For the final day of our Thai adventure, we signed up for a tour that promised to take us far from the crowds of Bangkok to visit various attractions along the Tha-Jeen (or Tha Chin) river, a short drive to the west of the city.
The Markets & Farms of the Tha-Jeen tour is just one of several itineraries offered by Chilli Paste Tours, but their website expertly disguises the fact that – as we discovered whilst chatted with our guide throughout the day – this is another “one man band” tour operator, with our guide also acting as driver, marketeer, sales-force and CEO!
After meeting at Wutthakat BTS Station, itself a 45-minute journey out-of-town from our city-centre apartment, we squeezed into our guide’s rather snug car and began the drive west, stopping off for coffee en route. As we made good progress along the highway, we were quizzed by our guide on why we’d chosen this particular tour. Whether she asked this of all of her guests, or whether we didn’t match the profile of her typical guests I don’t know!
Our first stop was the Don Wai Riverside Market.
The market itself is set behind the Don Wai temple, and although we did not go inside (in fact, it wasn’t obvious whether it was even open to the public), we got a good view of the temple from the gardens which surround it.
Beneath a canopy (probably intended more for shading worshipers from the sun than from the rain) we found statues depicting Buddha in seven different poses, or postures. Our guide explained that there is one posture for each day of the week, and believers are encouraged to pay respects to the Buddha that corresponds to the day of the week on which they were born (hence the donation box in front of each statue!).
The market itself – though certainly not on the same scale of the enormous Chatuchak market back in the city – is pretty big, and we spent a good 90 minutes exploring it.
Of course, most of the market is set aside for foods of all shapes and sizes. Having bought some mangosteen tea during a visit to one of the Luwak coffee plantations in Bali nearly 3 months ago, we were intrigued to know what a mangosteen actually looks like, and lucky for us, this happens to be one of most popular fruits in Thailand.
Another favourite of the Thai people is the pomelo. Essentially a sweeter and much larger version of the grapefruit, I personally wasn’t so impressed, although if you’ve got a large family to feed, I can see why this could be a popular fruit!
An even more obscure discovery while wandering around the market was the Gac Fruit, a member of the squash family and also known as the Baby Jackfruit, Spiny Bitter Gourd, Sweet Gourd or Cochinchin Gourd!
Of course, we couldn’t go anywhere in Thailand without feeding some fish! We didn’t see a single loaf of bread sold anywhere in the market… until we came across the lady selling stale bread for throwing into the river!!
With nothing on sale costing very much at all – certainly not when compared to the amount we had been charged for the tour – our guide was keen for us to try everything as we wandered around the market, and she was forever digging into her pocket to hand over a few coins for various nibbles. It wasn’t long before we were completely full, and beginning to worry just how many more markets like this we would be visiting later in the day!
After leaving Don Wai, we headed north, stopping briefly at Mana Orchid Farm, a roadside wholesale florist which had the advantage of providing coffee, toilets, and even a few pretty flowers! Inside, we spent a few minutes in a showroom where various dried flower arrangements – many expertly presented inside sealed vases and other more unusual vessels such as wine glasses – were being sold. They even sold orchid jewelry which seemed like great gifts until we discovered the price!!
Soon it was time for lunch, though after all that snacking back at the market, none of us had much of an appetite! Earlier in the day, we had talked about the cookery class that we’d taken during our last day in Phuket, and the fact we had chosen very simple dishes such as pad thai to cook that day. As we soon discovered, our guide also offers cookery classes, but she told us she’d rather turn down a client than cook pad thai with them! Hence… when we arrived at our lunch table, we knew we were in for a bit of a culinary adventue, whether we liked it or not!
Though our lack of appetite meant we couldn’t fully appreciate it, this was on the best (and most authentic) meals we’ve had in Thailand. On the way back to the car, we explored some of the nearby shops. Of particular interest were a couple of completely deserted antique shops which certainly had some curious items on display.
Our next stop was at Coffee & Tree, a roadside garden centre and tea house. This was another chance to find a toilet, and a mid-afternoon caffeine-based pickup. We soon discovered our guide had another motivation for this stop too – whilst we lounged about in the nursery drinking iced coffee, she busied herself picking out all sorts of plants. We weren’t sure she’d find room for the (literally) arm-fulls of plants that she bought, but she managed… just… to wedge them into the passenger seat foot-well and the boot of her car.
A short distance up the road we made our next stop at the Jesada Car Museum, or Jesada Technik Museum, a large private collection of vintage rare cars and motorbikes owned by a successful Thai businessman by the name of Jesada Deshsakulrith. He begun collecting only 20 years ago, and has already amassed more than 500 vehicles.
Unfortunately for us, the museum is closed on Mondays, so we were unable to look around inside. However, across the road is a lot containing a number of larger vehicles including buses, planes and helicopters, and we were able to have a good nose around here without need for a ticket. We’re still not sure how a tour bus from Liverpool or a school bus from the USA have found their way to this deserted spot in Thailand miles away from anywhere… but they certainly provided us with a bizarre and unexpected memory that we’ll not forget in a hurry!
For the final stop of the afternoon, we spent an hour at a farm. Though most of the farm’s income comes from rice, they run a small side business harvesting lotus flowers from a large “pond”. The flowers are collected each morning by a flower wholesaler, while the farmer’s daughter uses the stamen from the plants to create a refreshing drink that is also sold.
We were introduced to the family’s pet turtle who didn’t look too happy in his very spartan home.
After spending a few minutes in the shade drinking lotus “juice” (you’re not missing anything!), we were taken out onto the water by the farmer’s wife. Considering the scorching weather, and the fact she has presumably done this tour 50 times before, our guide chose to stay under the shade, while we sought shade of our own courtesy of some lotus leaf parasols!
Back on dry land, we were plied with more snacks, including mango and some traditional Thai sweets. Though we had absolutely no appetite, this proved to be an interesting diversion as we were also offered berries from the Synsepalum Dulcificum plant (growing just a few feet away from us) to try. Also known as miracle fruit,miracle berry or sweet berry, these berries temporarily cause sour foods to taste sweet. Of course, we were soon biting on wedges of lime to see whether or not it really works… and believe me, it does! In fact, it was a bit gross everything tasting so sweet and sickly, but it was certainly an experience!
Our final adventure of the day came courtesy of a tractor ride. This was not just any tractor though: due to its ‘unconventional’ design, the tractor was able to take almost 90 degree turns at high speed… though only if the driver leant way out to the side of the vehicle to swing out its four-metre long steering column. No power steering here!
On the way back to the farmhouse, Kit had a turn driving.
At the end of a very long, and very hot day, we began the long drive home. Over dinner (much) later that evening, we commented that though this was one of the most varied and memorable tours of our 3 months overseas, the past few days had left us feeling pretty much “toured out” before the day had even started, so we didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the itinerary probably deserved! I guess that is one of the challenges with a country like Thailand: unless you are incredibly brave, or incredibly lazy, the only real way to see the country is with a guide who speaks the language. Next time we’re in town, perhaps a couple of days staying at the one of the very upmarket downtown hotels … with lots of opportunities for a dip in the rooftop pool … would break up the visit nicely.
