Bangkok Canal Longtail Boat Tour

Enjoyable trip with Joe providing great information and insights along the way. Amazing history well explained

Tour provided clear pictures and instructions for the meeting point. Still a bit challenging to find but the photos were helpful. Ken was exceptional. His knowledge of the sites and general information about Thailand was very insightful. He provided us directions back to the train station and even took the extra step of walking us there. Great souvenirs and wonderful local community. Warm and welcoming in general. I would highly recommend.

It was a good experience with Joe. He had a lot of information about the trip answered all our questions.

Longtail Canal Tour of Old Bangkok……………… 🚤🇹🇭 Sometimes getting to the tour is part of the adventure! Our meetup point was at Wat Kalayanamit Pier. We easily found our Thai WanderSiam guide, Joseph, who I suspect had spent a great deal of time in Australia based on his accent. 😄 After getting a complimentary cold bottle of water, we walked less than a minute to the dock where our traditional longtail boat was waiting. 🚤 Exploring Bangkok’s Canals For the first 90 minutes, we traveled through various canals, or khlongs, seeing a completely different side of Bangkok. Our guide explained that some of these neighborhoods look remarkably similar to how they did decades ago, before Bangkok’s rapid modernization and the construction of skyscrapers transformed much of the city. Many of the old houses sit on wooden supports, and some are clearly deteriorating. Our guide explained that over time, buildings that can no longer be safely maintained may eventually give way to newer construction using modern concrete pilings. It was fascinating to see this older side of Bangkok sitting so close to the huge, modern city that has grown around it. 🙏 Temples, Shrines & the Big Buddha Along the way we passed numerous temples (wats) and shrines and had plenty of opportunities for photos. One of the highlights was seeing the enormous golden seated Buddha at Wat Paknam Phasi Charoen, which towers above the surrounding neighborhood. We also saw a smaller reclining Buddha during our journey. The longtail boat itself was comfortable, and we lucked out with a somewhat overcast day, so it wasn't nearly as hot as it could have been under the Bangkok sun. ☁️ 🎨 Artist’s House & Bang Luang Canal Our final stop was at the canal community along Khlong Bang Luang, home to the historic Baan Silapin, also known as the Artist’s House. One unexpected little activity was feeding the fish. Our guide supplied the fish food, which was a nice touch and made for another fun moment along the canal. At close to the two-hour mark, we arrived back at the temple where we had started. 💰 Another positive was that they were proactive about contacting us when the meeting point changed. When you're traveling in a city you're not completely familiar with, little things like that can make a big difference. For the price, I thought this was a very good way to spend a couple of hours and experience a side of Bangkok that many visitors never see. Instead of skyscrapers, rooftop bars, shopping malls and modern Bangkok, you're cruising past wooden houses, temples, small communities and scenes that remind you just how much history still exists along Bangkok's canals. Definitely recommended if you're looking for something a little different to do in Bangkok.

Khun Ken was a great guide. We had a private 2 hour canal tour and we all really enjoyed it. Our five year old really wanted to see monitor lizards and we saw 17.