Jaywalking Through Bangkok: Bat Temple

Not that there is anything wrong with Lonely Planet, but i always find it exciting to travel to places that are not in the guidebook. When looking into heading to the bat temple I was pleasantly surprised to find that the entire provenience that its in, Chachoengsao, is absent from the guidebook.
The first step of the trip, as with most trips we go on, is to head to the bus terminal. At the terminal we found a window that said Bang Khla (the town we were going to) and tried to buy a ticket. There was a lady there who did not speak english, but didnt seem very willing to sell us a ticket. After about 5 minutes of talking with her, Jennifer and I figured out that the bus actually did not go all the way to Bang Khla, but to Chachoengsao City. With a shrug we said 'okay' and bought the tickets.
It was a bit tough finding where the bus was located, and a bit of a surprise when we did find it. Chachoengsao must not be a very popular destination, since it was a 10 passenger van. Unfortunatly I was the 10th passenger, making Jennifer the 11th. It was a bit of a squeeze, but we dealt with it. ((Steve and Johnny were not along for this trip for they rolled back to the apartment at 6am that morning and were PTFO when we left for the bus station. Thai bars are quite awesome, so i cannot blame them))

The van ride took about an hour and a half. Luckily magazines were on hand for reading. When we arrived we asked around for how to get to Bang Khla. At the ticket window it took a bit of effort to get them to understand that we wanted Bang Khla, not Bangkok. I suppose we probably just looked like lost tourists since farang are rather uncommon in these parts. Also English speaking was near zero and we were forced to use as much thai as we knew.
When they figured out we wanted Bang Khla we were lead to a Songtau (pickup truck with benches in the back). It was crowded, so i was very chivalrous and let the ladies sit down while stood on the back and hung on. Okay, Ive been looking for an excuse to do that since i found out what a Songtau is, but I still looked chivalrous.
It was an enjoyable ride, probably taking about an hour. We stayed on untill the end of the line which was at a small market in Bang Khla. Jennifer bought some grapes and we asked the lady selling "Wat Pho Bang Khla Yuu Tee Nii?" which means "Where is the town temple?". She told us the way, and suggusted we take a tuktuk. He offered us a price of 30 baht, and thats the lowest ive ever been quoted by a tuktuk so took it without hesitation.

Upon arrival at the temple i looked up into a tree and saw what i had come all the way to see. The tree contained waht looked like a hundred Giant fruit bats. It was crazy. It was everything i had hoped. But then i looked around and noticed that it wasnt just one tree full of bats. There were at least a dozen trees on the temple grounds teaming with the winged rodents.

As with most Wats in thailand there were people selling food and other small items. As we walked by them we said "sawatdii" the standard Thai greeting. These people had had thier eyes on us since we arrived, probably wondering how we had found our way to the Wat and they just lit up when we spoke to them in Thai "Pood Thai Dai!" one exclaimed (can speak thai!). They appreciated so much every word that we knew how to say. It was rather wonderful and a nice break from the city where broken Thilish is the standard, even if communication was more difficult in only Thai.

The Wat was situated scenically on a river. We walked over to the waters edge where there was a boat dock and an old man selling boat trips. We declined for then and explored the Wat a bit more and admired the huge bats.

They all were in the trees, hanging upside-down in true bat fashion, but they were not asleep as one might expect during the day, but they slowly fanned themselves with their wings. Once in awhile one would fly from one tree to another, which was just really cool to see.

When we were done exploring the temple complex we walked over to the boat man to see what his rates were. I hoped he would be able to take us on a trip all the way back to Chachoengsao City. He quoted us at 2000 baht, which would have been reasonable if we had ten people with us. He pointed to the opposite shore and made a circle with his hand and said "sam roi baht" which we took to mean that that was an island which he would drive us around for three hundred baht. This we agreed to, and the ride was most pleasant. We passed high class resorts on the island, and small fishing huts on both shores.

The ride took about 45 minutes. When we got back there was a small boat full of coconuts on the dock. He offered me and Jennifer some, but, thinking he was selling them, we declined. He bid us to wait anyway, and cut two open and handed them to us. Apparently they were part of the boat trip experience? Im not sure. However, it was teh first time ive had fresh coconut milk before. I cant say it was the best thing in the world, but it was interesting and a bit of a Thailand must try.

We said goodbye to all the ladies who were selling things, and went to walk back to the market. We didnt know the way exactly, but it wasnt far and it was nice to walk through the town. We got a few strange looks from people, but thats rather par for the course here in thailand.