Rice-Barge Cruise

Educational Travel Center
Bangkok
Bangkok
02224 0043

http://www.thanatharee.com

Type: Other
Cost: $196 per person for 3 Day/2Night including all meals

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Rice-Barge Cruise: There are numerous ways to get between Bangkok and the kingdom’s ancient capital of Ayutthaya, just 76 kilometers north. There are several enjoyable cruises, and it’s an easy ride by bus. Tharnatep Pintusan, owner of Educational Travel Center, has developed another way to make the journey using a converted rice barge, the Thanatharee.

You can’t call it luxury but you do get to live like the locals and learn Thai cooking – not in a luxury hotel kitchen under the supervision of a master chef, but on the stern of the barge as it chugs slowly up the Chao Phraya River.

The Thanatharee carries 12 passengers who sleep in bunks, multi-share style, on the lower deck of the stout teakwood barge. There is just one shower and two toilets. While this is not the most luxurious of river barges, the price for the three-day, two-night adventure, including all meals, is a reasonable $196 per person. No fancy designer toiletries or lotions provided but you will get soap and towels.

Mr. Tharnatep says says his tours are meant to be a learning experience, an encounter with rural Thai values and heritage. He offers a hands-on approach to travel; guests can learn how to cook a meal in the small galley tucked into the stern of the barge. At an early-morning stop at the thriving market of Prathum Thani, 35 kilometers north of Bangkok, passengers can shop for fresh spices, vegetables and fruits, learning firsthand about the ingredients that make Thai cuisine so special. “Passengers live for two and a half days almost as the villagers do, close to the river, dining on its fresh fish and the finest rice harvested in the vast emerald-green paddy fields of the Chao Phraya delta,” he says. He has several itineraries.

The Educational Travel Center can arrange transfers to and from Bangkok and sightseeing in the country’s ancient capital. Thanatharee Rice Barge, Educational Travel Center, 02224 0043, www.thanatharee.com.