Today we got up at 5.30am, had breakfast as soon as it opened at 6am and then got ourselves ready and down in the foyer to be picked up for our tour to the Maeklong Market and the swimming monkeys. It was pouring with rain so probably a good day for a tour rather than walking around Bangkok.

After picking up another person from their hotel we drove for about 2 hours out of Bangkok to Maeklong. The market there is on the train lines so when a train comes through they move their stalls off the train line to allow the train through then set up again once the train is gone. This has become a major tourist thing over the past few years according to our guide so there were hordes of people there and all with umbrellas ensuring no one saw much of anything when the train came through. Once the train arrived almost everyone left except for our group as we boarded the train and travelled back towards Bangkok through the market which was quite good.
 
After the train ride we met up with out minibus and drove on to some canals which went down to the sea. We eventually boarded a longtail boat and went down the canal to a place where a group of monkeys swim out and you feed them fruit by throwing it into the water. There were about 2 dozen monkeys there, when you arrive there is a couple on the shore then when the food comes out they come running out from the trees and are everywhere. One almost made it onto the boat but was denied by the boat driver who knocked it back into the water with an oar.
 
We then moved on past groups of schoolkids planting trees on the mudflats to prevent the land being swallowed up by the sea and then on further to some bamboo structures in the middle of the water where people apparently spend the night on certain tours. They didn't look very comfortable. The boat then returned back to the place we started and we got back into the bus and drove a short distance to a restaurant for lunch. The menu was all in Thai so the guide ordered some dishes to share and we were told we had to pay for our own drinks. S said all she'd eat was fried rice with no prawns so our guide tried to order it only to be told they didn't make fried rice. The guide then ordered some dishes and the waiter walked away. S then explained that she didn't eat fish or mushrooms and said she was allergic to fish and seafood. The guide then panicked as it appeared he'd ordered every fish dish on the menu so he ducked off to order some fried chicken, fried mixed vegetables and some other chicken dish so S had something to eat.
 
The first few plates came out and they were all fish dishes which were quite nice. Then the fried chicken and something that looked like small chicken dim sims so S ate the fried chicken and everyone else helped themselves. Then the fried mixed vegetables came out. It looked like a plate of sautéed mushrooms! Dessert was some mixed Thai sweets made from pumpkin, tapioca, coconut and banana which were different but very nice. After lunch we got back on the bus and headed back to Bangkok.