Damnoensaduak Floating Market
Wednesday, July 12, 2006 8:58:00 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
On the way to the market we stopped off at a demonstration of how coconut sugar is made –I have to admit I never knew there was such a thing! It turns out they use the coconut for all sorts of uses -not only as a tasty drink but paper, soap, fuel, sugar and even eating paraphernalia (bowls). After being shown how they extract the various parts1 they need we were allowed to wander off to look around the Orchid farm2 which was full of various creatures and plant life, most intriguingly baring in mind we were inland –crabs3?!
After a relentless drive and learning all about how coconuts are one of the most diverse and used “fruits” grown in Thailand we got to the long tailed boat that would be transporting us along the river to the Damnoensaduak floating market.
The long tailed boats4 are great fun; basically just an oversized canoe with a huge engine bolted on and a mission to scare the hell out of the tourists. TBH though I loved it, every stretch of canal she could, our driver opened the throttle full whack which left us leaping off the wash of the boats in front and slicing through reed and all sorts –it was just like being in my kayak again*!
After about 30 minutes of weaving past houses on stilts5, men in rice fields and the odd building site6, we finally saw the first glimpses of the floating market. At first sight it didn’t look anything more than a few houses which opened onto the canalside and the odd old woman paddling around with a canoe of pineapples7 but that was just the start.
Just before we moored, we passed the main body of the floating market and it really is as colourful and vibrant as all the photos make out. Full of every colour of the rainbow imaginable it’s an incredible sight to behold8. Our first port of call was a huge warehouse type building full of little stalls selling the locally produced trinkets.
There’s two sides to the floating market at Damnoensaduak, the first is aimed primarily at tourists and is more expensive, the other is for the locals9 and has a lot of fresh produce including coconuts, pineapples, papaya and guava to name but a few. To get to the other side you have to battle your way through a small tunnel which is lined either side with yet more stalls –I’m sure this was done to trap the unsuspecting tourists. You’re grabbed from the left and right and offered all sorts of weird and wonderful items, I had to make Stacey go in front after an old woman with vice like grip got hold of her without me knowing.
The photos we got of the floating market really don’t do it justice, in all I would say there were only about 50 boats on the water but the canal was bursting at the seems. Well worth checking out.
*Ok the speed side of things may not be true but it was still fun!
