The Floating Market

After we left the train market, we headed to the famous floating market. Like in Bangkok, there were canals built all over Thailand to ease trading before there were motorized vehicles. As our guide told us, moving things via boat is much easier than moving things via ox cart. I would have to agree. The floating village used to be a place where local people traded everyday goods, but today it is pretty much just a tourist attraction. We got into a long-tail boat and were paddled around the numerous canals. There were stalls set up on either side of the canal, and something peaked your interest you could tell the driver to pull over and you could get out and see what you wanted to see. There were also numerous vendors that paddled right up next to you and would try to sell anything from hats to fresh fruit to trinkets. Another popular thing was people with hibachi grills on their boats who were cooking up lunch for anyone who wished to eat on the canal. In the floating market it was again evident that tourism was way down in Thailand, as there were numerous empty boats with drivers just waiting for customers and the canals weren’t all that crowded compared to some pictures I had seen.

I liked our boat because instead of a having motor we were actually being paddled, and in the smaller canals we were sometimes the only boat so you could hear the lapping water and the sounds of the animals in the forests around us. We stopped at a coconut plantation where we learned how coconut sugar is made, and I got to climb up a coconut tree and also attempt to stir the sugar concoction (it was so thick I could barely do it). After our long-tail boat ride, we had lunch on the side of a canal. There were numerous hibachi long-tail boat “restaurants” lining the sides of the canals with picnic tables on the land, and our guide chose the “restaurant” from which we would buy our lunch because there was a sign that assured the pots the lady was using were free of toxic-metals. Lunch consisted of some-sort of noodle soup with all kinds of delicious things in it. Out of all my travels, I’ve decided the best food in the world is in Peru, Budapest and Thailand. Our guide told us that in the past local vendors have made spiced-down versions of all their plates for tourists, but in the past few years foreigners have been able to hack the spiciness of Thai food so today they make the food more traditionally.

One funny thing that happened at lunch – we were all eating and no one was talking so my mom felt awkward so she started to say something and sort of choked on her soup. Our guide told us that’s why you’re not supposed to talk while we eat. We were all pretty much silent for the rest of the meal.

Pictures: The floating market; Stirring the coconut sugar; Our lunch vendor