More Adventures With Mr. Oat (Bangkok Day Three)

We were pretty excited for our last day in Bangkok. Not because we were moving on the next day, because we really have enjoyed our time here and with Mr. Oat, but because we had a theme for the day: Shopping! Now I’m not much of a shopper, but I love the Thai markets. I love the energy, the unusual offerings, and the prices; they are so much more preferred than the mall to me. But again, I’m getting ahead of myself. The plan for the day was to take a private car to the train market, then the floating market, then go back to Bangkok to the crazy market.

We met Mr. Oat at 7:00 a.m. and I gave him a few things from New York that I brought especially for him. I’m serious when I say that I do consider him a friend. Anyway, we got into the car and away we went. It took about an hour and a half to get to the train market aka Maeklong Railway Train Market. I’d see videos about this place on YouTube and wanted to check it out last time, but we hadn’t had enough time. The market itself was very colorful, with lots of seafood.

Then we made our way to the train tracks.

Mr. Oat had a great spot picked out for us to take pics of the train going by. About one minute beforehand, when I had started taking a video, my phone stopped recording and alerted me that I had run out of space. Do’h! Luckily Sal took two videos: 1) preparing for the train, and 2) the train arrives and leaves. The train was very slow, which was good because some people didn’t get that you were supposed to stand behind the red line until the announcement came on. Also, for some reason I hadn’t thought about the train having actual passengers. It would have been fun to ride through there and see all the crowds. Maybe next time. I waved at a couple people, because I’m like that, and the Thai people waved back with big smiles.

We had a quick restroom stop, or ‘happy place’ stop as Mr. Oat calls it, on the way to the Floating Market. Western toilets, hurrah! We got to the Floating Market early, which is very good, because it wasn’t super crowded at the beginning. I took several videos.

Before the crowds.
Part two.
Part three.
Part four – crowds.

On the boat we sampled pad thai, crispy pork, mango sticky rice, fresh coconut water. Everything was delicioius and filling. Mr. Oat knew everyone, it seemed. He said he thought in a previous life he was the mayor of the floating market.

It started getting very crowded by the time we were done on the boat. We stopped at one of the shops for coconut ice cream. Oh my, that was delicious. Mr. Oat had taught us how to say ‘very delicious’ in Thai. It should surprise nobody that knows me that on my way out I said it incorrectly and said ‘delicious dog’ instead. Hahaha. I stink at languages. It’s embarrassing.

It was then time to head back to Bangkok and go to the crazy market: Damneuansaduak. We said our goodbyes to Mr. Oat at the beginning of the market. We went to this market last time we were in Bangkok and were blown away by the crazy animals for sale, but since we had already seen the animals this trip at the bird market in Jogja, we decided to see the other parts of the market instead. It’s huge! I got my shopping on. Fun! Again, I struggled with the two things I do know how to say: 1) hello, 2) thank you. So many times I will say hello to someone, look around their store and/or buy something, then bow and leave. Instead of saying thank you, I again say hello. Once a man said it back to me again and I realized what I’d done. I looked it up online and it said it could be used as hello or goodbye, so maybe that’s why people weren’t giving me the side eye too much? Then again, when we got back to the hotel I asked the security guard and he said it wasn’t the same, so who knows. I took a few videos to show how big and busy the market was.

Crazy Market Part One
Part Two
Part Three – the Outside

There were these disturbing mannequins. What the…

It started getting quite hot, so we hopped on the BTS elevated train and made our way to the hotel with our treasures. We were again saluted by the security at the door. I almost saluted back, just because it sort of seemed rude not to…

We showered and relaxed, then eventually it was time for dinner at Paste, which was in the mall next to our hotel. Talk about delicious food! Major recommendation. We went to bed that night full and happy after a great last day in Bangkok.