It Floats

In the normal course of events I would travel miles to avoid a supermarket, any sort of market really. Today I drove for close to three hours to go to one. I didn’t buy anything but I still managed to drop over 1,200 Baht. It was an absolute hoot. 

We tried to set off at 8.00am but as our touring part kept expanding and we didn’t get away until close to 9.00am. Our first duty was to call in to one of Oui’s cousins who had just had a child. It has been really interesting to see how the local population lives. The family compound had three or four homes, a communal garage and their bread and butter, the piggery, all behind a secure fence with lockable gates. These guys were doing well for themselves and even though I don’t speak the language I caught a whisper of snobbery here. 

Our family duties done it was time for the floating markets. We pressed on and in about 30 minutes time we swung the Toyota into the car park of the Damnoen Saduak Floating Markets. More seasoned travellers would actually know what they are in for, me I had not a clue. Basically it a whole bunch of shops on the water’s edge and the only way to get to them is by boat. To add more colour there are long boats circulating along the canals offering their wares as well. The family was horrified that it cost 1,000 Baht to hire a long tail boat to traverse the markets so they negotiated the price down to 800. 

Oui and her family is not much used to the water. No one can really swim and the prospect of taking to an unsteady boat didn’t thrill them. The little fella who is not yet two kept on saying in Thai “Nutty scared, Nutty scared”. Grandma, who is 84, said this would be her first and last time. Me? I was having a riot. For a good hour we traversed up and down the canals looking at shops that had everything from tourist items, to food and drinks along with some genuine goods that you would find at a traditional local market. From there we headed into what is essentially a suburb populated by the local Chinese community, who live their lives here. I saw the washing getting done, someone bathing, the dishes being cleaned and what is no doubt essential if you choose to live your life this way, swimming lessons.

Once safely back on dry land we turned the car for home. That night we hit one of the local bars where a very indifferent band were working the crowd. The local constabulary turned up to try and shake down the operators and parked about eight of themselves out the front to scare off business. After about 45 minutes of this they either got paid or got bored, moved on and the drinks kept flowing. All in all a very satisfying day.