Bangkok Beat #2

Day 2

Continuing from previous post on Bangkok trip, we booked a half day tour of Floating Market & Dangerous Market with the Kasem's friend, Apichart (Mr Tee as he want to be called) as he had prior booked job assignment. According to Kasem, there is this unofficial consortium of Toyota Innova & Fortuner drivers whereby the drivers share each other contacts & job assignments. In this competitive tourism industry, this is definitely a win-win situation for all drivers. Our tour is booked at the rate of 2000 baht (approx. MYR 202.00) nett. The journey by taxi from hotel to Damnoen Saduak district where the markets are located, takes 1.5 hours.

Arrived at the town of Maeklong. This has to be the most underrated tourist attraction in Thailand. Never I've heard or seen before a market was held on a railway track. Really, no joke !!! A wet market where villagers sell their vegetable produces  & seafood catches on the track itself. This place is called Maeklong Railway Market (the local guides called it Dangerous Market). Truly, this has to be the most interesting & dangerous market in the world. When the train runs though the market, pretty amazing sight to see the synchronized moves of the sellers  lower their awnings, take away their stuffs from the tracks while the train slowly moves. Once the train passes & stopped at nearby Maeklong train station (the last stop), the sellers will position back their stuffs & business continues as usual. This go on for 3 times a day I heard. Definitely a must-visit place if you're in Bangkok.



Fresh market along the track

Awning lowered as the train slowly passed

Next we took a long boat ride thru the river (unnamed) to the world famous Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. The ride costs 2500 baht (approx. MYR 225), where we started from a narrow man-made straight slowly to the river bank. Along the way, there's ubiquitous stores selling handicrafts & souvenirs. It's only towards the banks where there's busier activities going on & more varieties of foods sold. The whole ride took us 2 hours. Good for a first-time experiences as there's not many river markets that u heard of these days.

Our sampan (wooden boat) for the floating market tour

Fresh mangoes on sale

One of many floating stalls, selling various types of food

Bangkok famous traffic jam even extends to the water !!!

The main activity area in the market

By the time we finished our half day tour & back to hotel, it's just passed 2pm. We got the driver stopped us a MBK shopping complex, the first stop of our mall hopping activity. Had lunch at its reputable premium food court at 6th floor, good place for those seeking a one stop centre serving tasty local & international food. Highly recommended.



MBK shopping complex

From MBK, took the local MRT ride to Terminal 21 shopping mall, Siam Paragon & finally got onto a local tut-tut to Platinum Mall for another round of shopping.

Mall hopping with help of MRT



With tut-tut, all transportation modes are used in our Bangkok trip

Fried pork - You will never go wrong, ordering this anywhere in Bangkok

 

Crazy price on offer at Pratunam night market

Day 3

Woke up at 6am to follow Mum to the morning Pratunam wholesale market. The price of a shirt here is incredibly cheap at 100 baht each & if you buy more, it can go lower. Apparently this place is where lots of retailers/ Malaysian pasar malam sellers come to get their stocks. You see, in Pratunam there's a 3 sessions of markets here & an unwritten agreement between all sellers to follow them. The morning market sellers will open till 12.00pm & then another separate group of sellers will then come for the afternoon session. At night, another different sets of people take over. So, in actual in 12 hours, you can see different sets of sellers along a same street, enable you to shop all day long. Had our lunch before taking the taxi to Don Muang International Airport for the flight back home.

Pratunam morning wholesale market

On shopping part, comparing the premium brands, not much differences comparing to the ones in KL but for the lower ends market, the price simply hits the floor & it's almost impossible for the price to be believable. It's no wonder women go crazy here..:) Food wise, no way you will go wrong with tomyam soup here & the other famous Thai food like pad thai, fried chickens etc. Pick any of the stall/restaurant which has these dishes, you will get above average quality at least. Definitely worth second visit & more.