While in Bangkok, we took a day to explore the outskirts of the city, particularly the markets. Bangkok is known for some really interesting markets. First we visited the Railway Market, where a train literally passes right through the middle of the market, and then the floating market, where everything is accessible only by water. More on both of those shortly….
For our markets tour, our guide was Nadia and I have to tell you- she gave the best tour ever. I had a tour with Nadia a few years ago and had the best time. We ended up becoming Facebook friends and staying in touch. Since then she has taken several of my friends on tours and they all have the same reaction- she’s awesome! I strongly suggest using Nadia when you visit Bangkok. She can show you around the city or take you to the markets like she did with us. (By the way, I paid full price for my tour. This review is solely based on my experience during the tour.) You can contact her via email nadiatourguide@hotmail.com. Just try to not steal my dates for when I return to Thailand hopefully next year. (That’s Nadia buying us some delicious coconut pancakes from a street vendor before beginning our tour of the railway market.)
Our first stop was the Railway Market. An entire (pretty large) market operating on the train tracks. They have shades to cover the track, but when the train comes by, everyone quickly pulls back the shades and steps aside and the train passes right through the middle. If you look closely you’ll notice the produce all the way at the edge going under the train, but not getting damaged. The easiest way to explain it is to show you… here’s a link to a video of my experience Railway Market Video.
Next we headed to the floating market. Here a whole town lives on the water and they have their market on the water as well. So to visit you get on a little boat and they take you around to check out all the vendors. If there’s something you want, then your boat gets close to the vendor so you can negotiate and purchase an item.
After finishing the tour, we got off our boat and walked around the market on land. Tied up to the edge was an older lady with a full blown kitchen set up on her boat. Apparently she has been there just about forever, serving these same noodles everyday. There was a line of people waiting to order. We had to check it out! So we got in line and waited our turn to try her dish… it was delicious!
We had a great time visiting the markets with Nadia, and I definitely suggest taking a day from the city and getting out to the markets. They’re worth experiencing.
Check back next week for our next stop…. Phuket!
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