When ST visited, we traveled about an hour outside Bangkok to visit the floating markets at Damnoen Saduak. The whole market is set up along canals, and you can only access certain stalls from a paddle boat on the water. There are many of these markets about an hour from Bangkok. But to get to the markets, we took a long-tail boat ride through the canals first. You can take a boat the whole way from Bangkok, but we were only on the boat for a little while. The tour we took included a van to drive us most of the way there.

This boat ride was much different from the one we took on the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok – in the city all the structures were huge. Here, it was all about the day-to-day lives of the people on the canals. You could see their homes, gardens, boat houses, and get a sense for what life is like here. We passed a few merchants in their paddle boats, presumably on their way to the market to sell their wares.

The long-tail boat dropped us off at the main market section. I was surprised to learn that there is a whole market section that you can walk through. I didn’t realize only a part of the markets is accessible by boat. The stalls here had the usual selection: art, clothes, food, etc.

Next ST and I hired a paddle boat to check out the stalls from the water – check back tomorrow for that story.

Title quote: James Taylor