Along the Water
The floating markets: the Bangkok of old, on the water
There was a time when you did your shopping from a canoe. Before the roads and the shopping centres, life in Bangkok unfolded on the water: the canals served as streets, and boats laden with fruit, vegetables and steaming dishes formed a shifting market — colourful and loud. The floating markets are the living memory of that Bangkok of old — a journey through time you can still take today.
When Bangkok did its shopping by boat
In the nineteenth century, the capital of Siam was crisscrossed by a dense network of canals — the khlongs — that linked the houses, the temples and the orchards. Life moved to the rhythm of the water: people travelled, prayed and traded by boat. The floating market was its beating heart.
Each morning, the growers from the neighbouring orchards came down the canals, their canoes overflowing with mangoes, coconuts, bananas and vegetables. They gathered at a watery crossroads to sell, barter and stock up, in a cheerful traffic jam of wooden hulls.
It is this image — dozens of boats pressed against one another, beneath straw hats — that made the reputation of the "Venice of the East". A way of life that the filling-in of the canals and the arrival of the roads gradually erased.
Damnoen Saduak, the most famous
About a hundred kilometres west of Bangkok, in Ratchaburi province, Damnoen Saduak is the best known of the floating markets. Its canal was dug in the mid-nineteenth century under King Rama IV to link two rivers; the market grew up along it afterwards, amid the orchards.
This is the picture-postcard market: a swarm of brightly coloured canoes, vendors in the traditional hat, fruit stacked high and woks steaming right on the water. Very busy and touristy, it remains a striking sight, especially early in the morning, before the crowds.
You wander through it aboard a motorised boat or a paddled canoe, letting yourself drift from stall to stall. A must for anyone wanting to rediscover, in pictures, the Bangkok of old.
Amphawa, Taling Chan: the more authentic markets
For a more local atmosphere, head to Amphawa, in Samut Songkhram province. This market comes alive above all in the afternoon and evening, along a canal lined with old wooden houses: you dine on grilled seafood served from the boats, and sometimes embark, after nightfall, to admire the fireflies in the mangroves.
Closer to the city, Taling Chan and Khlong Lat Mayom offer, at weekends, a more intimate version favoured by Bangkokians: a few kitchen boats moored up, tables on pontoons and generous local cooking, far from the crowds of Damnoen Saduak.
These markets have kept the flavour of everyday life: people come less for the photo than to eat, wander, and feel the pulse of a still-living tradition.
A fading tradition
As the canals were filled in to cut through avenues, the floating market lost its purpose: shopping is now done on dry land, at the supermarket or the neighbourhood market. What was once a way of life has become a heritage to be preserved.
Today, the floating markets survive mainly through memory and tourism. Some are recreated or maintained to keep the tradition alive; others, more discreet, carry on an activity that never entirely ceased.
To visit them is to accept a degree of staging — but it is also to touch the Bangkok of its origins, the Bangkok of water and boats, before today's vertical city.
Frequently asked questions
Which is the most famous floating market near Bangkok? Damnoen Saduak, in Ratchaburi province, about 100 km west of the city. It is the most photographed, and very lively in the morning.
Which floating market is the most authentic? Amphawa (Samut Songkhram), lively in the afternoon and evening, along with Taling Chan and Khlong Lat Mayom, closer to Bangkok and popular with locals at weekends.
When should you visit a floating market? Early in the morning for Damnoen Saduak; in the afternoon or evening for Amphawa, with the chance to watch the fireflies at nightfall. Weekends for the markets near the city.