AFTER....Samut Songkhram

BACK OF A PICK UP BABY

 After the market we decided to find a floating market. According to the map we were walking distance but we quickly found that was not the case. After asking a few different people for directions a man offered us a ride in his truck. What a nice guy. So all six of us climbed into the back of his pickup(it has benches for moments like this) and he gave us a ride to the floating market. We tipped him and got to the market safe. However, we should have thought of how were were going to get back to the train station.We were to busy living in the moment I guess. Because we left ourselves with 15 minutes to find a ride to get back to the last train of the day to start our way back to Bangkok.  We found a Tuk Tuck that we piled 6 of us in and made the last train! Best part...we got to take the train through Samut Songkhram Market. AMAZING!

Floating Market. Kitchen and cook all in one boat. I mean.....so neat!

 Little girl selling what her mom? aunt? sister? grandma? cooked up for the afternoons market goers. On a boat.

 View from bridge. This was a smaller floating market but it was still really neat.  We even got to go on a boat ride...the water looks nasty and I am sure it is but it was not smelly and it was a beautiful day. We rented a boat and they took us on a boat ride as we drank a beer. Just the six of us. Danny, Erin, Mike, Will, Rich, and me! If we would have been there at night we would have gotten to go on a firefly cruise. It is supposed to be beautiful so we put it on our list for next time.

 Will and I just telling jokes, having heart to hearts, talking about our wonderful English 1 students and if we will have the energy to party like it is 1999 later tonight. I will tell you how that worked out..... he partied with the rest of the boys while the girls went back to the burbs, got in to PJs and fell asleep early. At this point in the day we still had not gotten to the tuk tuk ride, train ride, ferry ride, cab#2 ride, BTS (like the CTA) ride, and then the final cab ride.....so...we got called weak sauce last night.

 Train that goes through the market..we got to ride for a little over an hour..hoping to find our way back to BKK. We took in views neighborhoods, rice fields, salt flats, monkeys, dogs, rivers...you name it we probably saw it! 

This was one of my buddies. There were 3 little Thai boys who would pick me flowers from the tress going by when we were going slow enough. We also had lots of conversation about his Lion King shirt and how the lion's name was Simba. Lots of missing windows and doors, but the train still worked. In fact the missing doors came in handy.  We did not know it was the last stop and it started going back toward the market. ACTION! It was like a movie. Danny and I jumped out the doors...or where the doors would have been..as the rest of the group had the look of "Oh shit...." as they jumped one by one avoiding poles, parked scooters and the Thai people yelling at us and yelling at the conductor...I am sure they were thinking these stupid Americans are jumping out of the moving train...again. There is no way we were the 1st people to do that. We had no warning this was the last stop and since we can't read the signs we did not know what station we were at.

 We got off the train and then were pointed and directed to a ferry that we ran to. RAN....over uneven docks and floating docks to jump on a ferry that had already left but started pulling back in for us when they saw us running and flailing our arms like a bunch of crazy people. We were so dirty. So sweaty. Tired and hungry...but not one of us could wipe the smiles off our faces as we took it all in. View from back of ferry below.

"I feel so dirty. Like, are we tan? Or covered in dirt?  I mean I don't even care because this is the best kind of dirty to feel. We did stuff today. We saw shit. I can't believe I almost turned my alarm off and went back to bed. Epic day"

See told ya it was like a day that was made for the theaters....we get off the ferry...and elephants!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't really need to explain this one...look at our faces.

After this we all got into a taxi...all six of us..listened to one of the best homemade CDS we could ever ask a cabbie to have. I am talking all music from the 90s. Including boybands. We all knew all the words to every song. Which we sang.



highlights from the day I have not touched on

Danny and I really had to go to the bathroom on the train....there was one on the train...but it was a hole and we were moving and going fast and it was really hard to even stand and walk let alone go to the bathroom. So we had to hold each other over the "toilet" *

I had a coconut ice cream cone

Earrings designed as all different things...anything from pencil tips, adderol pills, lifesavers, wine bottles, coke cans, dice, cards....you name it..you could wear it as an accessory

Laugh attack on the BTS. I got caught talking to myself and shaking my head at what I was saying...my abs got some definition from that.

Hanging out with a great group of people all day long...could not ask for better people to be spending my time with exploring and adventuring with.

Looking at my hands and feet...not knowing what was on them...never been so dirty in my life...which led to a shower for 20 min using 2 different soaps and 2 washings of the hair..then my sweats and fruit chips. By far the most and best feeling of being worn out since I got to Thailand

*I  know alot of my stories are about going to the bathroom. But it is kind of a big deal.  I have not even shared with you some of the conversations we have had out here. I have known some of these people for a month and we talked about our bodily functions like it is normal. Which out here it is. We are dealing with new facilities, circumstances, and food our bodies are not sure what to do with. So sorry being so frank with bathroom stories but its just part of life and every day convo...one of our friends could not come with us because well...he could not be more then 2 feet away from the bathroom all day because of something he ate...yikes! Not looking forward to the day I am that guy.