The khlongs of Bangkok

Since we spent nine days in Bangkok, we had a lot of time for sightseeing and decided take a longtail boat to explore the western side of the Chao Phraya river. Originally, the city was located on this side of the river and was called Thonburi.
Thonburi actually was the capital of Thailand for a couple of years before King Rama I made the decision to build a new city on the opposite riverside because it was easier to protect this area against the Burmese.

Thonburi is still much less developed than the modern Bangkok and you can still find the traditional waterways called khlongs here.

All guidebooks tell you to prepare for a very fast ride which will get you soaked and we looked forward to that adrenalin rush. Only to discover that our boatman clearly had not read these travelguides, his idea of a khlong ride was very different from ours and it took us at least ten minutes just to cross the river to the Thonburi side. But once we came into the more remote parts of Thonburi, he finally got the speed up. The trip took an hour and a half and was really worthwhile.

On weekends, a visit to the floating market of Taling Chan is included in the price. This market is only open Saturday and Sunday, but is worth a visit. The food you get here is wonderful and it is quite the adventure to see the dishes being prepared in the boats on the canal.