A Day of Boats in Bangkok

A friend and his family are traveling in Thailand in June and asked if I would meet him somewhere on their trip. I initially said which place would be best to meet you and figured I would ride the bike up to Sukhothai or Chiang Mai and explore a little bit of the north after a visit. We chatted a bit while I was on my 3 week bike trip and the idea of a long ride to the north did not sound so appealing. We agreed on meeting for a dinner in Bangkok and a tour the following day.

I arrived in Bangkok before them and had some free time so decided I would try a new ferry service that has started running in Bangkok. This has been on my to do list for a long time with the service starting and stopping during covid and has restarted recently but I have not spent any time in Bangkok since moving to Pattaya. The boat runs from Hua Lamphong train station along the Phadung Krungkasem Canal to a pier near Thewarat Market and the lock to the Chao Phraya river.

I did not know it was more of a commuter service running only in the morning and the afternoons. I was lucky to catch the last service in the morning at 9AM. I did not get one of the electric boats that is one of the selling points of this service but got a diesel boat but other than a bit of noise it was still a fun ride.

A picture of the electric ferries at Hua Lamphong Pier.

A bit of the Phadung Krungkasem Canal.

Following is a short video I did of a minute of the ferry ride and currently this boat ride is free.



From the Thewarat Market Pier I walked over to Thewes Pier on the Chao Phraya river and caught my 2nd boat of the day taking the Mine Ferry service to Nonthaburi. This is a new service I was not aware of and it is an electric boat and only cost 20 baht.

The view from Thewes Pier towards the center of Bangkok and the Rama VII bridge.

The view from Thewes Pier towards Nonthaburi.

This is a 1 minute video of the ferry to Nonthaburi. Sorry about the reflection on the window of the ferry.



After arriving in Nonthaburi I caught a cross river ferry that would be my 3rd boat of the day. Once on the west side of the river I walked over to Chaloem Kanchanaphisek Park and enjoyed a stroll around the park and the views out over the river. The following picture is looking north from the park and at the Maha Chesadabodindranusorn Bridge.

The view from the park back towards the Nonthaburi Pier.

Following is my photo of Wiman Saran Nawamin the Thai style pavilion within the park.

I made my way back to the pier and caught my 4th boat of the day to get back across the river and then caught the 5th boat heading back into Bangkok. The ferry going to the center was more of the usual type of ferry on the river. I think they use to cost 13 baht but now the price on these ferries is 16 baht.

I did the short 1 minute video when my ferry was arriving at Wat Arun.



After a bit of a rest at my hotel I caught my 6th boat to cross the river to reach the IconSiam shopping mall and meet my friend for dinner.

Guess what we did for dinner? We got on a boat for a dinner river cruise and my 7th boat of the day. I didn't take any pictures or videos of this boat ride.

I finished the day with the 8th boat of the day to cross the river from IconSiam back to the side of the river near my hotel.