2018 Grand World Voyage, Day 70, Bangkok, Thailand

Up very early to leave Bangkok for a day trip to see markets, first we stopped at the Railway Market and then onto the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. The Maeklong Railway Market is about an hour southwest of Bangkok. The is a traditional Thai market selling fresh vegetables, food and fruit. What makes it special is that the market is located on a train line where, a few times a day, the train runs directly through the market. When the train comes, vendors lower their umbrellas and move some of their produce further back off the train tracks. Some of the vegetables are laying on the ground and the train goes right over them. Amazingly, nothing is damaged or broken, and as soon as the train passes, vendors continue as normal. We walked along the train lines for a few blocks taking in all the products the vendors had to offer. The train was scheduled to arrive at 8:30am and it did....As soon as we heard the train whistle the large crowd of tourists moved away from the track...it was so congested, it was nearly impossible to get a good photo of the train passing us by. Our journey continued to the rural floating market of Damnoen Saduak, situated 100K west of Bangkok...we took a short long-tail boat along the canals offering glimpses of rural life style in Thailand...once at the floating market we changed to a canoe for a trip along the floating market. The central Thailand district Damnoen Saduak is most famous for its floating market. It has become a major tourist attraction...but the large number of tourists has changed the dynamics from an authentic to a commercial operation, thus, affecting its original character of the market...we were all disappointed with this portion of the tour...we were however very pleased with our lunch...on our return to Bangkok, we stopped at the Chaval Riverfront Restaurant for a very delicious Thai lunch...overall we had another great day. Tomorrow we have an early flight to Phuket.