This is the last set of photos that I took for my Ria + Kerwin in Bangkok kwento so before we proceed, let's have a recap. Ri + Kerwin were in BKK for four days and three nights (14-17 February 2009). On the first day, Saturday, went to Wat Pho, Chinatown, Pantip Plaza and Khao San Road + Patpong for Ri and Kerwin. We didn't go with them because the place is not child-friendly (wink wink) so we just dropped them off and headed home. We also didn't take any photos at Pantip because it was just a quick trip to buy some tech stuff for Ria's sister, Rica.
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On their second day, Sunday, we first went to church, then Chatuchak and Klongsan for our aborted dinner cruise plans.
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This, now, is day three. It was a Monday so it was just me, Ri and Kerwin. Our plan was to ride the river taxi along Chao Phraya River. Yeah, we've been there the night before, but we just crossed the river. This time, our trip will be longer, and we want to see how it looks during daytime. No exact destination, really. Sabi nga ni Ria, "bahala na si Batman".
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The central pier for all river taxis, hotel shuttle (free for guests of the hotels along the river) and tourist boats is at Sathorn. To get there, we need to ride the BTS Sky Train from Chong Nonsi station to Saphan Taksin.
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At BTS Chong Nonsi station.
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Inside the train.
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Saphan Taksin station.
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Sathorn pier.
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This is the pier where we rode the cross river boat the night before.
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Manong driver.
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The boat was full so we had to sit in front. I was worried that we might get wet. Hehe!
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More scenes along the river.
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High-tech ang bahay. Kahit gawa sa kahoy, may satellite dish naman.
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Like I mentioned at the beginning, we didn't really have an exact destination in mind. We had intended to ride the river taxi up to the last stop, but we changed our mind halfway through the trip. Nagutom na kasi kami. So Kerwin checked his map to see which stop had the nearest mall.
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We got off at Bang Po.
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Now, according to the map, the nearest mall was only about one kilometer away, which was not so bad! So we walked. At first, we were thrilled to see a side of Bangkok that you will not normally see in guide books. Ri was even happy to see an old car! Puro bagong kotse lang daw kasi ang nakikita nya in the past two days.
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It was hot. Really hot. We were walking under the heat. Pero malapit lang yung mall -- according to the map, so konting tiis na lang. I was soo looking forward to ordering a tall glass of ice-cold Coke! However, we noticed na medyo matagal na kaming naglalakad and there was no sign of any mall anywhere. I mean, we should be seeing a mall-like structure by now, but there were no buildings in sight! Uh oh... So we decided to ask for directions, pero good luck na lang sa min kung may mahanap kami na marunong mag english kasi nga we were not in your usual tourist spot.
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The first person that we asked was someone sitting outside a store. Unfortuately for us, there was a tuktuk driver nearby who heard us asking for directions so nakialam sya, but he wasn't really much of a help. He just wanted to rip us off. He offered us many things like drive us to Khao San, bring us to a jewelry store, tour, etc., but we refused. Ang kulit nya! Gusto namin sya sakalin. So to get rid of him, we just asked him to take us back to the pier but he charged us Thb50!
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We finally made it back to Bang Po pier, and we decided to go to Khao San since we were pretty much familiar with the place. Here are more river scenes.
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On the boat: this area is for monks only.
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Oops! Bawal pala tumayo dito sa likod, pero puno na kasi yung boat kaya dito kami nakatayo.
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Rama VIII bridge.
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Fishermen?
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This is where we ate lunch. I forget the name of the restaurant.
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This is what I ordered: Stir fried chicken with sweet chili and rice. Cute presentation! I asked the guy not to make the dish spicy, but it still came out super spicy! As in, sobrang anghang pero ubod ng sarap!
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Phra Arthit pier on way back to Sathorn.
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Labadami.
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More photos!
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Long-tailed boat.
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Wat Arun.
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Memorial bridge.
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Tug boat.
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I forgot to mention that there are different types of boats available at Sathorn Pier. River taxis carry different flags. Express boats carry white flags, and they stop at all the piers. There's also blue, yellow and orange. There's a big chart where you will see all the stops that each boat makes. We rode on the orange boat, and we paid only Thb13 each. It's a flat rate.
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I love all the new discoveries that we made during Ri + Kerwin's trip, but the river cruise is my favorite! Pag may bisita kami, I will make sure that they try out the river taxi. It's a faster and more relaxing way to get to the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Khao San and Chinatown.
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Btw, this was not the end of Ri + Kerwin's trip. From Chao Phraya river, we went back to Oakwood to pick up Aly from school, then we went to Platinum Mall. I didn't take any photos because I was busy shopping too. Hehe! On their last day, they did a little pasalubong shopping in the morning, then spent the rest of the afternoon in Khao San road. Talagang sinulit nila yung trip nila to the last minute! They only had an hour to spare before going to the airport.
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To Ri + Kerwin, I hope you enjoyed your trip! Sabi nga daw ni Gracia, "nagpunta kayo ng Bangkok para ipasyal ako", and she's right! I really learned a lot from you two. Do visit us again, ok?
