Wednesday morning, Grace, Jill and I decided to make our own touring adventure and see a floating market. Grace suggested Bang Nam Pheung which was also the one Neil suggested to me earlier in the week when he was researching floating markets. It is located in area called Phra Pradaeng, known as Bangkok’s green lung because of all the trees and greenery. It is a peninsula that is almost an island formed by broad sweeping curve of the Chao Phraya River as it meanders through the fertile lowlands. The market itself is described as “by the water” instead of “on the water” in the floating sense but was to be full of locally grown produce, home cooked items, and handicrafts. I read three articles on it before venturing out and just one said it was only open weekends. The other two didn’t mention times so we thought maybe the only weekends was old info. We three hopped in a taxi and arrived to find all the stalls closed midweek, sigh.

There was a permanent open air restaurant on the canal and we were ready for breakfast. The taxi driver wouldn’t wait for us, so I communicated with him to pick us in an hour. (Later it was clear my gestures had failed.) We had a wonderful fresh-cooked Chicken Pad Thai for our breakfast and then walked along the canal viewing what would be bustling stalls on the weekend. We came across a government building and read the signage that this area was known for fireflies! We returned to the restaurant waiting for the taxi. Grace and I went to visit the neighboring temple while Jill waited. The mourning banners and King’s photo were in front of the temple and we ran into a monk as we wandered around. He let me take his photo and then he wanted to see it. Of course I left a donation in his bowl.

Finally, a local woman felt sorry for us sitting waiting for a taxi to show up and sent one of the scooter taxi boys to get a car taxi. (Of course we tipped them all.) It was interesting to see the south part of city and drive over the huge beautiful bridges spanning the river.

Dental Update

Wednesday night I had my three crowns put on as I mentioned before. Thursday night I had my two right infected wisdom teeth extracted. It went fast and smooth and was over quickly with no pain. I had to bite down on gauze for a couple of hours after she sewed in the stitches. She said to hold an ice pack to my face for a few hours too but when I went downstairs at the clinic, they couldn’t find one so said I didn’t need it. Actually I was just fine without because I didn’t have any pain in my jaw as the Novocain wore off but I did take one ibuprofen for a slight headache. I had eaten dinner early because I knew I wouldn’t want to eat after the teeth extractions. I changed the gauze before I went to sleep and continued to leave it in place to bite on all night. I slept well with no throbbing (I had been having continual throbbing in jaw because of the infected teeth and it was finally gone!)

I had an appointment Friday night with the oral surgeon for her to check the healing process 24 hours later. She said “oh very good work” and laughed because complimenting her own work. It did feel like it was doing well and no bleeding. I was feeling fine. They scheduled me for Monday night for my final appointment. That night I resumed using clove oil and started making fresh ginger tea.

All the scheduled dental work that I approved (and paid for) the first day of my arrival was completed within a week, except for the checkup appointments which we scheduled a few days later since I had already planned to stay in town longer. I was very glad I had built in more time because if there was a problem like infection I figured it would show up within the first few days and I wanted them to be able to catch it.

Where to go?

I planned to spend a quiet day after my extractions. I felt good enough that Friday morning to walk the neighborhood and find a mango smoothie (just fruit and ice; I couldn’t find a protein smoothie anywhere.)  I then settled down at my favorite downstairs Craft Café with my tablet, a cocoa, and a croissant to do more research on where to spend the following week. Options that I was considering were flying to Chiang Rai and taking the bus to Chiang Khong to visit with Grace and Jill, flying to Singapore to visit with my friends Vanessa and George, going to southern Thailand and finding a beach to sit on, going to western Thailand to a national park, going to eastern Thailand including some cities with more historic sites. Neil was helping me from Kihei, doing research and sending me lots of interesting links. He had even found a train schedule that would take me from Bangkok to Singapore in just over 48 hours.

While I was browsing, a gentleman came into the café and approached me saying “You look like you speak English, do you know anywhere to change money?” I said the only place I knew about was at the BTS station one stop south of the café and it might not be open yet. He said his name was Silvio and he was visiting his son for a few days from Australia. His son Rennie had told him to wait to exchange money in town rather than the airport for a better rate but Silvio woke before his son and thought he would go get some breakfast. I bought him a cup of coffee and we visited until it was time for me to meet Grace and Jill for lunch. He gave me a $2 Australian lucky coin. 🙂 I ran into Silvio and Rennie a couple more mornings at the café and he was so appreciative, he bought me breakfast as a thank for the first day. He had even gone for an initial appointment with Dr. Sunil after I told him why I was in Thailand, however, he decided to come back another trip with his wife to have the work done.

Saturday morning was my goodbye breakfast with Grace and Jill. They were heading to the airport at noon for a flight to Nan. I really enjoyed their company all week. I then headed out to explore the nearby canal. Neil had viewed the area with Google Earth and there appeared to be an obstruction across the canal a little ways down. On reaching the canal, there was a boat taxi dock that is nestled under the bridge. I walked to the right (southwest) on the sidewalk that runs all the way along the canal. Sure enough, a short distance down there was a lock across the canal and the Phrakhaong Pump Station. The canal had split at one point making an island in the middle of the canal that appears to be only accessible by boat or by a foot path over the lock on my side of the canal. Homes flanked the canal right up against the sidewalk, in some places with potted plants and drying fish overhanging the canal. I walked the sidewalk back and continued in the other direction (northwest). I came upon some fishermen and one proudly displayed his catch for me to get a photo. I then came to the end of the sidewalk, literally. The sidewalk just ended with no railing or barricade. One more step and I would have dropped into the water! Several yards beyond that point was a concrete pillar sunk into the canal supporting the overhead roadway bridge. It seemed clear the sidewalk had once gone farther but had been crudely removed when the modern roadway infrastructure was put in place.

On my way back through the Phra Khanong neighborhood market, I stopped at one of my favorite street vendors for dinner take away. She cooked up my single serving of Pad Thai on her shiny silver griddle. I couldn’t resist taking a series of photos. She got into it putting on her cap and posing. As I passed through the Food Court on my way home, they were setting up specialty vendor stalls for Saturday night. I bought a brownie for desert and a chocolate croissant for breakfast. I have to say the brownie wasn’t as good as the ones I make but the croissant was wonderful the next morning.

Sunday morning, to the sound of Mozart’s Horn Concerto from my tablet, I made breakfast in my room with fresh fruit from Jill and Grace plus the chocolate croissant and an avocado I bought the day before. I then ventured out to the large Bangkok Weekend Market, officially named Chatuchok Weekend Market, to do my souvenir shopping. Very easy access by taking the BTS to the end of the line where I emerged to enter a 35-acre flea market complex, broken into 27 sections with over 8000 stalls. They even have maps available to navigate the 8000+ numbered stalls. I spent a few hours shopping and people watching in one small area. One hint given on the websites was to remember the stall number if you think you will want to come back for more purchases because otherwise you are lost in the maze. I understood because I went back 3 times to the cotton scarf shop and one of the times I had to wander a little to find it. A few hours was my limit for shopping and crowds and heat. One of the most interesting realizations about this touring adventure was it’s the first time I was in a “tourist area” surrounded by foreign (international) visitors. I was used to my Thai residential neighborhood and local Thai shopping areas.

Dental Update

Monday evening was to be my final appointment to review all my work and I would get a disk of the x-rays and work charts. I thought I would be seeing Dr. Sunil but they took me upstairs to my oral surgeon. I complained about two places in my mouth still having a little pain and she checked my lower left wisdom tooth and said there was some infection in it. However, they don’t fill wisdom teeth, they pull them. I was taken back downstairs and waited to see Dr. Sunil. He checked and said both wisdom teeth need to be extracted and I said only one was infected. He explained that they take the pair when they extract wisdom teeth. Another quick decision, I was in Thailand to get all my teeth taken care of so I decided to have it done. Another trip to the money changers and I was back in the chair with the oral surgeon. She was concerned I might need to eat first because it was getting late but I said I had dinner before I came in. (I had learned from a few long waits in my past week.) Two more wisdom teeth gone and I was biting down on gauze again. When she found out I wasn’t taking any of the antibiotics, she practically begged me to take a course of them. I relented and took the strong ones for the 3 day course but the first thing I did was have Neil order Probiotics so I had them to take when I got home. I had a headache the three days I was taking the antibiotics and it quit the day I was done. Imagine that. I’m sure I would have been better off with the clove oil and ginger (both are antibacterial).

I went back Tuesday night 24 hours later for her to check the healing process. This time I had one place bothering me a little. She snipped the knot on one of the stitches and the pain disappeared. They set my final appointment for the following Tuesday night because they said coming in Wednesday at 1 pm right before I flew out was too early for an appointment. I was now free to head out of Bangkok for a week! Stay tuned to hear about train rides, waterfalls, and a floating bedroom.

Text and Photos by Nanette Harter

Photo gallery below:
If you are view this in a browser, clicking on any photo thumbnail brings up the full size photo with a description. To easily see them all, use the arrow buttons or keys to move through the full size gallery photos with descriptions. If you are receiving this in an email and don’t see a photo gallery below, please click into my webpage to view all the photos!