Seven small and sleepy villages, palm trees, bananas, temples and pottery: Ko Kret, a tropical looking island in Chao Phraya River, just 15 kilometres north from Bangkok, is a pretty place for a boat and walking trip, its quiet during the week and quite busy on weekends (Market on Sundays). One way up by boat takes one hour. You take the Chaophraya River Express to Nonthaburi and get there out at the last stop and walk to the street. Get into a Minibus to Wat Sanam Neua. Walk through the temple to the river pier. From here you can cross by ferry to Ko Kret.
The island is more than two hundred years old. It was created, when 1722 a canal was built to shorten the Kings sailing trips upwards Chao Phraya River to the capital Ayutthaya. Mon people who came down from Burma are living here for generations, and they are famous for pottery in kwan arman style and sweet Thai desserts. First they took the earth from Ko Kret to create pots. This led to erosion on the island. So by the years the base of the around two hundred years old Chedi of Wat Poramaiyikawat วัดปรมัยยิกาวาส was washed away, so today the Chedi is leaning towards the river.
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The Chedi of Wat Poramaiyikawat, leaning towards Chao Phraya River
At the temple in Mon style is also a small pottery-museum. The pots are known for their red-black glazed surface and design. If you are hungry: thera are many food vendors. The island is wellknown for Khao Cher: rice with chilled fragrant water and small side dishes. or you enjoy Tod mun pla nor gala, spicy fish cake with ginger. Or: Mon tempura: deep-fried vegetables, fish, shrimp in a banana-leaf. of course you find also restaurants.
If you take a bout tour around Ko Kret you see traditional thai houses. A walk around the island takes 2 to 3 hours. There are also motor cycle taxis. And you can even rent bikes.
Don't forget to be back at the ferry pier by sunset: then the last ferry is leaving. There is no hotel or guesthouse for staying during the night, but a resort: Baan Dvara Prateep is offering yoga and meditation courses with accommodation.
If you don't want to travel by yourself, then there is a tour every sunday operated by Chao Phraya Express Boat for 300 Baht.
“You not ride bikes here in Bangkok, no!” Many Thais will react like this, when you are preparing your bike for a ride through the town. And they will add: „Very dangerous traffic, very bad air“. And you will think about it and probably agree, that there will be no car, bus, taxi, tuk-tuk or motorbike, that won’t cut you off and that you will be pushed from the road or find yourself under a vehicle. And you’ll ask yourself: Do I really want to shorten my life?
Okay, now you have bean warned, now you know, that you need a guide. There are many tour operators, which offer bicycling in Bangkok. They help you discover the heart of the city – not the big roads full of traffic, but the small lanes, ancient temples and canals. You can discover Bangkoks green lung, Bangkrachao (also: Bang Kra Jao) with a floating market (only on weekends), or you cycle through Chinatown, then there are tours to Thonburi and to the countryside with rice fields and green tropical landscapes, you visit schools or a womens kooperative.
From Rama III Road to temples and Bangkrachao, the green lung of Bangkok Colors of Bangkok
From Rama III Road to a Buddhist temple complex, a sweatshop making sandals to an open-air Muay Thai school (kick boxing), a Burmese style (Mon) Chedi, and a local elementary school and to Bangkrachao, the green lungs of Bangkok Bangkokbiking
To the floating market in Taling Chan on Weekends: Bangkokbiking
The Saturday Night Tour:
The Bangkok Tourist Bureau has organised a guided tour every Saturday evening to landmarks around Bangkok including Sanam Luang, Wat Pho, Wat Suthat, the Giant Swing and the Democracy Monument. The cost is 290 Bahtper person including bicycle hire, a guide, snack, beverage and insurance. See a blog about this event: http://thailand.prd.go.th/ebook_bak/story.php?idmag=2&idstory=15 Contact: 1. Environment and Tourism Conservation Foundation, Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), 4 Ratchadamnern Road, Pomprap, Bangkok 10110 Thailand, Tel. 282-0524 or Fax. 282-2129. 2. Tourism Promotion Center, Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) Tel. 225-7612-4 or Fax. 225-7616. E-mail address: bangkoktour@hotmail.com
Thonburi, every first Sunday ot the Month:
The Bangkok Tourist bureau recommends a one-day cycling tour to explore Thon Buri, located on the other side of the Chao Phraya River. Stops include Sala Dhammasop Train Station, Maha Sawat Canal and Taling Chan Floating Market. The tour runs every first Sunday of the month. At 650 Bahtper person, the fee includes bicycle hire, a guide, two meals with snacks and beverages and insurance.
For more details, call 02-255-7612-4, fax: 02-225-7616, e-mail: bangkoktour@hotmail.com
If you dont’t want to go by tour but on your own, then you can also just rent a bike, for example here: Rent a bike
Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has published „A handbook featuring ten cycling routes in Bangkok“. You can obtain it from from Tourism Division, Culture Sports and Tourism Department, phone 0-2225-7612. Blogger Moffle has started describing these routes here:
Ian shows us his routes from Khao San Road and from Taling Chan Floating Market combined with boat rides on his Google Map. And he has more routes around Bangkok Noi on another Google Map.
Cycle routes in East Bangkok: The Khlong Cyclist has Google Maps showing routes on Khlong paths and quiet sois.
And here you find Bike-Shops in Bangkok Probike Cannasia Siamsuperbike Red Baron
Saengthong Bicycles Prachakaj Rd, Nonthaburi 525-1789, 526-4664
Viwat Bike Phahon Yothin Rd 552-8583, 972-3934
World Bike Ram Inthra Rd 946-4117-9, 510-1041
Sahapatt Bicycle 447-0169, 879-4259
Lan Luang Bikeshop Worachak / Chinatown 221-3775, 221-8545
And of course you need the Survival Kit of this blogger.
You can even find a bike path in Bangkok, at Narathiwat Road. But see, what happened to this Bicycle Path
And meanwhile there is a large bicycling rescoure: Bicycle Thailand with indexes of bike shops, bike tours, ride maps and Thailand cycling blogs.
A great historical travel site is Bangkok Legacies: Discover more about famous homes, traditional thai houses, communities, monuments, temples, shrines, old churches, little museums located in obscure corners of the city, roads, old hotels and the areas these hotels are in.
If you are looking for old Thai houses and want to know the differences between buildings from the different regions of Thailand, "Bangkok Legaces" gives you the informations to find them in Bangkok. For example you find a model settlement with life-sized replicas at Siam Niramit, a theatre in Din Daeng ดินแดง, where the visit to the village is included in the tickets for the show .
Houses in the design of the central region you find also here Home of M R Kukrit Pramoj, a former Prime Minister and writer, in Sathon สาทร.
A Lanna House (Northern Thailand) is Kamthieng House in Watthana วัฒนา. The 160 years old teakwood house built on wooden stilts is a museum run by the Siam Society, which edites the wellknown Journal of the Siam Society. Artifacts help you understand the the rural way of life in traditional agricultural communities in the North. Read background by siamese-dream.com
Then on Bangkok Legacies you learn, that an Italian, the sculptor Corrado Feroci, created many famous monuments in Bangkok as the Democracy Monument in Phra Nakhon พระนคร.
Not to forget: There ist a great overview of Bangkok Museums Here you find also not so well known institutions as the Folk Museum in Bangrak, a preserved family home, which shows the lifestyle in Bangkok in the early 20th century.
Last, but not least: if you are interested in traditional handicraft, Bangkok Legacies knows the directions. For example: The Pracha Narumid community of wood craftsmen in Soi Pracha Rat 24 in Bang Sue บางซื่อ is noted for wood carvings and carpentry. The Thai bronzeware makers in Baan Bu in Bangkok Noi you find near Bangkok Noi Museum.
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