Floating Market

When in Bangkok, Thailand, it’s nice to experience a few adventures from seeing mystical pagodas and biking off the tourist track, to taking the long tail boat to Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, to savoring the culinary Thai specialties.

Passing through the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market is a great opportunity to witness how the locals live – you get a glimpse of their stilt houses, businesses, plus the temple and other aspects of a charismatic way of life – while making your way up the river. If you’re a movie buff who has watched James Bond flicks, you’d recognize the floating market as a spot where one such chase scene was filmed years ago.

Flat boats are laden with produce (ranging from fresh fruits and vegetables, condiments, handicrafts, paintings, souvenirs and other merchandise) peddled by shrewd lady vendors ready to stop and bargain with customers. It all becomes a colorful spectacle somewhat like an unfolding aquatic cultural show, prompting most tourists to click away with their cameras.

Once we arrived we got stuck in, enjoyed it for what it is: an aquatic cultural show festooned with abundant color and souvenirs. It can be an amazing experience. If you intend to be part of the bustling Bangkok floating market scene, try to be up and about early in the morning to experience it at its best. The Damnern Saduak is about 110 kilometers outside Bangkok.

There are organized tours to wend your way to the Bangkok Floating Market or you can choose to paddle your way there at your pace. The market closes, though around middle of the day. Some visitors opt to take the sightseeing & biking tour, which can be exhilarating as it lets them feel central Thailand’s unique spirit. Guests/sightseers get to witness and feel the pace of life in the villages & rice fields, while also paddling to the backwater canals leading to the Damnoen Saduak floating market.

Floating Market