THE FLOATING MARKET

On Sunday Dana and I went out to explore a floating market. Floating markets were once commonplace in Thailand before canals were replaced by roads. Even though the traditional floating markets have diminished, a lot of the old lifestyle surrounding the canals still remains. After eating some delicious pork buns, we hired a long tail boat and took off down an offshoot of the Chao Phraya River, spending an hour exploring a maze of old canals. Life on these quiet waterways is quite charming, stilted houses line the canals and people paddle about from place to place in little boats. The market itself was actually kind of small, little boats with people selling food and vegetables were docked along the edge of the canal, some were like little floating kitchens with people preparing plates of food for the shoppers up on shore. The market itself was a little anticlimactic, but getting a glimpse of life on the canals was wonderful.