Today we leave Bangkok to visit the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market and proceed to Kanchanaburi. We checked out of Classic Place Hotel at around 7:30am but before we did, my roommate Christine and I got a big shock. The hotel billed us Baht 460 for outgoing phone calls! To our chagrin, we didn’t realize it would be so expensive to make a few local calls. A few times we even used my phone card to make those calls using the hotel phone but they still charged us. That was a lesson for us. Never make phone calls from your hotel room.

Before we got to the floating market, we stopped by at a farmer’s house. It looked like a typical farmer’s house except for the fact that there were a couple of buses parked out front. There were some stalls there selling native Thai goodies. What captured my attention was the baby boa constrictor and the monkeys. You could have your picture taken with the boa wrapped around you for only 20 baht but I declined. No snakes for me. I took some pictures with the cute monkeys. The female monkey was nice and friendly but the male one was plain crazy. He would be in the other side of the cage but if he sees an extended hand (with food in it), he would swing over to the front of the cage and try to grab your hand. Yes, your hand! Not a friendly shake but a kinda painful one. He was a little abusive to his female cage-mate as well. Loco monkey. ☺

Next we headed to the famed floating market. I was excited to see this market because I’ve seen a lot of pictures on the Internet and it’s supposed to be really authentic and such. We took a 30 minute boat ride to this market and it was fun. The waterways were narrow and there were houses on both sides. What struck me was some houses on both sides of the river had cars in their driveways so I guess the boat ride was just for tourists. I don’t think the locals ride boats anymore to get to the floating market. I realized later this market was easily accessible by road so I guess my initial impression was right.

Kong had warned us beforehand that the prices in this market was twice, thrice and even four times higher than in normal markets. He said they recently found out that most of the business owners there were taking advantage of the fact that most of the visitors there were foreigners. I was able to verify this and held off on buying anything except for a couple of postcards (which were twice as expensive as in other markets).

Next, we dropped by at a Teak Factory. We saw sculptors working away on huge pieces of wood. They were highly skilled but I wondered how they can work so delicately and conscientiously with all the tourists passing by and staring at what they’re doing. These exquisite works of art sold for thousands of dollars. Sweet.

Afterwards, we went straight to the famous River Kwae Bridge. This bridge has been immortalized in the 1975 movie “The Bridge on the River Kwai.” The view was so scenic and the river itself was a sight to behold. It was a beautiful green and it was so peaceful and calm. There were some floating restaurants on the river and we had lunch on one of those restaurants. It was soooo nice! The food was great, the scenery rushing past us was beautiful and it was a good time to get to know the other girls.

The floating restaurant docked near the JEATH (Japan, England, Australia and America, Thailand, and Holland) War Museum. We walked a short distance and we went inside the museum. It was a replica of the bamboo huts used to house prisoners of war and it showed photographs, memorabilia, paintings, newspaper clippings, and more. It was very sad and I tried to detach myself from what I was seeing. Still I couldn’t help but remember my forefathers fought the Japanese during the war too.

We headed to the War Cemetery after that and I didn’t really want to get off the bus because I’m just not into cemeteries but since everyone went, I decided to go as well. I took some pictures from the entrance which is the farthest I was willing to go. We stayed there for about 15 minutes and left to go to our next hotel, the Pung-Waan Resort.

The hotel was isolated and it was heartbreakingly beautiful. The hotel was nestled near a river and was at the foot of a mountain. It was 100% nature and it reminded me a little of Baguio City with all the trees, the neighboring mountain, the climate. I thought it was a nice place for honeymooners. Hmmm. ☺ Yes, there were a couple of honeymooners there but mostly families. It was so nice. We took a dip in the pool and did some karaoke later in the evening. I also had the chance to sit near Terri. We got to talk about JU and how she met my colleague Crislyn at NAFSA in Minneapolis. We even knew the same people. It’s such a small world. (Hey Terri!)