It ain’t “Row, Row, Row your boat gently down the stream,” that is for sure. Whether your site is the Floating Market outside of Bangkok, or simply your speedy transportation to the Grand Palace after navigating the SkyTrain remember this, you have already paid too much. Great negotiators have there down days. Whether jet lagged or overheated or just plain off, it happens. This blog is really about the long-tailed boats in Thailand. Think ‘Painted Canoe’ with wooden floors that don’t quite fit together, comfortable cushions that weren’t cleaned since the day they were purchased, the boat having the engine of a generator and last but not least, a shoeless, navigator who selectively speaks a few words of English. The money man, on the other hand, he speaks every language at least when it comes to money. And every person on that boat has paid a different amount.
So it is established, you are in you might be on the Mekong or on the Chao Praya River but the driver is in charge and you are going with the flow and I mean literally. The driver might stop for gas. And that is an experience in itself. He pulls up to this pseudo station in the river and from nowhere all these men appear to keep the boat in position so gas can be pumped…or maybe the driver is going to stop by another boat and drop off something like his soup bowl from the evening before. We personally experienced both. This fast boat was slow and choppy. We were being tossed around and being told to move over and help balance the boat. There was no lifeboat drill as there are no life jackets but hell, you are in Thailand for the experience. So go for it, and remember, when you get where-ever you are going, you will have to climb out. There aren’t any ladders. Graceful it is not.