Cai Rang

Just for comparison, i'll blog about the south Vietnam floating market right after the Thai one

The river is a lot wider and a lot deeper with bigger boats

The floating markets were scarce and few, made to look even lesser by the wide river. When i complained to one of the tour agents, they said its because i went there late, at about 9am...

Lots of them sold the same thing: pineapples!

Since the boats are bigger, u cant see what they are selling in a glance

Each boat will have a stick with their fruit on it. Really gloomy day, love the picture above though, with the silhouettes of those people on the boats...




So few 'markets' i keep taking photos of the same people. I'd like to buy some fruits but its difficult to have a whole watermelon when u are travelling

Bought a pineapple. A bit more manageable, they'd cut off the skin, cut it into half and you hold the stem. Really good, sweet pineapple, not like sour ones in Malaysia

The tour guide said its 10,000dong which is RM1.90... but when i wanted to pay a 10,000dong note the lady didnt accept it. Instead she showed me a USD1 bill (RM3.15), dumbfounded but unsuspecting i paid what she asked.
I sat there on the boat and started to eat half of the pineapple while holding the other half. Other people from the tour wanted to buy some and also prepared a 10,000dong note.

The pineapple lady kept on insisting that it costs a dollar. Since it was happening in front of me and i couldnt finish mine i offered it to the guy from my tour. Upon noticing what i was doing, the desperate seller immediately the lady grabbed his 10,000dong and shoved the pineapple at him!!

I gave the other half of my pineapple to an Italian girl also on the same tour...

Floating Market

Everyone's seen pictures that look like this

I really wanted to see it first hand, was excited in south Vietnam but it was a let down.

So when in Bangkok with friends, i was happy to go Damnoensaduk floating market with them. The first tour agent tried to cheat us, charging an exorbitant RM50 or 500Bht per person for the boat ride alone. The second agent charged us 500Bht for transport from Bangkok AND a motor boat ride.

Hopped on the boat happily... only to be disappointed again

Only saw a few floating "stalls" and not much else before the boat docked and let us off at a piere!

I got off, upset... tried to make the most of my situation: took a picture of this lady selling noodles from her boat

The tour guide offered row boats for another 300Bht per person. Thats blows my budget =(

I envied those tourists on the row boat... but i was sick of being ripped off. Coconuts looks so tempting...

Friends decided to just walk around and take shots from above

Pretty good view actually =)

Coffee addict decided to get her morning fix

The lady smiled for my picture! =) If someone was to kick my ass, i'd fall in! Hahah

Longed for a bowl of noodles but the weather was so hot, it would be a torture rather than a treat to have steaming hot noodle soup

Walking around, there were people offering row boats, asking "How much you want?" We talked to a couple of different places and managed to get 300Bht for four people!!! (or 75Bht per person=)

All smiles on the little row boat

It was Thai school holidays and there were lots of school kids on school trips to Damnoensaduk floating market

Cool huh, there is no such Malaysian school trips =(

Camwhoring, the others watched as LY bargain for a guitar

Besides taking pictures, i love observing my surroundings and looking out for little details

The water is only ankle deep. The sellers wear 'Phua Chu Kang' construction-like boots and just walk in the water

They sit on little stools/chairs in the water like that. Damn am i craving a bowl of noodles as i blog...
The shops are probably government planned and rented out or licensed out. Standardised structures built along the river. Love the coconut trees in the background =)

I was posing for my camera, i dont know what my friends were doing but it makes the picture look good though =)

Sun shiny day that day.

Walked around and lost my friends for a bit. Oh well, carried on walking =P

One of the vendors helped me take this pic =) I bought rice from a boat, which wasnt so good. As i was eating it, LY and YY 'found me'!

LY bought some snacks

How goods and currency is passed between seller and buyer

Three of us happily snacking. The fourth lady sat around somewhere under the fan, she didnt want to walk around, she said she's had enough. Realised thats her style, to just sample sights... we like to immerse ourselves! Hahha

That's Damnoensaduk Floating Market. Loved it. Two thumbs up =)



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Taxi Kep

About a year ago, Bestfriend and i took a 'taxi' from Sihanoukville to Kep

Yeah, thats four people in the back seat of the car, which is the 'taxi' introduced to us by Sa

We were thinking that it is a lot more luxurious sitting in the front seat

Oh we were so wrong, the driver went to a village to pick up a monk who squeezed in next to the capped guy in front!

Okayyy, thats weird but not as bad as whats to come next

The driver picked up another guy who squished himself next to the driver!!

Bestfriend burst out laughing and everyone looked at her!

Panorama shot of the 4 people in front! How does the driver drive???

Thats not all, the driver stopped along the way to pick up items

Some wood thingie that sticks out of the car

The driver dropped off some people along the way and then went to deliver the wood. He later told us that is his house

Not a bad house, nice big compound, he works hard by overloading his car

Finally in luxury, the two of us have the whole backseat to ourselves

It was USD 8 per person for the taxi. 100km drive

Pine Trees

Sometime in April 2010, we got confused with the different time zones between Australian states. Plus there was the change of day light savings. Ended up waking up at crazy 4am!

It was the last day on our road trip, so we started off the day before sunrise. Misty and dark, we felt like we were in a horror movie. Of course, no photos cuz all photos just turn out black

Shortly after, Bestfriend needed to go to the toilet. By then it was bright and there were toilet signs that led us to this pine tree orchard

Having grown up in Malaysia with only tropical rain forests, these pine trees were a beautiful sight to me. The effect of the mist makes it even more special

The toilets and some people camping nearby



Oh so pretty! =) Better than miles and miles of our rubber trees whenever driving the North-South Highway in Malaysia

I walked around to take some shots and Bestfriend snapped a few candid ones of me, which turned out really well =)

Just shouldnt have left the car keys dangling out of my back pocket like that...

The two of us =) Russian was sleeping in the backseat of the car