On arriving in Thailand, you should not miss a chance to visit a special market named Damnoen Saduak by boats in Nowadays Damnoen Saduak, a provincial district of Rajburi Province. This 100-year-old floating market is one of the most photogenic spots in this tropical country.
Damnoen Saduak is about 100 kilometers in the south of Bangkok or approximately 2 hours drive, and it is also easy for you to take a public bus from Bangkok. The floating market usually starts at 6 in the morning and becomes busier from 8 until noon. Perhaps the best way to enjoy the market is to stay at one night before then you can visit there since early. You can either walk on the passage along the canal or hire a paddle boat for a tour with about 150 baht per person.
Via this trip, visitors can observe Thai typical trip and go sightseeing along a number of canals branching off from the Damnoen Saduak canal. Here you can find hundreds of vendor boats filled with fresh fruits, vegetables, and other products. This market is colored by various kinds of tropical fruit like guava, mango, orange, banana, grape, etc. Handicraft made of coconut shell and sedge which is sold on the floating stores are also attracting the visitors to get some as traditional souvenirs. In addition, you can taste some local delicious food such as some team, pad thai, and spicy chicken, etc. right in these vehicles. Prices at the specialty stores are generally noticeable higher than the prices at the normal outdoor markets in Bangkok, so it is recommended that you should bargain hard to get a reasonable price for each good there.
However, most of foreign tourists really enjoy trading from the small colorful boats and it might be such an authentic, traditional market experience, and is not dissatisfying them at all. Sometimes, the river would get so crowded with tourist and vendor boats there would be traffic jams in the middle of the canal. Although some people may feel some annoying, some tourists find it hilariously amusing. The traders who live on the river consider their boats as their mobile houses for livelihood. Tourism in Damnoen Saduak does not only bring income for the locals but also contributes to a fancy painting of Thai culture.
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The Indochina Voyages team.
