Almost have all the info we need (I think!). We arrive in Bangkok next week. First time visitors and would like to arrange a khlong "tour". Nothing fancy, but private, for a couple of hours.

I have been reading here and understand that boats can be had at the pier where the skytrain ends or at the piers for the larger hotels. But what I am kind of visualizing is a mass of boats all making the same circuit - the barge museum, etc, on auto-pilot.

I kind of think we'll do the major river attractions on our own some other time. I enjoy amateur photography and hope to just get some time seeing some of the daily life along the back canals. No pressure to actually go somewhere, but a market or such would be interesting if was mostly for the residents. Anyone have any good suggestions for a back canal route and more importantly, where and how we'd work with a driver to arrange a non-standard routing?

Thanks

Actually, there isn't really a mass of boats as they are all arranged separately. You rent a boat by the hour, so just tell the driver where you want to go and for how long. You can do this for yourself, and make sure the driver speaks enough english to take you there, or ask your hotel to arrange it.

Our tours have all been to no place in particular...on one, we just let the driver decide, another one was part of our bike tour with Amazing Bangkok Cyclist, and another time we just pointed to smaller and smaller klongs.

All were fascinating. You can also stop the boat and get out at temples and such if you hve the time.

there is one sort of standard tour but the drivers will take you almost anyplace you want to go...communications is sort of a problem so that is why having the hotel do the talking for you helps...

most thais have trouble with maps so showing them might not help...

i think you would be very happy with the standard thornburi tour...peninsula hotel side of the river... you will see some river life also....river life can be seen nicely from the marriott boat at taskim....free...just go to taskim and take it to the hotel and back

Thanks to you both for your time.

So the best approach would be to ask around at Taksim until we found an English speaking driver and let them suggest the route? I don't have one of my own as yet and not really looking for a destination as much as the trip itself. I'm sure that stopping at out of the way temples is something we'd like to do though.

So I guess maybe it is better just to go with whatever they do usually... just thought someone may have stumbled on a interesting diversion from the norm. I'll do a bit more research though before we go and thanks again!

Oh, and I do like the idea of pointing at smaller and smaller khlongs. lol. I just re-read that. In the absence of a map of the canals, I hope they found their way back out again ok.

I'd like to do this too, but I never have.

From what I remember, there are lots of touts at the peir near the Oriental hotel, some with big posters showing their routes, but I also remember the cost as being much higher than what's been mentioned here.

Recently, I read a Conde Nast article that there are public longtail boats. It says,
<i>&quot;At the Tha Chang ferry pier unknowing tourists are bundled onto expensive charted boats...along the Bangkok Noi canal to the town of Bang Yai. Ignore the insistant touts and head straight for the downriver side of the pier where public boats sail the same two hour itinerary-aboard the the same longtail style craft-for $2 per person each way&quot;</i>

Anyone know anything about this option?

Clifton,
I'm sending you a post I did in November after my first trip to Thailand when the klong tour question came up. See Below.

Author: 123Go
Date: 11/16/2005, 09:46 pm
jules39
I just took my first klong tour Monday of this week, so it's still very fresh in my mind. It was a great experience, very high on our list of what we enjoyed about visiting BKK. You can easily find a &quot;packaged&quot; klong tour anywhere along the river or at the market near the Grand Palace. There are several water taxi stops and at and around them people will spot the big &quot;T&quot; for tourist on your forehead and come up to you and show you a paper with a map of the river and the tours they can give you for one or two hours depending on what you want to see. Or you can just go to the water taxi stops and there are booths set up with assorted Klong Tourist trips you can purchase. You can also get a Chao Phraya Tourist Boat One Day River Pass or 100 Baht which is good from 9:30 to 15:00. You get a Travel Guide Book with your ticket that shows all the river piers, info about the sights you'll see and it also has a Skytrain Map.

Upon the advise in an old thread on this board rather than take the established tour, we took a water taxi to the Oriental Hotel Pier and asked the boatman there to arrange a private klong tour for us. He will ask where you want to go, how long you want to go for and where you want to be brought back to. He tells you a price, then gets you your own longtail boat and &quot;driver&quot; and tells him in Thai all the info you just discussed with him. Don't expect the driver to converse with you unless you know Thai. He's only the driver, not the guide.

We decided on two hours and there were 4 of us and it cost 500 Baht per couple for the trip. Based on info on my Fodors 2006, I asked to travel some smaller klongs and Klong Bankgok Noi and Klong Bangkok Yai, the Royal Barge Museum and a visit to Khoo Wiang Floating Market (but was told it wasn't open, not too sure about what that was about, but not knowing any better I said OK) and the Pak Khlong vegetable and flower market. Shortly after we began our tour the boat stopped at a pier and we were told to get out, we were not sure why but the driver said &quot;market&quot;. I thought it was a floating market but it wasn't, we got out anyway and decided to look around. It was obviously not a regular tourist stop but a large working market where goods were brought in and distributed. It was very interesting and photo worthy. Further along the street was the flower area which was quite beautiful. Since the Loi Krathong Festival was taking place that week (actual event was today, November 16!) the market was filled with all the makings for the floating flower offerings used for that celebration, quite beautiful.

Back on the klong we saw how the river people lived and worked and it was very interesting. With a stop to visit the Royal Barge Museum for as long as you want to visit. (you purchase your ticket for I think 30 Baht per person plus 100 Baht to take a still camera or 200 Baht to take a video camera inside the museum). It took exactly two hours to get back to the Central Pier where we planned to take the Skytrain for the second part of our day to visit the Central Shopping Area (but that's another story in itself).

We had a general plan on what we wanted to do, but don't get too hung up on details and make an exact itinerary b/c it doesn't always work out the way you plan it. Just go with the flow, no pun intended . Things don't always go exactly the way you plan them so if you fret about your plan and agonize over how and what to do, it's too stressful. Whatever you do will be a great experience.

Hope I wasn't too windy, but that this info will be helpful.
MaryAnn




Kristina,
I read the same article and brought it with me when we went in November. I didn't find anything the article was refering to and we decided not to waste our valuable time trying to check it out. We did the above and it all worked out fine.

123Go, thanks for that. I think I'd read that before, but then couldn't find it back! What you did is just what we're trying to do. Not that there's anything wrong with the established routes. I think we'll try the Oriental pier and see what happens.

Good luck Kristina, let us know if you find out what they were talking about.