Attractions information

Floating Market Damnoen Saduak

Waterways have always been an integral part of Thai life and many communities depended entirely on them for their daily existence.

Long before cars, boats of all shapes and sizes plied the rivers and canals through the kingdom of Thailand, trading their wares and delivering their supplies.
The Floating Market at Damnoen Saduak is located in Ratchaburi Province which is just over 100 kms or two hours drive from the capital city of Bangkok.

This is a particularly fertile area, being irrigated by a 32 kilometre straight-line canal constructed by King Rama IV way back in 1866.

It connects the Taachin River with the Mae Klong River and became a major transport artery between the provinces of Samut Sakorn and Samut Songkram.

Apart from providing transportation, Damnoen Saduak Canal also provides year-round water, with more than 200 small canals having been dug by farmers to irrigate their land.

The area is famous for the quality of its fruit, namely grapes, mangoes, bananas, oranges, papaya & coconut.

Nowadays, both sides of the canal are densely populated and bright and early every morning vendors from the surrounding area turn up to trade their wares.

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Lunch in a Thai Restaurant

Thai food has a range of tastes to suit all pallets so please don't make the mistake of thinking that all Thai food is spicy. Some dishes are very spicy but there are many which are not spicy at all. Rather, they are a wonderful combination of sweet and sour.

Thai dishes are normally shared by all.
Thai Cuisine is well-known for being hot and spicy and for its balance of the five fundamental flavors in the overall meal - hot (spicy), sour, sweet, salty, and bitter.

Thai food has four regional cuisines corresponding to the four main regions of the country: Northern, Northeastern (or Isan), Central, and Southern, each cuisine featuring locally grown food.

Southern curries, for example, tend to contain coconut milk and fresh turmeric, while northeastern dishes often include lime juice. The cuisine of Isan is heavily influenced by Laos.

Many popular dishes eaten in Thailand were originally Chinese dishes which were introduced to Thailand mainly by Teochew people who make up the majority of the Thai Chinese. Such dishes include Jok, Kway teow Rad Na, Khao Kha Moo and Khao Mun Gai.

Thai food is known for its enthusiastic use of fresh rather than dried herbs and spices as well as fish sauce.

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Jim Thompson House

Jim Thompson was an American who settled in Thailand after the end of the Second World War. He devoted himself to revitalizing a cottage industry of hand-woven silk, which was dying out.

His house was built from parts of six antique Thai houses which had been dismantled and brought to Bangkok.
Jim Thompson located a group of Muslim weavers in the Bangkok neighborhood of Bangkrua and provided hitherto unavailable color-fast dyes, standardized looms, and technical assistance to those interested in weaving on a piece-work basis.

His endeavour showed a profit from its first year of operation. Thompson's determination to keep his company cottage-based was significant for the women who made up the bulk of his work force.

In 1958 he began what was to be the pinnacle of his architectural achievement, a new home to showcase his art collection. Formed from parts of six antique Thai houses, his home sits on a canal across from Bangkrua, where his weavers were then located. Most of the 19th century houses were dismantled and moved from Ayutthaya, but the largest - a weaver's house, now the living room - came from Bangkrua.

During Easter 1967, Jim Thompson disappeared while on holiday in the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia. An extensive and extended search failed to reveal any clues about his disappearance.