ASIATIQUE

We finally made it to Asiatique, after it has been open quite a few months.  Better late than never.

Based on the river and two stops past Saphan Taksin, Asiatique is open from the late afternoon on.  You can get there on the regular ferry, which necessitates a 5 minute walk from the pier through a temple complex (which is begging for financial donations for the cremations of unclaimed bodies).  There is also a dedicated (and free I think) shuttle ferry, which stops at Asiatique's own pier.

It is a really large complex.  I'm not sure whether all the buildings are old, I doubt it, but I think some are.  It is full of shops and a couple of market areas.  The shopping reminded me of the old night market, but a bit more upscale.

Above shows the waterfront area, where there are some restaurants, and there is plenty more eating and drinking inside the complex.  Most of the food is Asian, but there is something for everyone (even me!).

We ate in the place to the far left in the picture below.  I had slow grilled chicken, which was basically bbq and a WHOLE chicken.  Two of us ordered this, so we came away with a big doggy bag!  This place was rather weird though in that it didn't have a dessert menu.  What were they thinking???

The whole area is very polar and crowded.  I think some of the places were a bit understaffed for the size of the crowds, but overall it was a great place.  I suspect, once it gets firmly on the tourist map, it will get a lot busier.  The cabs were lined up outside and wanted to charge us off-meter THB300, for the THB125 trip home.  I suspect the pain about visiting this place will be the cab journey home.

In our evening out we notched up drinks in three different venues, dinner in one and dessert from two different locations.  Not bad really.

Alan and I were in desperate need of those drinks after our journey along the river in the afternoon.  As we were travelling along a big wave entered our boat and about six or seven rows of us got absolutely soaked.  There were a couple of rows of trendy guys in front of us, speaking one of the Chinese dialects.  One of the guys and I saw the wave coming towards us and he shouted in an American accent "Ohhhh Shiiiit!" It was like slow motion as the water hit and so funny, what else could you do but laugh?  We were totally soaked and we were one of the last rows to get hit.  I have never seen this happen on the boat before, a small splash now and then, but not a big wave.  It took forever to get dry, even with the strong sun and sitting on the sunny side of the boat.  Goodness only knows what ghastly microbes we swallowed!