Floating in Bangkok - Damnoen Saduak

Rising up early in the morning, my family and I decided to spend half-day exploring the Damnoen Saduak floating market along the mighty Mae Klong River. It is the very first and largest ever floating market in Thailand which is located at Ratchaburi province, approximately 100km to the west outskirts of Bangkok.

Arriving at the pier in Samut Songkhram Town at 7:00 a.m. we hired a diesel-engine powered flat-bottom boat at 2000 Thai Baht for my whole family of six. The magnificent sightseeing trip began at about 7:30 a.m. Bon Voyage!

Countless of traditional Thai houses made of teakwood, shops as well as restaurants were lining on both banks of the canal. Due to the uncovered front in most of the houses, I could easily observe the timeless lifestyle of the native Thai people lying comfortably on the floor watching TV, or taking a nap, and the cheery housewives doing their regular house chores without any hassle. My straight gazing into their privacy was interrupted by the sudden indecent feel of being akin to a Peeping Tom. Outside the houses, some people were fishing, some toddlers were bathing while a number of women were washing their hair freely despite the presence of the many small boats paddling in the middle of the canal.

The cool breeze in the dawn was truly refreshing and the surrounding environment was amazingly tranquil and calm. The fertile soil beside the canal earth had bloomed the growing of a wide variety of tropical fruit trees such as Malacca grapes, bananas, rambutan, mangoes, papayas, wax apples (Malay name “air jambu”), guavas, and coconuts.

Here one could see lots of long-tailed boats sprawling the canal, creating a hectic atmosphere which eventually transformed into the most photogenic scenery of the floating market. The boat vendors loaded their boats with fresh orchard and agricultural produce such as flowers, fruits, vegetables, fishes and poultry for sale to the visitors. Repeating rows of stalls selling the same tacky souvenirs, homemade foods and drinks, noodles, arts and handicrafts, decorative ornaments, woven hats and knitting, toys, just to mention a few, were visible throughout the canal. The hustle and bustle of the haggling buyers and sellers endowed the vigorous lives to the floating market, painted it up with breathtaking and richly vivid images that held the tourists in spellbound.

The non-stationary boat vendors would attempt at every opportunity to hog at or steer their boats to the most strategic spot to impress the visitors with their products. “Sawatdee-kaa, guay dteaw ruea one bowl for 30 baht”, a lady boat trader approached our boat and greeted me. (“Guay dteaw ruea” means noodles on the boat in Thai language). Meanwhile another lady boat vendor tried to steal a march on her competitor by offering her noodle at a lower price, “Same noodle, only 25 baht”. The aroma from the hot steaming soup emitting from the noodle boats aroused a sense of famine clambering down my stomach.  It sounded like a splendid idea to have my meal on the boat seat. Without hesitation, I called out to her for a bowl of noodles laden with local spices and ingredients. It was indeed a buoyant experience slurping down the hot noodle with the boat wavering unsteadily on the agitating water surface stirred by the other passing by boats. 

Almost full, I had no option but to make a mental note that I would come back again to taste other Thai tantalizing favourites such as fried sea mussel, char-grilled squids, barbecued chicken, roasted fish meatballs, etc. The weather became a little blazing in the late morning. As a rule to deal with the hot sun, the boat traders sheltered themselves under the umbrellas. As for me, I ordered a can of cold Singha beer from a jockeying-by boat to quench my thirst. Chilling! I was absolutely right with my choice.

Our traffic was blocked and jam-packed by the gradual built-up of boats coming from all corners alongside the canal, being occupied by hordes of tourists from every part of the world. However, our skillful boatman managed to thaw and squeeze our boat in between the narrow passageway of two neighbouring boats. I was stunned by the boat vendors’ maneuver with the oar to continue propelling and roving over their boat through the canal with the demanding efforts to strive the balance to avoid capsize.

The boat cruise ended with a side tour to the Sugar House to discover the Thai way of making sugar from coconuts. From a distance, we could trace the pungent smell of sweet coconut. As we stepped out of our boat, a young lady led us into the Sugar House, where we were each given a complimentary cup of ice-cold coconut juice. Being transfixed by the scene of a man scooping up hot coconut with his bare fingers from the gigantic wok into tiny bite size candy mould, I admired his skill from the bottom of my heart. Before long, we were back again on the boat and turned around, heading back along the canal to our starting point where we hailed the boat service at the jetty.

A journey to the Damnoen Saduak floating market was worthwhile for foreigners like me to apprehend something different and snap bundles of great photos of what was recognized as the authentic Thai icon. Nonetheless chaotic, the floating market’s colourful and noisy environment served the Thai tourists with good fun and memorable trail to cherish in their return path.