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| Damnoen Saduak Floating Market |
There are several floating markets near Bangkok. The most famous floating and is known to be one of the largest floating market popular among tourists is the
Damnoen Saduak Floating Market located in Damnoen Saduak District in the Ratchaburi Province. The floating market is around half an hour drive (subjected to traffic conditions) from
Maeklong Railway Market.
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| Damnoen Saduak Floating Market (Boarding Area) |
Everyday, the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market is crowded with of vendors boats plying the canal selling all kind of stuff from souvenirs, vegetables, fruits, live snakes and even food that requires cooking such as phad thai! Do note, if you are buying souvenirs, you would need to bargain as the prices can be marked up by as high as 80%.
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| Damnoen Saduak Floating Market (Boarding Area) |
The ideal time for visiting this floating market is before 9am, before the tourist crowd starting coming in. As we visited the Maeklong Railway Market first to witness the rail train travelling through the market, we only arrived at the floating market just before 10am. The part of the canal which was used for boarding and alighting was congested (see photo above)! Look at the number of boats (the boat fee was covered in the deal)! Part of the reason why it was so congested was because there were many vendor boats selling all type of goods and food. In a way, it was a kind of tourist trap and not everyone would like this place.
Now, if you are starting to think that since its so crowded, you should skip this, read on. This is because some of the food sold here by the boat vendors made this trip so worthwhile!
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| Damnoen Saduak Floating Market |
It was still relatively congested as we were near the boarding area.
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| Damnoen Saduak Floating Market |
Once we got past the crowd, we were able to tour the less congested canals. There were less vendor boats and more shop houses which were located just next to the canal. If you would like to purchase any items, you can request for the boat to be stopped just next to the shops.
If you are starting to feel that this place looks familiar, well it is because this was the place where the James Bond; 'The Man With The Golden Gun' and Nicolas Cage's 'Bangkok Dangerous' movies were filmed.
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| Damnoen Saduak Floating Market |
Although we did not purchase any souvenirs while on the boat ride, we stopped twice to purchase food! Once for
Grilled Banana and another for
Mango Sticky Rice!
We bought the
Grilled Banana from the boat vendor which was stationed near the boarding area (congested area). This boat was obvious as it had a yellow sign which shouted out what it's owner was selling - Grilled Banana. All the other boat vendors which I saw did not have any sign stating what they were selling. The Grilled Banana boat vendor had a small stove in the middle of her boat for grilling the bananas.
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| Grilled Banana 40 Baht (S$1.67) |
The Grilled Banana cost 40 Baht (S$1.67). Several pieces of grilled bananas cut into smaller pieces were served. As we 'cruised' down the murky water, we savoured on this snack. It was a struggle finishing it as we all were more used to the fried banana - Goreng Pisang.
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| Mango Sticky Rice 50 Baht (S$2.08) |
We also bought Mango Sticky Rice from a boat vendor while taking the boat ride. There were many boat vendors selling this product. The
Mango Sticky Rice cost 50 Baht (S$2.08). It was our first
Mango Sticky Rice since we arrived in Bangkok and it did not disappoint! The mango was so fresh - sweet and juicy. The sticky rice topped with sesame seed was soft, moist and flavourful. Each grain of rice was coated with coconut milk which made a whole world of difference to the taste. I must say that it was superb.
After my trip in Bangkok, I realised that it was hard to find a lousy Mango Sticky Rice in Bangkok, even those bought along the streets tasted delicious!
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| Damnoen Saduak Floating Market |
After our boat ride, we walked over and crossed the road to access another part of the floating market (for clearer direction, please refer to the map located at the end of this post). This stretch was where you could find some of the best food boat vendors! From selling fruits, desserts to fully cooked meals such as char siew rice and even tom yum noodles.
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| Kway Teow and Tom Yum Noodles' Boat Vendor |
As we walked along the stretch, we spotted a row of customers (around 7 customers) seated down next to each other in front of this boat vendor. Each customer was sitting along the river on small stools with either a bowl of
Kway Teow or
Tom Yum Noodles! Although this caught our eye, we hesitated for quite a long time worrying about the hygiene. In fact, we left and came back only after mustering enough courage and succumbing to temptation. This was the only two boat vendor which could garnered a crowd of customers. The other was the Coconut Ice Cream Vendor (which I shall elaborate on later in this post).
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| Kway Teow 40 Baht (S$1.67) |
The
Kway Teow aka
Boat Noodles was simple yet delicious. A hearty and comfortable bowl of noodles. It was a joy slurping down the Kway Teow which was thin and smooth. There were pieces of chicken meat, fish cakes, beansprouts, liver, pork lard, spring onions and peanuts added inside. The peanuts gave this dish a crunchy bite while the pork lard enhanced the taste further. The liver also deserved a mention as it was fresh! There are the usual condiments set located at the side for customers to adjust the taste to their liking.
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| Tom Yum 40 Baht (S$1.67) |
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| Tom Yum 40 Baht (S$1.67) |
The
Tom Yum Kway Teow came with similar ingredients. The difference was the taste of condiments added in it. The soup was tastier and more complex; sourish yet spicy. We were shocked when we saw the local sitting next to us adding several spoonful of sugar into her Tom Yum! Not bad quite a decent bowl of kway teow considering the location and price.
When we were eating, we saw someone washing the bowls and utensils using a piped water located at the side of the river. It felt good to be assured that they did not use the river water to wash the bowls and utensils.
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| Coconut Ice Cream Boat Vendor |
Further down this same stretch, you can purchase an authentic
Coconut Ice Cream served in a coconut shell from this boat vendor! We were debating whether to go for this as we were worried about the hygiene. Luckily, we gave this a try. What a pleasant find!
The boat vendor first chop the coconut into half and drain the coconut juice into the river. After that, he would scrap the flesh of the coconut and leave it in the shell. He then proceeded on to scoop three scoops of coconut flavoured ice cream into the coconut shell on top of the pieces of coconut flesh / pulp. As shown in the above picture, the boat vendor scooped the ice cream from a tall, round stainless steel canister which was used to keep the ice cream frozen. Lastly, he sprinkled roasted nuts on top of the ice cream.
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| Coconut Ice Cream 30 Baht (S$1.25) |
This
Coconut Ice Cream is a
must try! The ice cream was impressive. It was full of milky fragrant coconut flavour; not diluted. In addition, the coconut flesh was so soft, tender and flavourful. The roasted nuts added on top added an extra crunchy and addictive element into this dessert.
It was delicious and refreshing! Moreover, considering the price, it was so cheap! We should have bought more of this! This is the
BEST Coconut Ice Cream we had in Bangkok! If you have read about how awesome the coconut ice cream at Chatuchak weekend market tastes, you really need to give this a try.
Prior to this trip, from our desktop research, we got to know that the coconut ice cream at Chatuchak weekend market was highly raved about. We thought that the one at Chatuchak would be much better than this. But well, we were wrong! This Coconut Ice Cream which we bought from Damnoen Saduak Floating Market was way better! I will post on the coconut ice cream from Chatuchak market at a subsequent post. (Refer to
this link for the post)
Overall, we had no regrets purchasing the Half-Day Damnoen Saduak Floating Market & Mae Klong Railway Market Tour deal on Deal.com.sg. The tour guide Vorn did a great job. He was professional, friendly, safe driver and provided great service. At $26 per pax, it was a value for money deal! In addition, I was glad that there was no additional charges. The boat fee was included in the deal. Tips for the tour guide were at customers' own discretion.
Do note the food / snacks expenses in this post was not included in the tour.
Please note for the parts in Italic. I do not get any benefits and am not paid to writing this. I am just writing this because I was satisfied with the half day tour.
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