Floating through the Market

This is by far the most interesting thing that I did during my sojourn in Thailand.

This market was made famous by a Bond movie, or so I am told. And it is a market that is mostly based on boats. These long wooden boats adorn the canals of with their fruits, food, spices, and other wares. Since the boost in tourism, this place has become extremely touristy in nature and sells many of the tourist knick-knacks that you find almost everywhere else in Thailand; the bags with elephants stitched upon them, the baggy pants, the woven hats and statue elephants. As well as a variety of other items. But originally, this market was a place for the locals along the canals to sell their wares and food. Here there are many banana and mango and coconut farms along the canals which are harvested and sold for profit. In addition to the raw fruits of the area, there is also cookery that is sold. No I don't mean the cooking utensils. I mean people actually cooking aboard their little boats. With hotplates and fires and spices. Sounds dangerous? Definitely. But perhaps the most interesting.
You can rent a boat and a driver for about 100Bhat to take you on a tour of their canals where the locals have developed these interesting hooks with which they will hook onto your boat and pull you over to them to try and vend their wares. For the most part all of the people who have actual stores along the canal front will sell the same type of stuff. It is the people in boats who are far more interesting. It is a definite recommendation that you grab yourself a snack and a coconut and sit back as you tour the canals.
If you are looking for a more extensive tour, then there is another boat that will take you along the local canals, through their village. They will show you the coffee house, the locals homes, restaurants, and the hospital, as well as the groves and orchards from which they farm. You might even see some people going about their daily lives at their homes, hanging laundry, making house calls, cooking and such.

The aspect that makes this village famous however, is the photography. There are several bridges over the canals that pose as excellent vantage points from which you can snap a photo or few of the amazing array of colors below. Between the Thai peoples colorful clothing, the water, the boats and the fruits and wares, there will be no such thing as a bad photo from this vantage.

In addition to the waterworld, there are also many stalls on land in the surrounding area to explore as well. Which will again sell you more of the same stuff. But for those who want a stable place to sit with their land legs firmly on the ground while sharing a cup of coffee and admiring the view, then this is the place.