Every time I go to Bangkok, I get a dreamy longing to live
in a house on a canal, my boat tucked out of the weather under
a falling down pier. Even the meanest waterside shed sparks
envy, although I appreciate, too, the mansions and trim gardens
behind personal stone quays.
“How much for that water-logged palace there?”
I want to ask someone. Surely something can be done to keep
the house from sinking into the mire. I get the same sort
of urge when I see the Mississippi. I want to live on a houseboat
lazily, a couple of trotlines over the side.
There is no getting around it, you’ve got to see the
river from the river to get any flavor of old Bangkok, but
you can feel a bit of an idiot sitting three to a long-tail
boat made for twenty, especially when your boatman keeps pointing
out the most ordinary sights. Ours kept pulling into the concrete
banks and shouting about anything up in trees … a mango,
a jackfruit, a durian. Maybe he was mad, which at least would
have added some color.
Nonetheless, the tours are the easiest thing to latch onto
when you’ve a family in tow. Save for another time prowling
around for an unemployed waterman. We booked our boat at the
Saphan Taksin Skytrain Station at a booth at the head of the
stairs going down to the Sathorn Pier -- price per person,
750 Thai baht. It probably doesn’t matter where you
book; they’ll take you on the same loop of canal on
the Thonburi side of the Chao Praya River.
Five years ago I booked a canal tour from a different pier
and had the same two-hour run, turning off the river at the
Royal Navy Headquarters and the old fort, meandering around
in the back canals for an hour and then coming out by the
sheds of the Royal Barge Museum. Possibly the same two old
ladies in skiffs pulled up at the exact same point to sell
cold drinks and trinkets.
The more economical and practical way to see the river is
to jump on the commuter boats that stop at almost every pier
along the river. Before the Skytrain and MRT they were the
fastest way to get anywhere in traffic-clogged Bangkok, and
they still are the most enjoyable. We hopped on again at Sathron
Pier outside the Saphan Taksin Skytrain Station -- the only
intersection of the old and new transport systems -- and rode
to the other end of the commuter boat line at Nonthaburi,
on the outskirts of northern Bangkok. Compared with what we
paid for the canal tour, the 11-13 THB we paid for a one-way
ticket was a steal. Don’t fall for paying the 100 THB
for a one-day pass on the Express Boat for tourists. It’s
no more economical than the 100-THB day pass on the trains,
and you’ll have more fun for less on the boats everyone
else rides.
Nonthaburi, at the end of the line from Sathorn, is a small
market town famous for its durian. If you’ve only got
a few days in Thailand on a visa run, it’ll give you
a chance to see something besides Bangkok. The hour-and-a-half
ride from the Sathorn Pier is almost always eventful. Our
river run was interrupted by practices for the barge procession
in honor of the King’s anniversary on the throne, and
it was fun to watch the life along and in the river.
Old Bangkok hands will ridicule me for not taking the commuter
boats still running through the remnants of the old canal
system, but have they ever ridden with a mad Thai gondolier?
