Thursday, February 05, 2009

Thailand Part 4: The Floating Market

My most cherished day trip of them all was our time at the Damnoen Saduak floating market.



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After a taxi ride a couple hours out of town, we boarded what looked like a canoe with a motor on the back, and got down to business. The first bit was similar to our earlier little boat trip: lots of zooming past people's houses, except now the houses were more comfortably spaced and there was a canopy of trees overhead. I wonder if these people have any roads at all... I didn't see much evidence of any cars or motor vehicles other than boats.








The boat ride itself was awesome. Our driver was super nice. His English was such that with some careful listening over the buzz of the engine we could usually understand what he was saying. Just the experience of shopping from a boat was really novel and fun. After buying something I could just plop it down in front of myself in the boat, not needing to lug it around all day. Unfortunately most of the stuff for sale was just too touristy for me. Lots of useless little knickknacks and things that none of us wanted to buy. The interesting part for me was the food. There were many nice old women paddling around in boats laden with cheap fruits never before seen. Others were actually cooking things in their little canoes. Everything tasted great.


I have no idea what this is. The lady selling them advised me that they were tart, and she was correct. The nice thing about the people selling food is that they aren't as aggressive with prices. They seem to give everyone the same low price, which I really appreciated.


Allison procured this interesting dessert. I think its rice pudding cooked into little balls.


My main inedible purchases were 6 identical little wooden boxes with elephants on them for the English teachers at my school, and this little wall hanging that now graces my bathroom.

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