It was a Wednesday morning and I was hungover from finishing off half a bottle of Lao Khao the previous evening. Still, with nothing else on except a headache , I decided to make the long trip into Chinatown to get some merchandise for my new , doomed to ignominious failure , business enterprise.
I never take the car into the city if I can help it but I didn't fancy catching the 177 bus from Bangyai either. Too much traffic .
Remembering that Ratchawong Pier is right in Chinatown, I thought a trip down the Chao Phrya might be pleasant and would help blow some of the cobwebs from my aching barnet.
Leaving home at a late 11 o'clock , I drove the 20 minutes to Nonthaburi and left the car in the Major Cineplex car park. Five minutes walking from there and I was at the Nonthaburi Pier clock tower which was having a facelift.
Behind that is the entrance to the pier itself
There is a bit of an esplanade along the bank of the river here but not much to see. Probably pretty at night though for a romantic rendevous.
Looking at the route map , I observed my destination was just a blue smudge where there be dragons etc.
There are several lines that operate on the river from here. The cheapest , at 10 baht , stops at every pier and takes about an hour and a half. The blue line is the fastest ,making very few stops . When I arrived there was a boat of the orange line waiting which is between the others mentioned , only making frequent stops when it is near Rattanakosin.
You get your ticket on the boat from the conductor so I was straight on to grab a seat, easy at the begining of the trip, impossible later. The flat fare for all destinations is 15 baht.
At many points on the river you can catch a 1 or 2 baht ferry to the other bank on one of these.
However, one day I would really like to hire one of these little beasts for a quick blast around some of the canals on the western bank. In fact, in theory I could take one of these almost to my front door in Bangyai, water gates not withstanding.
After a 10 minute wait the conductress and driver turned up which was good as there was no breeze and it was getting very sticky. Then we were off
More to follow.