Khlong Lat Mayom Floating Market

I have spent more time in Thailand than any other countries except the US and the Netherlands but have never been to a floating market. The things that I have read about them is they are really for tourist. I have planned to visit one of the floating markets in the past but it was always a low priority and prior to now I have just not made the effort.

I got up on Sunday morning and decided I should do something other than being lazy which I am now getting good at but the perfection of laziness still eludes me. I did a quick search on the internet and picked the Khlong Lat Mayom Floating Market as my desired tourist activity for the day. The things I found on the net suggested catching a cab to get to the market and it did not appear to be that far away and seemed simple enough. I also have my local Thai guide with me and made sure she understood our mission for the day and set out to catch a cab.

Once we had a cab and were on our way the cabby informed us that the Khlong Lat Mayom Floating Market is not a pretty place and recommended somewhere else. I said no we want to go to Khlong Lat Mayom Floating Market since I had read about it. I did however get the name of the place he wanted to take us and it is written down in Thai for me to try and find info about to see if it is somewhere I would like to visit.

After I insisted that I wanted to go to Khlong Lat Mayom it quickly became obvious that the cabby did not know where it was. He stopped and asked for directions a number of times and we found our way there without to much of a problem. I just found it funny that him saying it is not a pretty place really meant I don't know where that is. I also kept thinking of scenes from the amazing race with people yelling and screaming at cabbies that had to stop and ask for directions but screaming and yelling is not on my path to the perfection of laziness.



The market is rather small area and I did not see that many non-Asian tourist but it is really just a touristy type of place. The picture above is the type you will see in the tour advertisements but most of the market looks more like the following. There is a small water way with a few boat vendors and then a large number of shops on the side selling food and trinkets.



I am happy that we visited the Khlong Lat Mayom Floating Market and it was a good day out with good company and only a small bump on my road to the perfection of laziness. The market was what I expected to see and if I had my hopes set on a wonderful cultural experience I would have been sorely disappointed. I got a couple of pictures of boat vendors and got to sample a new fruit for me which was more than I really expected. The floating market was good but I really prefer the normal day to day markets I wonder in now and again in the different neighbors on my wonders while I am in Thailand.

Bellow are a couple more pictures from the market and I really like the hood above the cooking range on the boat that is vented through the roof of the hut in the last picture.