Markets

One last day trip, today to the Maeklong Railway Train Market and Amphawa Floating Market. The train market isn’t very large, but the draw is how the vendors have their stalls extended right to the railway track and have to pull everything in and the put them back out every time the train comes through - which thankfully for them isn’t as too often, just a few times daily. There’s not much to buy, a little bit of souvenirs or produce really. A couple of cafe like stalls are spread out so you can have a drink while waiting for the train.

The videos online where things are sped up makes the whole process look really cool but the reality is a lot slower and the train is slow as well to avoid anyone lingering between the red lines.

Our second stop was to visit the Buddha Statue and Wat Bang Kung. The statue is over 300 years old but really came to fame when a local man praying at the shrine won big in the lottery. The statue is in a brick structure with roots wrapped around it. The site is also where there was a battle between the Kaungbang Dynasty and Thonburi Kingdom.

It was super crowded so we didn’t get a good look at the statue and the line up to get in was very long.

Finally what we’ve anticipated most today, Amphawa Floating Market. Our tour was to include a boat ride to see fireflies at night, but more on that later. Amphawa is quite neat to explore but if you’re short on time there’s probably a good floating market in Bangkok. The layout of like a cross with stalls lining the river. After you cross the bridge to the far side, you’ll find more finger street food options that are super cheap.

Along the river are small shops mixed in with restaurants. A few ladies still cook from the boats in the water but there aren’t many. We had 2 hours of free time here which was more than enough as I ended up looping at least twice and maybe thrice in sections.

Finally the boat cruise itself. We were a bit concerned when our boat seemed to turn back earlier before the rest of the boats and we hadn’t seen any fireflies yet. Luckily we weren’t too disappointed when we did come across a few spots. It was a bit underwhelming though as we probably imagined a scene straight out of a movie. Instead it was small flickers here and there in a tree and then another.

Part of the reason it seems is that they are more active after it rains and unfortunately it hasn’t rained all that much lately despite the season. The water level in the market actually was low enough for locals to go swimming or stand while fishing.

One last Bangkok stop for me, back to Jodd Fairs to chase the mango sticky rice Thai pancakes Khanom Krok! They were sold out last night so I wanted to try my luck and pick up some dinner before my super late or very early flight. Lucked out this time and tried the grilled jellyfish as well.Read more