Samut Songkram

December 5, 2024 to December 6, 2024

It was a bit of a slog into the wind as we headed back to Samut Songkram, thankfully mostly on quiet roads. Unfortunately the last few kilometers unpleasant because we hadn't worked out a way to avoid the highway and the bridge over the Mae Klong being under the mistaken belief that the ferry across the river was no longer operational. But more about the ferry later.

We had one good birding stop, initially to look at Black-headed ibis but striking it lucky to pick up a Spotted Redshank amongst the many Black-tailed Godwits that were also there.

Black-headed ibis (Threskiornis melanocephalus).

The hotel we picked is only a couple of hundred meters from the railway market. I wasn't expecting much but it is quite serviceable and good value for money so we decided to spend two nights here.

In the morning we headed off to the Aphiwat Floating Market about seven kilometers away. It was like a morgue and we thought that it had ceased to exist. We hadn't done our research because it turns out that the market is only operational from late in the afternoon. So to use up the morning we visited the wat next door and then another a few kilometers away.

The vendors' boats lying unused on the quayside.

Despite the market being closed we were hounded incessantly by touts trying to temp us into a long tail boat trip.

Wat Aphiwat has some lovely murals, depicting various royal occasions from the nineteenth century.

One of the trips the long tail boats offer is to Wat Pummarin Kudeethong. The original temple was built in 1888 but was washed away in floods and rebuilt in 1925. It fell into disrepair and in 1995 it was dismantled and restored. Apparently the wooden structure was built without the use of any nails.

The wat had this interesting little statue of Ganesh, covered in gold leaf and a multitude of coins.

The road to the floating market had been dreadful and so we were determined to find an alternative route back to our digs. The day before, much to our surprise, we had seen the ferry operating so we worked out a route that would take us south of the river and avoid the traffic. If only we had known about it beforehand!

Tomorrow we're going to take the series of local trains from here to Waing Yai in Bangkok because we don't see any point in struggling on busy highways.

Today's ride: 71 km (44 miles)
Total: 2,706 km (1,680 miles)

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