Day 2: Our goal - The Floating Markets! With great fortune we had ourselves some local tour guides; the sister and mother of my long time Thai friends, who now live in Sydney.

The morning saw us head for the BTS sky train to Bang Wa. Despite somehow starting off in the wrong direction, we quickly got ourselves on the right train line. From there, our guides (Por and her mother) drove us the rest of the way to the Khlong Lat Mayom Floating Markets.

First things first. Iced Tea. With glee we watched as the stall vendor exercised his fast pouring skills, proudly putting on a show while mixing up the milky iced concoction. The result? Delicious - or "aloy" as we learnt to say. Coming with it's own easy to carry plastic bag handle, this refreshing drink was the perfect start to what was to become a feast of foods over the next several hours.

After navigating through the first set of stalls - with smells of cooking meat, charcoal and spices tantalising our senses- we sat a low table on stools not 6-inches off the ground at the waters edge. "What noodles do you want?" Asked Por, pointing to a sign hoisted above a long wooden boat floating to the side.
"Tom yum" I replied excitedly.
"Boat noodles" said Xi. After a quick 5 minute flurry, the meals were presented in front of us. "Aloy" we exclaimed after our first tastes, proudly showing off our new word. And it was. Next came an oyster omelette, fish cakes and deep fried spring onion gelatinous dumplings. What can I say? AMAZING!!!

The fun continued. As we had been eating we noticed the balls of catfish in the water - hundreds of them swirling and thrashing in a knotted mass. Por ushered us to a stall where we were each given a bucket with three live fish. A small eel (representing money), a baby catfish (for business) and a small red fish (for family). Feeding them to the wild and greedy catfish would give fortune and blessing in these areas. We did so, much to the amusement of Por and her mother, who then brought us four loaves of bread to continue the fish feeding frenzy. I loved it!

Next, more stalls. We suddenly realised how big this place was. Halfway down we stopped for an early dessert - half a coconut with ice cream, ginkgo, sweetened date-like fruits, a rice/gelatine bean, pumpkin and sweet potatoes.

Another table, and some satay skewers. Por and her mother claimed they were already full so Xi and ate the lot, whereupon we were warned not to fill up as there was more to come. Walking through the stalls we each bought a small colourful fan, snacked on refreshing green guava pieces and looked at the markets.

Into the car and on to the next stop - a somewhat rundown wooden building with plastic chairs and electric fans pointing in all directions. We sat, Por ordered in Thai, and before long out came the dishes. 1. Fried shrimp - enormous by the way. 2. Tom yum goon soup. 3. Swimmer crabs. Aloy! It took a while but we made it through most of it with Por and her mother peeling the shellfish and handing us more and more meat to push into our already swelling tums. Finally we had to stop. It had been all so good, but oh so much! Thank you - kawp Koon ka!

Back at the station and we were handed several bags of food to take home, including Kanom tom, sago desserts, fish cakes, durian chips and fruit. Phew!