Travelling to and within Thailand / River Transportation
Until the early 20th century Bangkok used to have some of the charm of Venice, due to its many canals. Today, a flash of this charm is occasionally provided by floods after heavy rains when much of the city streets is knee-deep under water. Bangkokians take this flooding much lighter than for example the Manilenos in the Philippines, in spite of the economic loss and the inconvenience it brings. It’s probably because anyway, canals where here before roads - and actually, many of the roads are just filled canals (Klongs in Thai).
Many of the canals that have remained in Bangkok from the last century, sadly have deteriorated into sewers (they always also served that function but quantities were not as great, last century, and more waste was of an organic type). The city administration certainly would like the canals as clean as some mountain river; every now and then brigades of soldiers and prisoners are dispatched to clean up some Klongs, preferably in honor of the royal family.
As Thais have become remarkably environment conscious, it’s just a question of time until Bangkok’s Klongs will indeed be reasonably clean. But at the beginning of the 90’s this goal has not yet been achieved for the inner city Klongs.
The Klong network of central Thailand of course extends beyond the city boundaries of Bangkok, and out of the metropolis the Klongs are indeed charming. For the foreign visitor, these out of Bangkok Klongs are rather of importance as a sightseeing attraction than an alternative to roads for getting from one place to another.
In Bangkok itself, a number of waterways do play their role in the transportation network. Express boats ply the Chao Phaya River up to Nonthaburi, north of Bangkok. At many sites along the Chao Phaya, small ferries cross every few minutes between the Bangkok and the Thonburi bank. Klong taxis connect points that are accessible on waterways faster than road taxis can. River taxis can be hired at most piers along the Chao Phaya River.
However, many of the boat operators nowadays see themselves rather as providing a tourist attraction than a means of transportation. Prices must be negotiated, and tourists are likely to pay tourist prices.
Most Bangkok maps show the route of the Chao Phaya Express boats running between Bangkok’s Krung Thep Bridge and Nonthaburi. The Thai word for pier is Tha. Fares range between 3 and 11 Baht. At most piers one buys a ticket at a small box office.
While the Chao Phaya Express boats really are express, the romantic aspect of a ride on them has been starkly exaggerated by a number of tourist publications, including those of the Tourism Authority of Thailand. First the boats are pretty noisy as they are equipped with small but overheated engines which produce a dense grey-blue exhaust.
Second, the ride is pretty much a shaky affair. In the original version of this text we had written: "While we have not read about express boats capsizing, according news wouldn’t surprise us." As it happened, shortly before we went to print with the first edition of this handbook, a Chao Phaya boat did capsize. As reported in the Nation of November 14, 1991, a typical long-tail boat with about 40 commuters capsized on the Chao Phaya in the most travelled stretch between the Grand Palace and the Oriental Hotel in the early evening of November 13, 1991. According to the Nation of November 14, 1991, only 8 persons were immediately rescued while 30 were missing. As the Bangkok Post reported the following day, the bodies of 7 who had drowned in the incident were later discovered by frogmen. An exact death toll was not established as it was considered likely that a number of passengers had managed to swim ashore. Nevertheless, the accident proved that travelling in crowded Chao Phaya boats can be dangerous.
The third reason why trips on the Chao Phaya Express are rather unpleasant is the awkward boarding and getting out of the boat. The boats do not really park at the piers but just balance to stay close to them by applying the engines?"thrust reversers". Often the boat moves away from the pier before all passengers who want to get off are on land, or all those who want to be aboard have been accommodated.
Fourth, the express boats are often just as crowded as the buses, not only by Thai commuters but often also by groups of foreign visitors who have been sold this special adventure as a romantic sightseeing itinerary.
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