Don’t Steal Her Sunshine

"I don't even feel soft like Jello anymore!" Ailyn wailed as she had a mini-breakdown on the steps leading out of the Rachadamri Skytrain station. Though we hadn't spent most of the day in town, the sounds and chaos of Bangkok had worn on Ailyn's last nerve as we ended the day, bringing dinner home to enjoy in the quiet of our penthouse. 

Only an hour and a half before Ailyn had emerged from the Gold Hand Thai Massage Parlor triumphant after her first massage. "I'm in heaven!" she told Bailey and Emily while getting her massage. But within minutes of walking down the busy street leading to Siam Square, Ailyn broke down crying that Bangkok was taking away her relaxed feelings with all its chaos. Anyone who has ever spent time in Bangkok can relate. With all its wonders, Bangkok can quickly, easily and thoughtlessly take away your relaxed feelings.

Her brother to our surprise had a similarly positive reaction to his massage. "Daddy, how long is left?" "About ten minutes I think." "Oh, I don't want it to end!"

But Bangkok did not steal Sennen's sunshine. He walked out of the massage parlor happily asking about when they could next get a massage and could we do it two or three times in a day. I explained that we probably wouldn't do multiple times a day, but that a two-hour massage was possible to which he was very amenable. We now have that to look forward to.

Thai massage has always been one of both Emily and my favorite parts of time spent in Thailand and while in the past it has been the domain of the adults, Emily wanted to try sharing it with Bailey and then decided to offer it to the kids as well. So, after a day of touring markets in the Amphawa, we found a conveniently located traditional massage parlor and gave Bailey, Sennen and Ailyn their first massages ever. Concerned about how the kids would do, it was not the best massage Emily or I have ever had – but absolutely one of the most fun to watch them all experience and enjoy. Little did we know that massage withdrawal would come on so hard and fast for Ailyn.

Of course the fact that Sennen and Ailyn sprung out of bed at 5:15 am probably didn't help Ailyn's end-of-day outlook. But their early rising did make it easy to be ready for Charlie, our tour guide and my long-time Thailand travel agent to pick us up for a day of seeing the Amphawa Train Market and closely located Damnoen Suduak Floating Market. 

Because last trip we weren't able to make it to a floating market, it was top of Emily's list this time. Since we would need to drive 90 minutes either way, Charlie suggested we pair a visit to the largest floating market, Damnoen Suduak with a stop at the Amphawa Train Market – which like the name suggests, actually takes place on the train tracks running through the town. It turned out that this was he more interesting, or at least the more active and authentic of the two.

Besides the kitsch attraction of seeing people hawking their wares on live train tracks and scuttling out of the way with only two minutes to spare before the train passes through, the Amphawa market is a real local market filled with thais buying their fresh fish, produce, snacks and even mops and dishwashing scouring pads. Charlie escorted us to the segment of train track where the market begins and we literally walked along the tracks as the smells typical to a Thai or Lao market flooded our noses. Fish, bamboo, raw meat, chilis, spices, mangoes, fresh tofu, grilled meat, garlic, onions, fermented shrimp paste, dried squid and flowers took their turns dominating. Bailey took it all in. Sennen and Ailyn made it clear that they did not care for the smells – and after yesterday's encounter feeding and then being splashed by Thai catfish, he did not care for the buckets of barely alive catfish flopping around. But march through the market they did.

Once we reached the train station – which happens to be the terminus of the line – we turned left onto a street on which the market continued only with more snacks and prepared foods. To my surprise and delight, the ready-to-eat segment of the Amphawa Train Market had amply selections of khao neow mun (coconut sticky rice) and its refined incarnation sangkaya (coconut sticky rice with a slice of coconut custard most traditionally wrapped in a banana leaf package. Not only were there at least six vendors with these offerings, but some of them had the yellow cumin and the black sticky rice variants. I get excited about a good sangkaya on the best of days, but on my second full day in the Kingdom, there was little restraint in buying up some of the best of what I saw. After gathering enough items, we gathered eat the train station for a snack while awaiting the train. Watching and photographing the vendors quickly withdrawing their market and train passing through is the peak moment to a classic tourist visit and we decided to take it.

After that, we continued another twenty minutes to the floating market where we were astonished by the devastation of COVID. Because of the lack of tourists, far fewer vendors participated, particularly on a weekday afternoon. As we got in a small boat with our own personal boatman, we were immediately assaulted by snack vendors in oncoming boats. After getting some fried shrimp, pineapple and drinks,  we made our way past the food fleet to the canals of shops trying to get us to pull over and buy from them. Our boatman began bringing us to each vendor along the route until we (and by we, I mean me on behalf of all of us) had to start telling them we weren't interested in some of their wares. Most of these vendors sold tourist items like wood carvings, sarongs, Thai pants and artwork. I realized that while we needed and wanted almost none of their offerings, the vendors were desperate to aggressive because of how few tourist customers they have had over the past two years. So, we bought some stuff that didn't really interest us. But it was a good feeling to support people clearly trying to make ends meet.

Once through all the open vendors, our boatman gave us a tour of the the local, jungly khlongs. The Amphawa area is lush green filled with coconut tree groves, lush grasses and water plants everywhere. Beyond the market was a world of traditional Thai teak houses in a setting that looked as much like 200 years ago as it does today. It took no imagination to understand what Amphawa might have looked and felt like without throngs of foreign tourists – especially when we found ourselves face-to-face several times with sunbathing monitor lizards.

After a nice lunch, a Sennen question-laden car ride back to Bangkok, massages and ordering food in the adjacent mall, we headed home to enjoy dinner with my friend Jay who I worked with – and at one point lived with – in Bangkok 20 years ago. Jay has lived in Thailand for at least 25 years now and is getting ready to move out of Bangkok in favor of a quieter life in the northern regions. He wants to feel more soft like Jello than Bangkok has afforded him. So the timing of our visit was perfect. He joined us for a disjointed meal of a variety of Thai specialties gathered from the food court and a Thai restaurant in the Siam Center mall. A very tired Ailyn had decided that the soup she chose wasn't good and traded item after item trying to find one she liked. So, the table became a rotating swirl of rotating food packages until all had something they liked to eat. And even then, some additional horse trading took place. 

Despite the controlled chaos, the visit with Jay was fun as we caught up and reminisced while in the background Sennen attempted to give his sister a Thai massage. Ailyn giggled and belly laughed as Sennen attempted his moves and dealt with a client who would not follow instructions or guidance. When it wasn't going well, Sennen admitted, "Look, I'm doing all of this with no training at all!"

In the end, it was a fun day for all. Tomorrow we plan to take on the Grand Palace and Wat Pho (home to one of the world's largest reclining Buddhas). Perhaps we'll try another massage, go to a night market, see a movie, take a swim or maybe get to see Jay again. But whatever we choose, we now know that no one remains soft like Jello for long in Bangkok.