Floating Market

I often remark (okay, complain) that life in Hong Kong isn’t simple – you can’t just jump in the car and go to Target when you need something, but have to navigate public transportation and/or busy traffic…only to find yourself at a place that doesn’t even have what you need. But, I think that’s better than having to jump in a boat and row to the market if you need some bananas! That's exactly what many Thais used to do and some still do today.

In the mid-1800s, the Thai king had canals constructed to improve communication in the province. The floating market was built along part of the canals in the 1960s. It originally served local people, but has become more of a place for tourists while locals go to regular grocery stores or other markets.

The floating market is unlike its name implies - the market stalls aren’t actually floating in the water (as the floating village was in Cambodia) – it’s the customers that do the floating, while the stalls are on the riverbank.

Our tour started with some fresh coconut milk, prepared in front of us.

The ride to the market in our motorized boat took about 15 minutes. Lydia thought it was lots of fun.

Along the way we saw where people live:

And their “home” temples:

Then, there was the market. Some of it was covered for our shopping convenience:

You could buy a little bit of everything:
The merchandise wasn’t only on the river banks, but there were also people selling food, drinks, and other goods from boats. Some of the food was actually being prepared on the boat. A wok on water!

We found that busy traffic in Thailand isn’t limited to highways and the big city:

On trips like this, we always enjoy watching the local people go about their normal business as much as anything; to us, this is how you see what a place is really like.

For some reason, it always amuses me to see a person talking on a cell phone while existing in somewhat “primitive” conditions.


This woman was transporting a lot of inventory under a rigged up umbrella:

While this woman looked joyful with a great smile:

On the way back, we stopped at temple. It was surrounded by bells...

...and there were sticks to ring them…so we rang them all!

The bell ringing must have affected our brain function – at least I like to think it did; otherwise, I hate to admit that we were using our good judgment when we agreed to the next activity…up next.