Today we decided to take the Canal boat tour starting in old Bangkok at around 1030 hours (half an hour late – about on par for this City, but it allowed us the opportunity to watch a restaurant employee feed old pizza to the fish).

The ticket cost 200 baht (around $8 Cdn). It allowed on and off privileges for 6 stops from our stop (#6) in the old city to #1 in the new city.

We disembarked at stop #5 and toured around the peace monument…

…and then went to McDonald’s. We were ordering breakfast when the server shook her head “no” and turned and switched the overhead menu signs.

OK, not a real problem, but when we ordered coffee, she told us, “no coffee”! (THEY RAN OUT!! – unbelievable and there wasn’t even a riot). That was about 1100 hrs.

Back to the boat around 1130 hrs – heading to stop #4. We visited a fruit market in search of some mixed fresh fruit.

Durian, these guys were HUGE. The size of 2 basketballs. Apparently they are a very stinky fruit and banned from every hotel where we have stayed.

During our search, through a filthy, odourous part of the market, I (Doug) came across a cat stalking a large rat (the body about the size of a small lady’s clenched fist – didn’t get a chance to get a picture (next time, I promise). It appeared that my flip flops had kicked up what looked like sewage onto the back of my legs and shorts. It sure didn’t look or smell very nice. Not much I could do about it until I got back to the hotel (and when we did, Joanne was gagging while cleaning my shorts).

In a waterway running through the market, we spotted about three large lizards. They are wild and all over the place.

We finally found a nice fruit stand and purchased a bag of freshly sliced pineapple. It was juicy and delicious.

It was now around 1230 hrs and ridiculously hot (in the 40s), so we decided to just get back on the boat and just ride it all the way to stop #1 and back to our starting point at stop #6. We would just sit back and view the waterfront property along the canal.

Stop # 1 is in the new city. Couldn’t get a lot of good pictures due to the fact we were down low and all the greenery around, but there are a lot of high rises in this area. Very modern buildings. Stop #6 is in Old City Bangkok.