Flicked on the Green Lung

Yes, I was flicked by a monk on the Green Lung.  
Last weekend a couple of friends and I visited a section of greater Bangkok called Bang Krachao. When you look at a map of Bangkok, Bang Krachao is the section where the Chao Phraya river snakes around like a horseshoe.  Nestled within a large bend of the Chao Phaya River, this green clump of rural Thailand is called Bangkok’s Green Lung, appropriately named not only because it’s a small lush jungle like area within the greater Bangkok region, enabling you to fill your lungs with clean air when you visit, but also the whole area itself closely resembles a green lung when you look at it from above. You can easily spot it by opening up a satellite image of Bangkok.

Crossing to 'the other side'

There are many ways to get to the Lung and we chose to take a long-tailed boat across the river. The Canadian Office of Boating Safety would have had a hissy there's-no-way-you're-getting-on-that-boat fit... no boating safety standards as we know them here, we just literary hopped on the boat and hung on for dear life during the crossover, weaving between tankers, random pieces of dead wood and clumps of unidentified floating junk. Actually, now that I think of it, we got on that boat without really knowing if the kid who was driving the boat knew where we were going, how long it would take us to get to where we did not know where we were going, and how much this kid would charge us for not bringing us to where we did not know where we were going. We could have ended up in Bangladesh for all it mattered. Luckily, we didn't.  The exhilarating crossover lasted all of 6 minutes and upon arriving at a makeshift wobbly dock, we were met by an enthusiastic welcoming committee of three people offering us bottled water, a map of the area, and the opportunity to rent one of their state of the art (circa 1947) bikes...all for 80 Baht! ($3). Although the bikes were granny bikes with uncomfortable seats, no gears and failing brakes, we figured that after having survived that boat ride, good karma was on our side and would carry us through our cycling touring on our jalopyed bikes.

Bang Krachao was originally a place where a small population of Burmese Mons, an ethnic group from Myanmar, came when they settled in Thailand. Today, this green space has the feel of a tiny country village. The peninsula is small and enclosed on three sides by the river, but packed with natural attractions and villages. Since much of this area of greater Bangkok is subject to flooding, and even half of the peninsula is marshland most of the time, in order for people that live there to remain dry, some have their homes built on stilts, and the walkways elevated, about 2 meters off the ground. All the roads are small, and rarely see much traffic. There are no large buildings, as the whole area is a heritage site. Lining the streets we saw quaint little traditional wooden houses and shops dotted in and amongst the many palm trees and flowers. The jungle air, full of chirps and buzzes, smelled of musty decomposing leaves. We rode among small villages studded with wood-framed cottages on stilts and through shady, swampy patches sheltered by towering palm trees.

Although we kept mostly to the main road thoroughfare, which is not that well marked on the map we were given at the beginning of the expedition, we did occasionally take a few raised concrete paths that slither through the forests and villages and run off into the jungle from time to time on either side of the road. A veritable jungle labyrinth, these narrow concrete elevated walkways branch, and branch, and branch some more, left, right, straight, right, right, straight, left, straight then the second right, then left, until you are completely lost. Not being the experienced cyclist as my two travelling companions, I often chose to walk my 2 wheeler jalopy on those elevated cement paths. They are only about a meter wide, quite high off the marshy ground, and a lot of the times don’t have guardrails...one missed turn and you could find yourself becoming intimate with an anaconda lurking in the swamp below.  Not really what I wanted to do.  

Bern and Lucie, the lone 'tourists'

As with anywhere in Thailand, cheap, delicious food is never far away. The local market, which I'm sure is the least touristy floating village market to still exist in Bangkok, was the final stop of our bike trek. The Talad Nam Bang Nam Peung is a large lively market full of great things to eat and drink, hand-made souvenirs to peruse, and clothes to buy. The open-air food stalls are set up next to a canal (hence, floating market I guess) serving sizzling stir-fries and fragrant curries to customers seated on low plastic stools. Scores of other thatched-roof stands selling fruit, vegetables, soaps and sweets crammed the covered walkways. This being a local market, all the prices are extremely reasonable. As this is not a common place for tourists, you won’t have to deal with overpriced products, annoying scams, or pushy salespeople. That in itself was very refreshing. 

And this is where a wizened saffron-robed Buddhist monk flicked holy water from a brush onto moi. Surprised, I turned to him and bowed my head in thanks. He instructed me to wai him, that is to bow with the palms of my hands pressed together in prayer-like fashion. Then he really let me have it with his brush which actually touched the top of my head. Maybe he was just toying with me, but I really thought that he had given me the full monty when it comes to blessings. I thanked the Monk, deposited a 20Baht note in his monk box, and, enlightened to the gills, rode back in silence to the wobbly dock where our Green Lung adventure had begun, hopped on the the same long-tailed boat that had brought us here, and as I departed this palm-choked, smog-free, government-protected verdant oasis, the seven aspects of the meaning of Right as well as the path to nirvana became clearer to me. I had a strong and sudden urge to run out and buy a 6/49 lottery ticket.