3. Tag

Today was adventure day! We had booked a tour in advance via “Get your guide” that included sights that we definitely wanted to see in Bangkok.

The meeting point for the tour, led by a guide, was at 9:00 a.m. in the “modern” part of Bangkok. We set off from the hotel with a GRAP at 7:15 a.m. (time buffer is always good; you don't know how heavy the morning traffic is here). 30 minutes later we reached our destination. We thought. Upon closer inspection of the tour description, it was the end point of the tour and not the meeting point at the start. Well, anyone who can read has a clear advantage (perhaps the description was written a bit confusingly).

Doesn't matter. Daniela kept her nerve and just said “it’s good that we left earlier”. A new GRAP was quickly ordered and 10 minutes later we were on our way to the correct meeting point, which was 3 km away. Arrived an hour early, but no matter. So we were able to enjoy the impressions that the area offered with an iced coffee.

In contrast to the surroundings of our hotel, the modern part of Bangkok we were in was reminiscent of New York's Manhattan with its skyscrapers and four-lane highways.

At exactly 9:00 a.m. our group of 10 was loaded into a minibus by our friendly guide Kitty and off we went on a 1.5-hour drive to the first station. Station in the truest sense of the word, because it was the “Ban Kalong” railway station where we changed to a train on the “Maeklong Railway Line”. Then we went 5 stops to the actual destination, the “Railway Market” of the same name.

The interesting thing about this market is that the train passes directly through the market and the vendors have to clear their stalls every time so that the train can pass. Our guide took us to a restaurant where we sat directly on the tracks or stood on the benches when the train came to take photos or be photographed by the passengers. Immediately after the train passed us 10 cm away, all the stands were rebuilt and the bars put their tables back on the tracks. Worth seeing!

The schedule had to be adhered to and so our bus soon moved on to the next attraction, the “Floating Market of Damnoen Saduak”. Here tourists are sailed in small motor or rowing boats through a canal system, with traders on both sides of the river selling their goods, such as exotic fruits, fruits and vegetables, souvenirs and, above all, food stalls that prepare all kinds of Thai dishes and snacks directly on the boats. Very touristy, but you also have to see it.

The third and last stop on our tour was back to the city to visit the famous “Mahanakhon SkyWalk”. We discovered that our driver must be the Toyota factory driver who is training for the 1st Formula 1 Grand Prix in Thailand. In the “King Power MaHa Nakhon”, the second tallest building in Bangkok, as we already knew from our short visit in the morning, you can not only stand in the air on a glass floor at a height of 314 m, but also have one on the open-air viewing platform Incredible view over the whole of Bangkok. A fascinating experience and a crowning conclusion to a really recommendable tour.