Klong Tour. (With Videos! Look for the links!)

A "klong" is a small river or canal used for transportation. There is a system of klongs throughout Bangkok and reaching out into the neighboring provinces, and I recently took a 4 hour boat tour with some friends and some other people they know. We spread out over two long boats.

We started out on the Jabraya River, Bangkok's main waterway, but soon we were into the klong system and heading out of Krungtep (the Thai name for the province of Bangkok).

(My friends Laura and Ned sitting at the front of my boat).

The tour was hot, and smelly, and involved inhaling far too much exhaust from the "what's an exhaust system" non-design of the boats. They literally have car motors with no exhaust system whatsoever powering them.

And, I'm just thrilled that I had the chance to go. The tour provided a very different look at life in Thailand. See, in the same way that Manhattan is NOT representative of New York State, Bangkok is NOT at all representative of Thailand. For example, though by American standards the people in Bangkok are nice, when you get out of town you really see why they call Thailand the "Land of Smiles." It didn't take long before we were outside of Bangkok, and as soon as we were, people started to smile and wave. And smile and wave some more. (Note the remarkable combination of said "wow white people" waving, mobile phones, and extremely modest little wooden house).

In addition to smiling, they also stare. A lot.

Along the klongs, beautiful houses and humble little shacks exist longside each other. (Video!!!)

Mostly, though, there are the latter, with friendly people looking bored.

And bored, friendly looking dogs too.

As much as I love dogs, the highlight was the fish. The water is dirty and dark enough that you wouldn't realize there were many fish in the klongs, but this is what happens if you throw some bread into the water. (Video!!!)

And on that note, I'm outta here.