Thailand adventures: Damnoen Saduak floating market
Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, Thailand
Myself and @bunnychow continue our adventures in beautiful Thailand! This past Sunday we traveled about an hour and a half out of Bangkok to the largest floating market in Thailand, Damnoen Saduak. We booked the tour online for about $22 each and had to be at the pickup point at 7:30 AM. This meant we were awake at 5:00 AM on a Sunday. @bunnychow only perked up once we found a her some caffeine!
We erroneously thought that we'd be taking a boat to the market and were therefore not altogether pleasantly surprised when we were herded into a minibus for what turned out to be an hour and a half journey... We did at least stop at a coconut farm where we were shown how coconut milk and sugar is made. We also got to taste some of the coconut sugar, which tastes like fudge in my opinion. @bunnychow bought a whole lot to take home with us so I reckon she likes it too. Behold some pictures of the coconut farm:
The apparatus for turning coconut milk into coconut sugar. The coconut milk is boiled to reduce the moisture content until finally it is transferred to the burner at the back to caramelize into sugar
Someone with STRONG arms then whirls the coconut milk reduction around on this here fire inside the tyre until it caramelizes
The gorgeous @bunnychow tries her hand at making coconut sugar
After the coconut farm we were carted off to the dock where we got on a dragontail boat for the trip to the market. Have a look below for a glimpse at the trip.
After arriving at the market we were set free to wander around for an hour and a half and entertain ourselves. We chose to take pictures, got ripped off on beer and paid over the odds for food. The food was good though. It had all sorts of tentacles that freaked @bunnychow out. In all fairness I probably shouldn't have done a Zoidberg with a mouth full of squid...
Seafood Phad Thai with extra tentacles
Feast your eyes on some of the photos we took on our wanderings.
Overall verdict? We had a blast. It was a total tourist trap but we had a great time nonetheless. If you are ever in Thailand it is well worth visiting the Damnoen Saduak floating market.
Stay tuned for more adventures!
I'm glad you found that waking up That early was worth it!
The coconut sugar looks like caramel, Yum!
The first hour or two was a challenge... But after the caffeine kicked in we were good! The sugar tastes amazing. The woman at the farm was telling us about cooking with it and putting it into coffee but we we're like, "Nah. We're just gonna eat it!"
Hmm Coconut coffee.. Could be the best thing, sounds yummy though, does it stay in the syrup form? or does it look like fudge when it hardens?
It hardens into what looks like fudge.
Heat it up (gently would probably be best) and it should go liquid again. Might be really good with Bulletproof coffee if you like it sweet.
Hmmm...I think I have some of that coconut sugar at home. Definitely going to try that in my coffee!
I take my coffee black, no sugar but if you do like it sweet I can imagine that adding some of this would be rather better than regular sugar. It has a depth of taste beyond the sweet that I quite like, and I'm not even a sugar person.
I only have a little sugar if any. Just thought the caramel flavour would compliment the coffee nicely.
I don't doubt that it will - if you like sweet coffee. I don't like sweet coffee so I won't be an objective judge of this. Go for it and let me know how it compares to your regular cup of java! I predict a much better flavour.
Never heard of coconut sugar, does look like fudge super sweet, perhaps it could be nice slightly melted and drizzled on ice-cream for the sweet-tooth person.
Floating market must have been fun, that sea-food looks simply delicious!
Hmmm... The drizzle over ice-cream idea sounds good... We've got some in the fridge so will definitely try it! We had a great time and yes, the seafood was good even though @bunnychow was grossed out by all the tentacles!
Let me know if you have invented a new way of serving ice-cream 😊
Never put off by tasty fresh fish, close your eyes and chomp away @rahvin84 - One of my favourite things @bunnychow
Wow, that looks and sounds epic! Your pictures are really good too! Amazing how "old" methods of making things like coconut sugar still exist in this face paced world.
Those people really do live with less stress than we do here, in the cities - trying to make ends meet, buildings everywhere, no space to grow produce to refine and sell or eat.
Living off the grid in SA is a whole lot harder than in many other countries in the world... I WISH!!!! :)
GREAT READ BRO