MAE KLONG & AMPHAWA - 23rd Jan. 2015

This day we made a trip around Bangkok to Mae Klong and Amphawa, located about 70 km south west of Bangkok.

•  MAE KLONG

What makes different this particular village, is its market. At first glance, it looks like many other markets, except for the fact that it is located on the railway. When the train pass, the market is removed to allow the convoy to move.

Here you can see a video of the whole process:

From there we took a songthaew (a pick-up turned into a shared taxi) to Amphawa, which is only a few kilometers away from Mae Klong.

•  The backpack trip

This is the songthaew we took, to get from Mae Klong to Amphawa. In fact, this photo went soon a great help for us.

Few moments after making this picture, we realized we had forgotten our bag under the seat.

While Gemma was at the police station, trying to explain what had happened to us, apparently without much success in her attempts (because no one there spoke English). For my part, I was waiting at the roadside, looking if I could see the same songthaew coming back again.

After half an hour, a policeman called me and took me into a car, where our backpack was. then, we went together to the police station, where Gemma was still waiting for someone who speaks English, to come and explain the situation. Therefore, she was very surprised, when she saw me appearing with the bag and escorted by two policemen, specially, as she didn't mention that I was waiting on the road. So, we don't know how, but everything went perfect.

Before leaving, the police asked to have a picture with us, and of course, I also asked for one with them.

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•  AMPHAWA

After the backpack adventure, we visited the town, known for its "floating market". Well, actually we expected a little bit more than it was, but we liked it anyway.

BANGKOK 2 - 12th Jan. 2015 to 27th Jan. 2015

After spending three weeks in Myanmar and before continuing our journey to Cambodia, we stayed for a couple of weeks in Bangkok. We didn't visit many things, but we saw a little more from the everyday life and other not so touristic sites. Here you have a collection of images.

• Democracy Monument

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• Victory Monument

Here is the minibus station. From where you can get almost everywhere around the capital.

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• Erawan Shrine

In the middle of the shops area, hotels and offices in Bangkok.

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• Khao San Road
  

Also known as the backpacker street: many people, drunken tourists, shops, noise and cheap hostels.

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• Lumphini Park
  

A good place to relax, walk or practice sports in the center, next to the shopping area, hotels and offices in Bangkok.

A curiosity of this place is that at 6:00pm the national anthem i played. At this time, the world seems to stop. Everyone stop what they were doing and stand quiet. After the anthem, everyone continues with their activities.

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• Bike lane

Bangkok has a network of bike lanes, specially designed for extreme and adventure sports.

Unfortunately, the majority of cyclists, it doesn't get much impressed by it, and don't use these facilities as they deserve. They simply get off the bike and push.

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• BTS Sky Train

For the less adventurous, there is always the option of traveling by public transport, such as the BTS Sky Train, the elevated train. Although nowadays it still hasn't a very extensive network, it is a good way to move within the city.

Despite the crowds at rush hour, the access to trains is orderly and in a row, following a scrupulous order.

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• Jack fruit

Probably one of the world's largest fruit.

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• Thai massage

What a better option to relax, than a good Thai massage before leaving the country.