Water, Water, Everywhere, And Not A Drop To Drink

It would appear that we brought the rain with us from China. We had thunderstorms most of our stay in Bangkok. One broke while we were on the boat taxi. Everyone helped to hold the side tarps down but the wind ripped it from their hands and punished them with sprays of river water. Then, the ceiling above our seats started pouring water, soaking us further. The hot, humid weather was tempered by the rain though, so we welcomed it with sweaty open arms. The highlight of the city was a trip to the floating market. Long ago, commerce was carried out mainly by boats. Now, it is more for tourism but it is still quite an experience. "Keep your hands in the boat at all times" we were told, several times, since the excitement of so many photo ops kept me quite unruly. It was more like bumper boats since river alleyways teemed with buyers and sellers, all afloat. If there was an item we wanted to peruse, we motioned, and a hook appeared, pulling us alongside. Everything was for sale, clothes, hats, trinkets, beer, coconuts, fried bananas, fruits I had never seen before. Some boats had kitchens where you could buy fried noodles, meat on a stick, and my new favorite, mango with sweet sticky rice. It is a classic Thai dessert, the recipe of which you shall have shortly.

After the market, we rode elephants!! What beautiful creatures, massive and gentle with such intelligent eyes. They greeted us with their trunks, investigating. Ours was a 35 yr old female named Lunjin. She was pregnant! Did you know elephants can live to be 100? Our guide let us sit behind her ears for awhile. I took my shoes off and rubbed behind her ears with my toes. She flapped against my legs and responded to my nudging knees by going left or right. Her head was covered with long coarse hairs like a stiff brush. The ride was only 30 minutes, but the memory will last forever.