Bangkok and neighboring markets

Amphawa floating market. Products and food are sold from boats.

It's been seven years since I've been in Bangkok and the city has not changed much. And I still like it. Just the right amount of chaos and order.

I spent a day to go visit a floating market and the famous railway market in the town close to the capital. I decided to go by myself with public transports and did both of them in a single day since the two places are close together. The railway market was a lot of fun. It was crowded and cramped. I was impressed of how swiftly the vendors retracted the stalls and moved the tourist on the side of the tracks. The floating market was beautiful, but since I arrived in the afternoon, I missed the heat of the action. Maybe going to the floating market in the morning and then at the railway market would have been better.
To go to the town of Maeklong where the railway market is I first went to the southern bus station of Bangkok, Sai Tai Mai. It's fare from the city center so I tried to take a local bus. After waiting for nearly an hour for the bus 507, a nice man explained to me that on a Sunday this bus was really rare and I should find another way. I proceeded to go to the train station and took a train to Taling Chan station (5 THB). It was the closest station to the southern bus terminal, but I still had to walk 2.5 Km. There I grabbed a mini bus to Maeklong (70 THB). It took 90 minutes to go there.
After visiting the market, seeing the train go trough and witnessing a local parade, I took a bus to Amphawa to visit the floating market. The bus looks like a small truck with benches at the rear. You should find several of them north of the market on the Kasem Sukhum alley. To go back to Bangkok from Amphawa, I took a mini bus (70 THB) at the Amphawa mini van station. It's on the east side of the river, right next to the big bridge for cars. I arrived in the southern bus station in Bangkok and took the local bus 35 to get back to the city center (12 THB).

Short but heavy rain at the floating market.


Maeklong railway market. The market is on the railway ! Fortunately there are only a few trains a day using the rails.


When the train arrives, the stalls are put on the side.


Some products are left to slide just under the train.


Local parade at Maeklong.


They put fireworks in the mouth of the dragon and run around.


Buddhist temple in Bangkok.


Bangkok monorails around Siam, where all the malls are. The floor that people walks on is actually a few meters above the road running under.

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