klong walks

I'm sure I've mentioned the klongs before on this blog. 

They're the canal system Bangkok was originally built upon, the fastest way to bypass traffic, and host to some of the most vile smells ever encountered. Our house nearly backs up to one. 

You can take the long way: down a busier street and up a quiet soi, past the cock fighters. 

Or the short route: over a ladder, through a trash pit, past the chickens on and straight onto the klong. 

I've been running along the klong for the past year or so but lately we've started taking the kids there for some walks and local Thai culture. Eliot loves to take her bike. Violet is not allowed to take her bike. Thanks to our ten bag luggage allowance, she just got a new bike for her birthday (a month late, but better than the two months late that she got batteries for her Christmas present). After riding it up and down our street at lightning speed, she announced she was ready to ride down to the klong. Dream on, my little speed demon

We don't normally take Scooter as he sometimes has a hard time walking down to the end of our driveway, but one day Rocky insisted on taking him. Eliot wanted to stay home and play with her friends and when she saw Scooter on a leash, the wheels in her head turned, she asked discerningly, "So I only have to go as far as Scooter wants to go?"

She and I both were in for a surprise when he spryly did the mile and a half loop. I had clearly misjudged him. Turns out when adamantly encouraged by Violet, he can also go up stairs, this is incredibly disappointing.

 We've also been taking advantage of the fast transport on the klong to get to T ball practice. By car, with traffic, it's about 1-1.5 hours away. By river boat it's 20 minutes. Not a hard sell. Besides Eliot and her T-ball BF love taking the boat.

Except that it never comes to a complete stop and we are always at the mercy of those around us. Thankfully the Thai people are incredibly helpful and there are multiple people that help lift the girls in and out of the boat. Not before they start frantically screaming, "Don't leave me! Don't leave me!"

 Eliot's favorite thing about the klong is getting drinks. Here she is drinking the traditional way. You buy a glass bottle of soda, and they dump in into a bag filled with ice. She still talks about this orange soda. Though she's mainly fixated on it's demise, "Remember that time I got an orange drink in bag. Then I fell down and it all spilled out. I really want another one."

I've learned throughout our moves,  one of the best ways to love where you live is to fully take advantage of the unique benefits of the community and location you're in. And for us that means walking to the klong and buying banana rotti (basically a fried crepe filled with bananas and cream), drinking soda in a plastic bag and watching the boats go by.