Our guide met us at our hotel bright and early at 9 this morning. Our itinerary for today is to visit the train markets followed by the floating markets. I hadn’t realised that the Maeklong train markets were over an hour away from where we are staying. Fortunately we were in a private Toyota van which was all decked out for a party. The kids loved the mirrors and gold decorations all around and the super size speakers.

We arrived at the Maeklong station about 30 minutes prior to the scheduled train. We walked through all the shops that were set up right up to the train tracks. They sold a variety of products ranging from fresh meat and fish, vegetables and fruit, as well all trinkets and souvenirs. Our guide took us to a cafe right at the start of the live where we would have the best vantage of the arriving train. As the time got closer it was funny to watch all the shopkeepers start to pack up the front of their stalls. Some of nonchalant and were still folding down the awnings with less than a minute to go. I guess when you have to do it 4 times a day, you get pretty used to it.

From here we drove another 30 minutes to the Floating Markets. These markets apparently trace their origins back centuries to a time when the region was heavily forested and roads were virtually nonexistent. Local populations formed “amphibious communities” along the Chao Phraya River basin, relying completely on canals (khlongs) for transport, agriculture, and daily survival. While some locals still frequent these stalls most exist solely for tourists. We stopped at a couple of stalls and needed to be pulled in by the shopkeepers. We had some local ice cream and got some food for the fish.

On the way back the guide asked us if we wanted to stop by an animal sanctuary which wasn’t part of the original tour. We stopped at a place called the Chang Puak Camp and bought a package that included a crocodile show, an elephant show and an elephant ride. As it’s not peak season for tourists we were some of the only people at the sanctuary and each of the shows commenced immediately after we arrived.

The Crocodile show included the guides dragging the crocodiles to the center of the pool and then putting their arms, head and body inside the open mouth. It was actually quite upsetting to watch as they kept hitting the crocodiles with sticks, who seemed to be quite dozy. Moreover, dragging them by their tail to move them around seemed quite inhumane.

The Elephant show wasn’t much better but we did get the chance to feed the elephants a bunch of bananas at the start. They seemed to be a bit better cared for and the guides treated the animals with a bit more respect. The elephants (one male and a female) did a dance, played soccer, did hula-hoops and finally even made a painting. Emily and I went up on the stage with the elephants and did some tricks with them as well.

Finally we had a ride on one of the elephants which was the most enjoyable experience. Except for when they decided to walk through a swamp and it felt like we might fall in. Emily and I went on one while Bron took Thomas on another and it was about a 15 minute ride. Halfway through the mahout tried to flog us cheap trinkets including a good luck necklace with an elephants tooth – hopefully not one from the animals in their care.