It's only an island because of a canal they dug in the early 1700's to speed up shipping traffic between Bangkok and Ayutthaya. Over time, erosion caused the canal to actually become part of the river, and now Ko Kret is a man made island.
You can only get there by a very short ferry ride, and there are only two wheeled vehicles allowed on the island.
And conveniently, it's located near the end of the new pink line monorail route that is close to our apartment.
We left the apartment at about 11:15am, and 17 stops later arrived at the Yaek Pak Kret station where we walked 1.5 kms to the ferry. It costs 3 baht (9 cents $USD, 12 cents $CAD) each to use the ferry!
Us, on the ferry with a Buddhist monk standing on the bow.
There are six different temples on the island.
It's only a two minute ferry ride.
There is a lot of this kind of thing.
Inside one of the temples.
There were two of these statues, and each one had a half full water bottle sitting at the base. There were other statues that had the same thing. Odd.
Fancy!
The walkways in the sort of touristy section.
It turns out that during the week, the island is very quiet. Most of the market stalls and restaurants are only open weekends. We were fine with this, except we were looking for some lunch and the options were limited.
Looking across to the Bangkok mainland side of the river.
There are a lot of little cafes like this overlooking the river, but most were closed.
The temples are open for visitors, but you are supposed to be well covered. No shorts or sleeveless tops. Ruth carries a sarong and a light long sleeve top for these occasions, so she went in by herself...
Buddha!
The famous leaning temple is located at a tour boat stop.
Lots of people at this stop while the boat is there.
As I said, there were not many choices for food, and we ended up with some kind of noodle soup. Probably the worst meal we've had. Can't win 'em all!
There is a walking/cycling path that leads around the island. The same path is used by the locals to access their homes. There are over 6,000 people living permanently on the island.
But don't think that this is some kind of island paradise... far from it. Most places are very run down, and most of the island is a swamp. With lots of trash, and trashy looking places.
We set off and did the 5.7 km (3.5 mile) route on foot, although bicycles are available to rent very cheap.
A huge Buddha on the opposite side of the river.
Another temple complex.
The older pathway.
The island comes across as very rural, considering the surrounding city.
Many places are very dumpy looking.
And as I said, swampy.
The lights on the walkway.
Lotus flower.
Bananas!
Ancient temple.
Another temple complex.
That big Buddha across the river has a reclining Buddha that is either being built or renovated behind it.
Another typical home.
Lotus flower not yet open.
Ruth, on the newer section of walkway.
This guy has a lot of flowers!
Unfortunately, there is also a lot of this!
There is this one nice area that stands out among the trashy ones.
Elephant statue.
Fancy entrance to another temple complex.
Fancy stuff!
Map of Ko Kret.
It was about 3:00pm by the time we got back on the ferry to go back to the mainland. We still had a twenty minute walk to the monorail station, and then another ten minute walk back to the apartment. Our feet were done! Once again, we registered over 21,000 steps, and the heat is exhausting.
We're glad we visited, but the whole area of Ko Krep is pretty ratty. It is interesting though to see how the people live though. Again, we're glad we went, but don't go into it with high expectations!
Today, we are headed back to the central area.
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The LifeStraw Personal Water Filter is still on sale near a record low deal price!
And in Canada...
There was an interesting segment on PBS Newshour the other day about rising water levels due to global warming and how Bangkok is being affected. Some people predict that the entire city will be underwater by the year 2100. Officials know they need to do something but no one seemed confident that a solution would be in place in time. One resident said you could only live in his area if you had a second floor. Maybe that's the reason that island is so swampy. It could also be that only people who can't afford to move are left and that's the reason it's kind of run down.
ReplyDeleteYes, we had heard the same but having said that the island gets regularly flooded due to the rainy season and most houses/buildings on the island are built on stilts or have a second floor that would be their living quarters and why the walkways are raised. I looked at pictures on Google street view and most of the street view pictures are from 2013 and things looked so much cleaner/whiter then compared to now and new places are still being built on the island, like that new garden that Kevin took a picture of.
Delete2100 is still a long way away but they definitely need to figure something out now in order to combat this issue. Obviously other cities have figured it out, such as New Orleans and Venice but now is the time for them to start working on it.
Looks like it was a fun day! Beautiful flower pics.
ReplyDeleteIt was an interesting day and an interesting place to visit. I loved the lotus flowers too, they were so pretty and so big!
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