On our fourth (and last!) day in Thailand...

...we took a riverboat to a floating market.

Many people suggested we take a tour since it is a little difficult to get to the floating market from Bangkok--plus many tours make stops at a coconut farm on the way. In our case, I can definitely say taking a tour is not a good idea, as it was ridiculously overpriced, there was a time limit, and--among other things--there was no coconut farm stop!

Despite the many failings of our little day package, we still had fun.

Here we are on the colorful riverboat headed to the market.

Below is the view from the riverboat.

After arriving, Chad's first impression was, "Ohhh, tourist trap." And I got that. It's hard not to with all the kitschy souvenirs and call-outs to foreigners. But at the same time, you could catch the tradition and community of the trade, and that was very appealing to me.

Above you can see some shots of the market, as well as a vendor who made us soup right from her boat.

Here, Chad is buying Thai coffee (it was very sweet!)

Ahhh, one of my favorite parts: coconut milk from a coconut cracked open right before our eyes!

On the long ride back to our hotel, most of the group fell asleep. It was quite surprising when suddenly, in the middle of Bangkok, the van driver pulled over on the side of the road and told us all to get out. In my sleepy confusion I just sat in place. Where were we? What was going on? Why wasn't he taking us back to our hotels?

He just kept saying, "Get out. I'm done here." Of course, everyone was pretty taken aback, not to mention pretty angry considering the amount of money we had all paid to be taken to and from the market. Chad convinced the man to pay for a taxi--thank goodness. (Our hotel ended up being about a 25 minute taxi ride from where the tour driver had stopped!)

All in all, it was a pretty interesting day, to say the least!