Satani Bat Bi: Chao Phraya River Boat

We took the Chao Phraya river boat for a trip the other day.  If you take the Chao Phraya TOURIST boat, you're looking at a "pricey" 80 baht per person (approximately $2.60).  But if you take the Chao Phraya express boat, it's only 15 baht per person ($0.48) for the entire length from stop 1 to stop 15 (approximately 40 minutes).  We headed up to Khao San Road, mainly to take in a longer tour of the river, but also to see what the backpacker-ish, tourist-y part of Bangkok is like.

Looking up the boat at our fellow passengers:

Fellow river traffic.  The rings of flowers hanging from the bow of the boat are generally for luck, to bring good spirits, safe travels, etc.  Some are more elaborate than others.

At a river boat stop.  It's not only me that's into energy drinks (witness the bottles of blue Thai red bull on the ground by the ticket taker - Red Bull got its start in Thailand.  The current US-based formula isn't available here, but rather a non-carbonated, much sweeter version.

River traffic.

View from our aisle to the other side and out to the river.

On both buses and boats, there is a ticket taker/checker.  This woman in the orange either makes sure you bought a ticket at the pier, or charges you for the boat fare.  Since these boats can hold up to 150 people with 20-30 people getting on/off at each stop, my hat is off to her in how she keeps track of everyone!

Wat Arun in the distance.

In the US you find American flags everywhere (car dealerships, crossing state lines, baseball stadiums, etc.) - here you find portraits of the King, Queen, and Royal Family. I believe this was at the Naval Academy.

Passing a river boat cruise in the evening.

Almost home!