Rollin' On The River
MaryAnn and I signed up for this river tour on our way to Wat Pho. I was convinced the whole thing was a scam, because I'm convinced almost everything is a scam in Bangkok (and most of the time it is). But I was reassured when there was another American going on the tour with us. We wouldn't be the only suckers sailing down the river, I thought to myself.
She was this kid named Lisa from San Francisco who was there with her father jetsetting around Asia. Oh...to be young again...and rich.
Turns out the tour wasn't a scam at all, and we got to see a side of Bangkok we probably wouldn't have gotten a chance to see otherwise. Making our way lazily down the river, we noticed a lot of houses that look hastily built on the water. Our guide explained to us that Bangkok's dirt poor live in these houses, and that they generally build them themselves! Apparently here the river isn't owned by the government and that's how they're able to erect these shanty river homes. You know in a place like DC that'd be some prime waterfront property. We also came across some water lizards, creatures that look like small alligators, and river merchants selling goods from their boat and bread to feed to the fish.
Last time I was on a boat on a river it capsized while I was in it. But this was good times.
