Day 3: Friday - A Day of Tours
We awoke early, refreshed and headed out to our tour booking to the Floating Market.   It was  an hour out of town but actually took over 90 mins to arrive to this tourist trap.  Our driver took us to a pier where they wanted 4000 baht for a boat tour through the market.   I nearly blew my top at the operator and we sttled on half that amount.  Everyone is in on it together.  I should have told him to take us directly to the market, but we did the boat ride for the experience.

I am glad we did because we traveled through a real and beautiful waterway of canals through a quaint water village. We ended up at the market which was bustling with vendors on long boats selling fruits, vegetables, snacks, and souvenirs.  We bought some mango, coconut juice (served as a coconut with the top cut off and a straw inserted), and a picture for our kitchen.


The drive back was uneventful and I chastised our driver and gave ourselves a discount when it came time to pay.  He was not happy but we left.

We had gotten dropped off in Chinatown at the China Princess Hotel.  Wary of the midday heat, we ate at a busy little Thai cafe - some delicious Thai chicken and tomatoe soup, and some dry chicken curry.  Food and drink (plus tip) was about $12. 

We relaxed for a bit and met up with our bike tour (the reason for being at this hotel).  

The bike tour was a great bargain.  It was three hours of biking (from 2 to 5pm - ending at dusk) and was a highlight from beginning to end.  We went through mazes of bustling alleys, neighborhoods, local markets. We ferried across the river (a small boat) to Thonburi where it was quiet, very clean, somewhat upscale and really nice.  The purpose of the tour was to see the real Bangkok through the local pathways and I think we accomplished that.  We saw the local schools (and schoolkids in their blue uniforms), smaller temples, and memorials.  Before ending the tour back at the hotel, we rested at the late Thai Queen's memorial, an expansive museum and shady garden courtyard in a quiet neighborhood.   Of our group of 6 cyclists, I was always the laggard as I was stopping everywhere to take snaps.  There was one picture I regret not taking - that of a smiling grandmother on her porch who reminded me very much of Nani.   

FYI - we saw poor neighborhoods as well as the upscale ones.  The poor (often migrant workers) live in small apartments housed in large dilapidated apartment complexes - these rooms have no kitchens, and rent is 1500bt per month.  This is not a concern since no one seems to cook - street food stalls are literally everywhere, and always serving some food or another.  It is cheaper to live here and to commute to the downtown core.

 
After we finished with the bike tour, another massage was in order and we found a genuine Thai massage studio a couple of blocks from our hotel.  I say genuine because there are massage shops on every block, but the massages aren't the same.   There we enjoyed an excellent hour long foot massage, which totaled 400bt for both of us ($13).  Feeling guilty at the bargain, we tipped very generously.

We stopped into a clean looking restaurant recommended by Simmis masseuse, about a block away.  This clean but mostly empty restaurant was cheap and incredibly delicious.  I had one of the best meals of my life here and food and beers (Singha of course) came out to $18.  We had pork fried rice, and a spectacular chicken coconut and chili soup.

At this point we were dead tired, though it was barely 9pm.  So we went to bed.