Short Ride on a Long Tail

Every city  with canals is called the Venice of, fill in the blank.  Bangkok is the Venice of Thailand.  Dazzled by city lights it is easy to miss the khlongs (canals).  The Chaophraya vitally provides north/south transportation for locals and tourists.   No visit to Bangkok is complete without a ride on the orange flagged express boats.  But for east/west transportation, locals still rely on the khlongs.

For tourists the khlongs slice through local life.  If you are nimble, most certainly join locals jumping on a canal boat for a mere 10 baht.  A more leisurely, and expensive, alternative is hire a long tail boat.

Our Boat

With some bargaining, you can hire a boat for 1000 baht per hour.  

                                                Roslyn, and our friends Justin and Sharon

With 4 that is about 15 dollars per person for two hours.  You can find boats for hire at Tha Chang Pier, near the Grand Palace, River City Shopping Pier, and Sathern Central Pier.  The latter has the most boats, and is conveniently located a few steps from the Saphan Taksin stop on the Silom line of the Sky Train.

Before heading to the Khlongs, we stopped at Wat Arun.  Some restoration was on going.  Having taken many pictures on prior trips, I only took a few this time.

The khlongs feature a wide variety of houses, most with canal access.

 Saw the children too late to get a well focused shot, but they were so cute, that I kept it anyway.

Wats accessed by the water are also part of daily life.

While exploring the waterways, you can get a drink, snack or even a hat.

Before reentering the river, we stopped at the Royal Barges Museum.

One of the pleasures of the museum, is that it is among the least visited of Bangkok's museums.  The museum is tricky to find by land, but has an easy dock for boats.  On special ceremonial occasions the boats carry the royal entourage in a procession of over 50 boats.

The King's boat is the one with the nagas (serpents).

The museum usually houses 5 or more yachts.

The boats, although not wide,  are quite long.

The guardians on the bow have motifs you will have seen at the Grand Palace complex.

As you head back,

you might even get a cooperative driver to stop for coffee

But the far better option, is to wait until you return.  The Bangrak section of Bangkok, is a prime area for street food and small local restaurants.