Okay, the title is a bit cliché, but what else could I call a story about Spice Roads’ Bangkok Jungle tour? This was one of those trips that I’ve been meaning to do for some time, so when I found out today’s trip was for charity, I thought the time was right.

For those that don’t know them, Spice Roads is one of Southeast Asia’s largest organizers of bicycle tours, and they’re based in Bangkok. Most of their trips are several days in length, allowing you to see some of the "real" Thailand (or Vietnam, or Cambodia, etc.) The quot;Bangkok Jungle" tour is one of their few half-day trips. More than that, the tour allows you to see a part of Bangkok that very few tourists ever see. For that matter, a lot of Bangkok residents don’t know about it.

The tour starts, somewhat incongruously, just out side the entrance to Bangkok’s port area. After a short briefing from the guides, we set off down a busy street. We only have to go a couple of blocks before we veer into a narrow alley which leads to a ferry dock on the Chaophraya River. Across the river is our real destination, an area of Bangkok called Bang Krajao. If you look at a satellite image of Bangkok, Bang Krajao is that green nob almost complete encircled by the Chaophraya River.

The bikes and the cyclists are loaded into a long-tailed boat for a short trip across the river. Then it’s back on the bikes for a tour through the "jungle". To be honest, it’s not really a jungle. "Farm" would be a better term. It seems that this is where most of the house plants of Bangkok are grown. You soon see that this entire area is fairly swampy, the residents of the area have formed the earth into long mounds surrounded by water. On these mounds they grow bananas, other fruits and an amazing array of colorful decorative plants sold in markets all around Bangkok.

After traveling down a small "country" road for a while, the guide turns the group off onto a narrow walkway. These walkways consist of concrete planks less than a meter wide elevated two meters or more above the swampy ground. These walkways criss-cross the entire area, and a good part of the tour is spent navigating them.

Not that we spend all the time on our bikes. The first stop, after about 20 minutes’ ride, is the weekend "floating" market at Ban Nampeung (which translates to "honey village"). The market is only open on Saturday and Sunday, so it’s only a stop on the tour on weekends. The market is next to Wat Nampeung Nai, right on a wide canal. Unlike the much more famous floating market way out in Damnoen Saduak, this market is definitely not for tourists. Aside from the half-dozen or so of us from the bike tour, the market is full of Thais. The stalls of the market are mostly selling food, either meals or snacks. There are traditional boats on the canal, but most of them are being rowed by young Thais who have rented the boats from a stall near the temple.

After we explore the market for a while, we set off again for a short ride to our next stop, a small incense factory. The factory is actually set in a traditional Thai house, and is a project to help improve life in the community by giving people another source of income.

The tour continues with us biking along the canal back to the river and on to another temple, where we stop to eat some snacks the guides have purchased while we were at the market. From there we cycle on a bit more until we reach Sri Nakorn Kuenkhan park, a large open space full of lakes and trees. We have another stop here, although some stay on their bikes to explore more of the park, and then from here it’s a short ride back to the pier on the river where we started.

The Bangkok Jungle tour is a delightfully different way to see a side of Bangkok most people don’t get to see. Even if you don’t want to get on your bike, I’d highly recommend a visit to the market at Ban Nampeung. You can get there by taxi on any weekend.

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Posted by michael under Just back from...
Tags: Bangkok • Bicycle • Markets • Thailand • Tours
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