Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
not for the occasional startling sight of a familiar Bangkok tower poking up from beyond
the trees.
Gateway to Phlaeng Faifa, one of the forts built to protect the Chao Phraya estuary.
A few years ago, two magnificent new bridges opened across the Chao Phraya at the
neck of the peninsula, taking the highway across the water next to SV City, with a neces-
sarily tightly woven cloverleaf junction between the two. At the same time the Lat Pho
shortcut canal, which had measured no more than 15 metres (49 ft) wide and 2 metres
(6.5 ft) deep, and which ran for just 600 metres (656 yds) across the narrowest part of
the isthmus, was widened to 65 metres (213 ft) as part of a flood alleviation scheme. The
bridges have rendered Bang Krachao more easily accessible, although as there is no reason
for anyone to go there, the peninsula remains as quiet as it was before the bridges—which
are called Bhumibol
I
and Bhumibol
II
, and which complete the inner and outer ring
roads—were built. (The bridges are cable-stayed spans with gigantic A-frames at either
end. The frames are an abstract rendering of the traditional Thai form of greeting, the
wai
,
a charming notion for anyone entering the city via the river, although sadly these days
this is generally confined to the crews of container ships.) There are three ferry crossings:
those from Wat Klong Toei Nok and Wat Bang Na Nok are for foot passengers and cyc-
lists, with landings directly on the island, and the third being a car ferry whose captain sits
in a tiny cabin atop a square tower at the stern, and which plies from Puchao Saming Phrai
Road in Samut Prakan to Phra Pradaeng. Near to Phra Pradaeng ferry pier and perched on
the river's edge is a row of restaurants known only to local Thais, and which afford mem-
orable views of giant container ships travelling to and from Klong Toei.
Phra Pradaeng sits on the west side of the thin strip of land where the Chao Phraya
almost meets itself, and is a crowded little town that seems to be not quite of Greater
Bangkok, a feeling enhanced by the cycle-rickshaws that still ply the streets. But there is
more than this: the temples are different, some of the older people dress in a different way,
and sometimes even the festivals are a little different, Songkran for example being held
a week later than in central Bangkok. This is Mon territory, settled after the fall of Ayut-
