reader Posted April 12, 2018 Posted April 12, 2018 From NYTimes Temples, floating markets, candlelight cruises, massages: you can create your own water-themed tour. The boat ride on the Mae Klong River in central Thailand was billed as a firefly cruise, but there was no sign of the blinking bugs a half-hour into our nighttime ride. We were on a narrow, wooden craft in Samut Songkhram, a small province about an hour southwest of Bangkok with a dozen other tourists in pairs on wooden benches. The engine roared as we plowed through the glossy, black water. The only lights came from the balconied hotels and elevated pagodas on the shore, and from a temple with a startlingly large and hunched black Buddha, in a golden robe with glinting white eyes. Then, as we rounded a bend and the skipper cut the engine, we drifted toward a twinkling stand of trees, the spindly limbs seemingly strung with strands of white Christmas lights. The fireflies weren’t floating around, but were parked on the branches, flickering in unison. For the next 20 minutes, the boatman steered us from bank to bank, drifting past the silent light shows, the stars so bright it was hard to distinguish their twinkle from the luminescence of the insects. Thailand may be famous for its tropical isles and aquamarine seas, but select rivers and canals in the country’s core offer opportunities for some astonishing adventures as well. Several major rivers like the Chao Phraya and the Mae Klong course south into the Gulf of Thailand, with dozens of tributaries and canals connecting along the way. Continues with photos https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/10/travel/thailand-river-tour.html ChristianPFC, DivineMadman, KhorTose and 1 other 4 Quote
ChristianPFC Posted May 6, 2018 Posted May 6, 2018 I went to the floating market once, it's an awful tourist trap. But fireflies are interesting, might go again for these. Quote
Guest abang1961 Posted May 6, 2018 Posted May 6, 2018 As far as I remember, the Singapore River back before 1984 was as dirty and smelly as any water channels in Thailand. What the then-Prime Minister, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew decided this has to come to an end. He moved the bumboats to the western part of Singapore and purify the water altogether. Even with Singapore's well-known efficiency, the entire project to clean the Singapore River took 10 years. Hence despite all my trips to Thailand, I avoid any floating market knowing too well that the stench is too much to stomach. They can clean up the river first and then bring back the boats and market and the tourists. No one with the RIGHT mind will do a second visit after that initial shock. Look at the colour of the water - perhaps if we can find fishes swimming in them..... Quote
ChristianPFC Posted May 7, 2018 Posted May 7, 2018 I don't remember a smell of the water there, neither do I of Saen Saep canal. Have to pay attention next time. The picture shouts "tourist trap". Quote
Guest Hutchison Posted May 8, 2018 Posted May 8, 2018 As far as I remember, the Singapore River back before 1984 was as dirty and smelly as any water channels in Thailand. What the then-Prime Minister, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew decided this has to come to an end. He moved the bumboats to the western part of Singapore and purify the water altogether. Even with Singapore's well-known efficiency, the entire project to clean the Singapore River took 10 years. And Mussolini got the trains to run on time.... Quote
