I still have a couple more days before my tour starts so for today’s outing I booked a full day Floating Market & Train Street tour. Unfortunately it had the very early start time of 6:30am; fortunately I booked my hotel mere steps away from the meeting point!

A little van took us about 30 minutes out of Bangkok to board an old train at Ban Kalong. The start point and 30 minute journey were forgettable – it was the destination that was the goal: the famous Maeklong Railway Market! We rolled right through the market, with stalls and tourists mere inches from the train.

We offloaded, then walked/shopped on the actual track back a few hundred yards until a few minutes before 9am the loudspeaker hailed the approach of the returning train. The shopkeepers rolled up their awnings and pulled in their wares as the train slowly inched towards me. I thought I had found a spot with plenty of room but no! I had to hold my breath and stand sideways….

Next we drove 20 minutes to the Floating Market at Damnoen Saduak. The market is in and alongside the Damnoensaduak canal which was built in 1868 and originally was 32 kms long! Used for transport, bringing water to people and agriculture, and now entertainment for 1000 tourists a day.

The queue was long for the boats so our guide gave us our free time first so I had just over an hour to peruse the cheap goods and take 100’s of photos of the boats. It’s all geared towards tourists these days with a few floating boats selling rice dishes, fruits and coconut ice cream. More vendors line the docks selling even more stuff. I decided to be brave and try some lunch so I looked for a stall with lots of locals eating and enjoyed a bowl of rice & pork sitting on the dock watching life on the canal. Delish & fun!

At 11:20am it was our turn in the boats. As you can see, it’s a bit of a madhouse with the sheer number of craft. We were literally jammed to a standstill at several points. The touts were in part very earnest, others sanguine as if we didn’t buy perhaps the 100 behind us might.

It took 1.5 hours in the van to arrive back in central Bangkok by about 2:30pm – I think most of us slept thru the journey. The early start, lingering jet lag, and all the motion of the day kept me from exploring more of the fancy IconSiam mall as intended. Instead I headed back to my hotel to relax for the rest of the day.