By: fallen angel

Damnoen Saduak (Thai: ดำเนินสะดวก, lit. Comfortable travel) is a district (Amphoe) in central Thailand in the province Ratchaburi. The central town is most famous because of its floating market held every day till noon on a khlong not far from the district office. However as it has become a prime touristical attraction of the Bangkok vicinity the market lost its authenticity.

Source: Wikipedia

We were shocked when we heard that the best time to visit the Floating Market was 7-8am. We were tired from our daily tours from one place to another and now we have to wake up… factor in time for breakfast, about 6am?! And it’s going to take about 1 1/2 hours drive to get there. After much deliberation, we decided to go for it and try to nap in the cab if we’re still sleepy. We booked a cab to get us there. The next morning, I guess our cabbie drove quite fast because before we knew it, once we open our eyes we were at our destination. Feeling relieved and stretching our legs, we got down from the cab and walked to the dock.

We were served with free coconut juice but we were afraid to drink it. There’s no such thing as free lunch, and after our previous experiences, we were wary of such unwarranted niceties; we didn’t want to consume anything before finding out their prices. Basically the trip is a boat ride along the canal. After finding out the price for the boat ride, and paying it, only then we felt comfortable enough to drink the coconut juices .

Right after we took off from the dock.

Wooden stalls along the canal selling souvenirs. Remember to bargain if you want to buy something.

We made a scheduled stop at a coconut sugar farm on the way.

This is how they process the coconut into sugar. It is similar to how people make palm sugar.

We bought a pack of the coconut candy.

It has peanuts inside and it’s very tasty.

Moving along…..

Finally we arrived at the market. As you can see all the wooden stalls are selling mostly souvenirs here.

When we get to the main market, we see some boats selling fruits and other snacks.

Pinocchio is not exactly very cute here. I think the puppets looked a bit scary.

My friend bought a coconut tree lamp made out of coconut and I bought a pair of lazy cats in a lying down position.

Some of the boats were selling food and fruits. We bought mango and ate it along the way.

The whole trip took about 1 1/2 hours. It was a interesting experience. There’s so much things to see and how people live their lives. We saw an old lady taking a shower, ewwww… did she look at the water?! I’m glad we made the decision of waking up early for this visit. It is quite extraordinary.

After that we head on to the elephant ride nearby.

We were riding on this, be sure to have an elephant driver/guide. Some dude blog about his experience when he was in Thailand riding on an elephant without a driver and the elephant just went his own way. Since the elephant trek is in the jungle, the elephant will stop sometimes to pick on some leaves to eat. What goes in must come out….

That’s the elephant my friend is riding on and her elephant needs to pee and take a dump in the middle of the ride. It’s like a running tap, haha! We saw it taking a dump too.

Mr. Cool here is posing for us to take a snapshot.

Overall it was a nice experience. Since we started early in the day, after the floating market we head back to Bangkok and took a ride on the Chao Phraya River and visit Wat Arun, Temple of Dawn.

Till next time…