KMK: Bangkok – The River and Queen Mother Park

The Mae Nam Chao Phraya River cuts a swath through Bangkok allowing easy access to the north and south of the city during heavy traffic jam days. It’s a big old lazy sprawling river, much like the Mississippi but possibly a tad muddier. My first river adventure happened because a random guy on the street spotted me struggling with a map. I explained I was trying to find my way to the Royal Palace.

He suggested I take a river cruise instead of the taxi because I would be able to see so many tourists’ spots along the route. He also, or so I thought, kindly waved down a tuk tuk driver with instructions to take me to a dock where the tours would be half the usual price.

Dumb me, I fell for it. I’m a sucker for smiling kind faces and packed me into a tuk tuk and waved me off to my river cruise of financial ruin. After a speedy tuk tuk ride I was led onto a nondescript pier with some guys and gals hurriedly explaining all the marvelous sights awaiting my feasting eyes for only a small measly 2,000 baht. I paid, jumped on the boat, sped up the river taking in the sights of the city. We stopped at the Queen Mother Park.

The stop off was okay. I figured it was wetting my appetite for even more glorious sights. However, after the river tour dropped me off at the next stop, Wat Pho, it mysteriously disappeared. So basically I paid one hundred times more for what a simple river taxi would’ve cost.

The river is one of the great ways to travel in Bangkok just make sure you mind the scammers and charlatans and you’ll come out better than I did.