** This is a part of a series of posts about my blog trip to Thailand. **

I’ve covered almost all facets of my travel to Thailand last year but have not written about our trip to the floating market. What is a Thailand trip without mentioning the floating market?

The Damnoen Saduak Floating Market is located at Damnoen Saduak District, Ratchaburi Province, about 105 kms from Bangkok. According to history around 1866 King Rama IV ordered that a 32 kms long canal be dug at Damnoen Saduak. Here’s the canal where we took a boat ride going to the floating market:

While ours was a motor boat, powered by, uhm, motor, we passed by a small wooden boat powered by girl power. A lady manually rowed through the canal carrying tourists!

After passing through the narrow canal, we came out to what looked like a flooded neighborhood!

Just before arriving at the floating market, we came to a narrow canal again and saw these on the side. I wonder if the dresses won’t get wet when motor boats drive through roughly?

We arrive at the entrance of the floating market. The fresh fruits already caught my attention.

Isn’t it amazing how none of these guavas fell on the water? At least as long as I was watching it.

The canal is narrow and boats come and go in both directions.

We went to the floating market in the morning. Aside from fresh produce, there were boat peddlers selling food from grilled meat, vegetable noodles and other staple breakfast stuff. I remember the aroma every time I see the photos.

The Damnoen Saduak Floating Market is no doubt a tourist trap. In fact, one Google search with the keywords, “thailand floating market tourist trap” and you’ll know it is included in the World’s 12 Worst Tourist Traps.

~ Hot and sticky (forgive the shiny face) ~

Indeed there were plenty of tourists (us included) but we arrived by 9am and it was just busy enough to make it feel “markety” but not overcrowded. The food is very cheap, fruits are very fresh and delicious.

Also, it was lovely to see the actual homes of real Thai people living along the canal and their day to day lives. I think our guide asked the motorboat driver to take the less traveled canals and so we’re able to see how the Thai people lived. Women were washing clothes in the water, families were having lunch, the dogs were running in the yard – all everyday life in this area. When I travel, I like to see how the people live in the area I’m visiting.

~ Tourists, tourists, tourists everywhere ~

So tourist trap or not, the floating market is a “must do” while visiting Thailand. Just make sure you have a good guide (I recommend ours! I will write about him in the next post) or do a research from the internet so you won’t get ripped off when you use the boats, etc.

All in all a great experience, otherwise how would I still be reminiscing about it after more than a year?

* Photos taken using Canon EOS 550D