One year in Thailand: May 2014

There is a district approximately 100km southwest of Bangkok called Damnoen Saduak. It is here that the most famous floating market is located. Whenever you see a photograph (or Google image) of a traditional Thai floating market, it is the one Emily and I visited today. The biggest obstacle in visiting this place is the tourists, therefore it was recommended to take an early van from Bangkok (departure 7:30am). We were going with some friends of ours, so in order to meet them there that early, we woke up at 5:00. In the MORNING. On a SATURDAY. Unfortunately, due to a series of unfortunate events, we missed our friends and ended up going without them. The van ride was a little under 2 hours. We arrived at the 'gonna get you to buy a totally unnecessary boat trip for a lot of money' pier around 9:00am. You will be impressed; we resisted the hard sales pitch, opting for the 15 minute walk down the road instead. We arrived slightly damp (it was very hot despite the early hour), but energized.

Welcome to Damnoen Saduak (Dam-no-en Sa-du-ak)

Once upon a time, the villages of Thailand were accessible via the intricate web of canals and people would ply their trade via longboats. Be it fruits, vegetables or mobile 'restaurants', the 'floating market' was a very social way to do business. Today, Emily and I witnessed first hand how this was done.

Most of the vendors were late middle aged to elderly which makes me wonder what will happen to this place in another 20 years. The people were very friendly and extremely well balanced! haha.

As this is a tourist attraction, there were market stalls built all along the canal for those who preferred not to get into one of the long boats. The dry market sold clothing and souveniers while the wet market sold only food. The vendors would prepare the food and pass it hand to hand from boat to boat to the customers on land.