to be that far away. This time I didn't feel too well on the boat which wobbled quite often when we stop at piers. The scenery was quite similar from the previous trip but with less and less tall buildings as we headed upstream. Saw some people fishing but I doubt that will be an easy task as the motorboats were so noisy.

I'm glad that the guide book had a picture of the pier or I would have missed stopping there. However, this time I didn't have a detailed map. It was back to walking aimlessly again. The town is just like any small town in Malaysia. I didn't see durians in abundance though. Not far away, side stalls mostly selling clothes were clearly visible and they actually led to the wet market. I really love wet markets - fresh vegetables and fruits are a delight, be it in Europe or in Asia. I walked from end to end except for the meat area. Somehow, the market at Sibu, Sarawak seemed more interesting with weird sea creatures for sale. But then again, I appreciate the fact that this place isn't commercialized yet. There aren't many tourists around. In fact I may be the only one here!

Didn't buy anything except for a drink and a packet of shrimp crackers with flossy pork (different type than the rice crackers). I walked back to the pier hoping to find some tour operators for the boat trips through the durian plantations or Wat Chalerm Phrakiet but there seemed to be none. There was a tourist info center booth but it looked deserted long ago. I decided to head home.

Chinatown
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I thought my Saturday adventure would just be Nonthaburi. That would be a disappointment. But I was in for surprise. One of my colleagues, Peter, decided to go to Chinatown for dinner at Yaowarat Road. It's a very popular eating place because many eating stalls especially seafood are gathered along the road. I went with Peter and another colleague, Chew by taxi.

Very distinct Chinese atmosphere. Billboards with Chinese characters, herbal shops, gold shops and restaurants. The people selling seafood act very much like those in the one of the Belgium streets which sells mussels and other seafood. They'll try to get you to their stalls.

We had barbacued prawns, barbacued cuttlefish, steamed fish in tin foil and kangkung. I can't take prawns but I enjoyed the other dishes especially the kangkung. But I don't think I wanna come here for food again. The way they cook are really cruel. Saw the crabs being cooked alive. It was gruesome.

Peter says he'd tried the shark fin restaurant around and would want to try again some day later. I'd wanted to tell him that for a person who certainly knows his way around and who knows a lot of other things as well, he could be so ignorant about animal's sufferings. (Not to say that I'm a good person either - I still take meat). But I dare not ... yet. It's already nice that he took us to Chinatown.

Patpong
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We walked around and sampled one type of popia. After that, Peter needed to go to the HSBC ATM to withdraw some money. The ATM was near Patpong area. What luck! Patpong is known as probably the world's most notorious red light district. Go-go bars, massage parlours. But in the middle, a market filled with stalls selling souvenirs, fake stuff - like our Petaling Street. Well I think the market gives us (the curious ones) an excuse to go to this place while having a peek at the go-go bars.

Well, what I did see in my short glances were girls dancing at first with just their underwears. Flourescent underwears. If you're a guy, you'll be pestered by the guys from the bars. They even say 'Come, come, free look, free look!'. When I walked back again to find Peter at the pub (no not the strip shows!), the girls had shiny stickers stuck to their private parts. I do not know whether if I were to walk back a bit later, I would see total nudity. Well, I didn't manage to find out as I was on the way back to the apartment. Chew did not follow us to Patpong as he had work to do. When Peter asked whether I wanted to go to this place, I jumped at the opportunity because I thought that this place was not safe and this was golden chance to be accompanied by a guy. According to my book, the place is actually quite safe because the tourist police monitors it. Yep, I saw them. But I didn't know about a bookshop in the centre of Patpong which is one of Southeast Asia's major outlets for books on feminism and exploitation. How ironic it should be situated here.

I didn't buy anything at Patpong as I feel that it was expensive. I tried to get those packet souvenir pens with the same price as Chatuchak market. The opening price was 150 baht when I actually bought it at 80 baht. The lady wouldn't sell it.

Damnernsaduak Floating Market
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I hadn't wanted to go for River Kwai because I wasn't very interested in seeing the bridge or the war cemetry. But I went ahead anyway because my other colleagues were going. It's actually packaged together with the Damnernsaduak floating market.

Our tour group was of 7 people - 5 of us, the tour guide and the driver. Our project manager, Manon, Tip, Peter, Chew and me. The package costs 1500 baht and includes lunch.

We had to gather at our lobby at 6.15am. At first we thought this was due to catching the floating market. But our first stop turned out to be a coconut farm. I can't believe it. I mean, as a Malaysian, it's really weird for me to visit a coconut farm as a tourist. I think Malaysia could give a more interesting tour because normally we include a monkey show of plucking coconuts.

We were shown how coconut milk was extracted using the scrape (I dunno what you call it), You know the spoon with sharp edges where you have to scrape the coconut flesh out. Then we were told about the coconut flower bud being cut to get the juice. The juice is cooked to get coconut sugar. We made another comparison again because Malaysian can also brew it to become tuak. Anyway, the rest of the tour was for us to walk around and patronize the souvenir shops.

Actually we wanted to go straight to the floating market. However, the tour guide says that it opens at 9am. This was not what my book says (the best time was from 7am to 9am).

The next stop was the Royal Thai Handicraft Center. The making of 'sa paper' was explained and shown. It's the white paper that looks like recycled paper. It's made from the mulberry bark which is soaked in water, then beaten until soft, soaked again in water to get the pulp which will be dried. The dried pulp will be in the form of sheets, thus, getting the sa paper.

There were also wood crafting demonstrations. Items at the center are still expensive though.

It was more than an half an hour when we reached the Damnernsaduak floating market from the handicraft center. To reach this place, we took a speedboat. When I was getting into the boat, someone said hello to me. When I turned... 'SNAP!'. Photo was taken. I do not know what happens to it because we were already leaving.

The speedboat has a shade and it's one person a seat. Our group of five was just nice for the speedboat. The motor was really noisy but I love the ride! It's along their canals and the wind was blowing like crazy. The journey passes by local houses by the river (canals?). Saw a lady wearing a sarong going into the river. Macam the movies. But I cannot believe how she would want to wash herself in the very yucky green and murky waters.

Actually we can also visit the floating market by road. But the speedboat is a must. That's how you can see life by the river for the Thai people.

At the floating market, we also had a choice on how we would like to explore the area - by the paddleboat or walking. Paddleboat is highly recommended as you experience and see more. The paddleboat costs 500 baht a trip. Our group number was also just nice. All of us fitted into exactly one boat. One person per seat again. I sat behind the rest.

It was a real sunny day and I was so glad to have brought my cap along. It was a highly enjoyable ride on the paddleboat. As we passed by other paddleboats which sells food, there was no doubt we would try it. All of us had the noodle soup on the boat - as I said, really enjoyable, holding a bowl in your hands and enjoying the food while on the paddleboat and sight-seeing at the same time too.

Later on we also had different kinds of kuih-muih plus a coconut drink - all on the boat. Like a feast. We were only interested in food. It was lovely except that there were a bit too many souvenir stalls along the bank. I had an expectation of a market with fresh produce like vegetables and fruits. There were, but not too many.

Kanchanaburi - JEATH war museum, war cemeteri, River Kwai bridge
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Next stop was Kanchanaburi Province where we had our lunch near a lake. It was the first time I saw some mountains and hills here. Lunch was simple - unfortunately no tom yam or the authentic Thai dishes.

Jeath War Museum - the facts (i don't have to struggle for words here - from the book)
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- replica of prisoner of war bamboo hut
- inside : various items especially photographs, paintings and newspaper articles of the construction of the Death Railway by PoW's and life at camp
- other items like pistols, knives, helmets, bombs.
- j = japan, e = england, a = america and australia, t = thailand and h = holland (also appropriate to depict 'death')
- cost the lives of more than 100,000 asian labourers and 12,000 allied PoWs.
- estimated 5 years to complete but the japanese forced the labourers to work and completed in 16 months.

Jeath War Museum - the story
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I had expected this place would be quick. Museums are normally boring except for a few interesting items. In addition this museum is only about the death railway so what could possibly interesting here? Boy, was I wrong.

I actually found myself very absorbed in reading all the nasty things the Japanese soldiers did (eg. hitting a prisoner's hands with a hammer and other stuffs that you don't want to hear about) and some of the articles of the construction of the railway. Especially liked to read those letters that were written by former prisoners of the camp. I think I almost shed a few tears. One that stood out was saying that he didn't mind the harrowing experience because it thought him to appreciate in living life. To be honest, at first I started to read the articles because I wanted to be 'in sync' with the others. They were all browsing very slowly - not like me - very eager to go off. I also read because I was afraid suddenly my project manager, Manon will share with me some stuff and I needed to 'impress' her. Ha ha.

Actually a lot of Asians died during the construction but the exhibits was mostly from Europeans or about Europeans.

All of us were quite taken in with the museum's exhibit. We took more than half an hour that was alloted by the tour guide. Guessed it surprised the guide because we always finished early in all the other places.

The War Cemetery
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The war cemetery was nothing I would expect from LM Montgomery's description of graveyards. There were just rows and rows of graves with pretty flowery shrubs. Tried to look for Malaysians buried here but the place were mostly for Europeans. It was a very, very hot day and we didn't spend too much time there.

River Kwai Bridge
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The bridge seemed to be modernized. I guess the tourists stalls around didn't bring back the feel of the wartime era.

We walked on the bridge from one end to the other. Pretty cautious because the train could pass by any time. I liked the river though. It's much cleaner than the Chao Phraya near Bangkok and the overall atmosphere was like in a village.

I shopped at a souvenir store nearby and also bought lots of sweets from another shop - like 10 packets...!

Regards,
Li Li