A canal runs adjacent to the hotel.  To get to it we followed a path under the Hua Chang Bridge through a maze of food vendors and street merchants. These people spend their lives living and working under the bridge. In the gloom there is a busy sit-down food stall that is so dark your eyes have to adjust to the low light. Just beyond that, the light improves and you can see the stop for the canal boats. A long water taxi belching diesel smoke slips in and passengers jump off and on it. Within a minute the boat is gone again. Corinne and I look at each other. Can we make the jump from the pier to the boat without falling in the murky, murky green water? We decide to watch the embarkations a couple more times. We choose to walk along the canal a little further.