A Unique Shopping Experience at Damuern Saduak Floating Market

Located 104 kilometers southwest of Bangkok between Nakhon Pathom and Samut Songkram is where you can find Damuern Saduak Floating Market. It is one of the most heavily promoted floating markets at Thailand.

Tour Fee:                      750 Baht (500 for the Crocodile Farm + 250 Baht for the Floating Market)

Duration:                       Full Day Tour

Attraction & Sites:         Damuern Saduak Floating Market, Free Lunch at a Floating Restaurant and Samphran Elephant Ground and Crocodile Farm.

The main attraction at the floating market is the wooden canoes laden with multi-colored fruits and vegetables, paddled by women wearing wide brimmed straw hats. It has become an iconic and alluring image for Thailand tourism.

Like my Full Day Tour to Ayutthaya and Bang Pa-InSummer Palace, I also availed my tour to Damuern Saduak Floating Market at Canary Travel and Tour Agency. The van picked me up at NapPark hostel at around 7:30 in the morning.

Feeling like a royal at Bang Pa-In Summer Palace

The Bang Pa-In Palace is located 30 kilometers south of Ayutthaya and is located on a small island called Bang Pa-In in the Chao Phraya River. Also known as the summer palace – it is a complex formerly used by the Thai kings.

Tour Fee:                    750 Baht (600 Baht for Ayutthaya + 150 Baht for Bang Pa-In)

Duration:                     Full Day Tour

Attraction & Sites:       Wat Phu Khao Thong, Wat Lokaya Suttha, Wat Phra Si Sanphet, Wat Yai Chai Mongkol,                                   Wat Mahathat and Bang Pa-In Summer Palace.

After 6 hours of tour around the temples and temple ruins around Ayutthaya, we then went to Bang Pa-In Palace. This is the last stop for the tour I purchased at Canary Travel and Tours for 750 Baht.

Bang Pa-In Palace is open to the public daily from 8.00 am until 4.00 pm. Tourists enter through the South Gate where there is a shop at which you can purchase guide booklets and I strongly recommend you acquire these first so as to greatly enhance your understanding and visit experience.

We arrived at Bang Pa-In Summer Palace at around 2:30 in the afternoon. There are two ways to get around the palace grounds: by foot, or by golf cart.  I opted to walk since I do not have a companion to share the price for the golf cart rental. The palace complex was constructed in the 17th century, though many of the present buildings were built in the 19th century.

The Palace is a collection of different styles of colorful buildings set in a landscape and water setting. The mansions reflect Chinese, Swiss, Khmer, Thai and general European styles of architecture. As with other Thai Royal palaces this compound is divided into two sections, the Inner Palace and the Outer Palace.

Ayutthaya: The Ancient City

Ayutthaya, full name Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya is the fabled city as well as the fallen city located 85 kilometers north of Bangkok. Ayutthaya is the ancient city of Siam before re-establishing their center at present-day Bangkok after they have fallen from the war with the Burmese. This city is rich in Thai history with beautiful and equally stunning temples!

Ayutthaya Day Tour!

Tour Fee:                   750 Baht (600 Baht for Ayutthaya + 150 Baht for Bang Pa-In)

Duration:                    Full Day Tour

Attraction & Sites:      Wat Phu Khao Thong, Wat Lokaya Suttha, Wat Phra Si Sanphet, Wat Yai Chai Mongkol, Wat Mahathat and Bang Pa-In Summer Palace.

Interesting Fact: Throughout the centuries, Ayutthaya is the trading capital of Asia and even the world. By 1700 Ayutthaya had become the largest city in the world with a total of 1 million inhabitants. Many international merchants set sail for Ayutthaya, from diverse regions as the Arab world, China, India, Japan, Portugal, the Netherlands and France. Merchants from Europe proclaimed Ayutthaya as the finest city they had ever seen. All this came to a quick end when the Burmese invaded Ayutthaya in 1767 and almost completely burnt the city down to the ground. The great cultural value of Ayutthaya’s ruins was officially recognized in 1991, when the Historic City became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. (Wikipedia, 2014)

Meeting New Friends

At 7:00 o’clock in the morning, the van for the Ayutthaya Day Tour picked me up at my reserved accommodation at NapPark Hostel. There were 10 other tourist in the van with me, plus the guide and the driver. We were headed to Ayutthaya and the guide told us that the trip takes about 1 hour. Since I slept early last night, I just decided to watch You Who Came from the Stars & Running Man from my phone (both are Korean Shows). Little did I know that the couple seated behind me is Korean.

Sunset at Wat Arun, The Temple of Dawn

Located on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River just a ferry ride across Wat Pho and the Grand Palace is Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn. It is named after the Indian god of dawn, Aruna.

Important Facts:

Entrance Fee: 50 Baht

Open everyday from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM

How to get there:

From Wat Pho you can get to Wat Arun through the Chao Phraya Cross River Ferry that can be found at N. Pier 8 or the Tha Tien Pier Station.

The cost of riding the cross river ferry from Wat Pho  to Wat Arun is three (3) Baht per person. Since I was feeling tired from the tour of Grand Palace and Wat Pho, I decided to sit first at the café near the temple. They serve pastries and coffee. I ordered a grande size Iced Caramel Macchiato as it is still hot even if the sun is about to set. After resting for about 30 minutes, I started my tour of Wat Arun. Firstly, I visited the surrounding areas of the temple.

Interesting Fact: Wat Arun is a Khmer-style temple with four prangs (also known as prasat) and one larger one in the middle. This layout is a representation of the five sacred mountains which were home to the gods according to Khmer, Hindu and Buddhist cosmology. The central prang represents Mount Meru, the center of the universe. When the heights of the central prang was extended, Rama III ordered that colourful ceramics and porcelain should be used to form elaborate motifs and designs. This unusual design feature makes the prangs shimmer and shine in the sunlight and give the temple a unique appeal that has to be seen close up to be fully appreciated.

Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha)

The Reclining Buddha of Wat Pho!

The oldest and largest temple in Bangkok, it houses the country’s largest reclining Buddha, and it has the biggest collection of Buddha images in the country. Wat Pho is also the national headquarters for the teaching and preservation of traditional Thai medicine, including Thai massage.

Wat Pho!

Important Facts:

Entrance Fee: 100 Baht

Open everyday from 8:30 AM to 6:30 PM

How to get there:

If you're coming from the Grand Palace, Wat Pho is just 5 to 10 minutes walk. It is near N. Pier 8 or the Tha Tien Station. You can ride a tuktuk from the Grand Palace to Wat Pho but beware cause you might find yourself in a different temple. Haha.

My tour of Wat Phra Kaew and Grand Palace ended at noon, in time for lunch. I went to Ta Chang Pier to look for cheap eatery where I can escape from the hot weather and to pacify my growling stomach. Since I love watching Running Man (Korean Action-Comedy Sunday Variety Show), I went to the eatery featured in one of their episode shot at Bangkok and was satisfied with what I ordered.

Wat Phra Kaew and the Grand Palace

On the 7^th day of my backpacking trip, I decided to visit the famous temples at Bangkok. My first stop was the Grand Palace which share grounds with the Temple of the Emerald Buddha or locally called as Wat Phra Kaew.

Important Facts:

Entrance Fee: 400 Baht

Open every day except during special occasions

How to get there:

The most comfortable as well as the cheapest way to get there is through the Chao Phraya River Express. Get off at N. Pier 10 (Ta Chang) and walk to the gate of Grand Palace where Wat Phra Kaew is located.

From Ta Chang Pier, the gate of Grand Palace is just a hundred or so meters away. You can immediately spot the entrance. You just have to look for the busiest and most crowded area/wall/fence of the grand palace. The gate is named Viseschaisri Gate, that’s according to the pamphlet of grand palace given upon purchasing the ticket.

Tra-Abel Guide on Getting Around Bangkok, Thailand

Finding Your Way From Suvarnabhumi Airport to Khao San Road

I arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport with little knowledge about the transportation system of Bangkok. Based from the information I gathered from reading different travel blogs and sites, I only had a rough imagination of how I can get to my reserved accommodation near Khao San Road and it goes this way: Airport Rail Link-BTS Sukhumvit Line-BTS Silom Line-Chao Phraya River Express.

Just follow the signs and don't be afraid to ask and ask more!

Finding the Airport Rail Link was easy, there are signboards everywhere leading you to it. It was located two floors down from the arrival floor. Near the entrance of the rail link, there was a Kasikorn Money Changer which rate was a little bit higher than those located elsewhere in the airport (for the complete guide on money changers at Bangkok, click here)

The airport rail link looks deserted early in the morning, but don’t worry because there are guards and personnel roving around the station. I bought a ticket from Airport to Phaya Thai, the trip was really fast and stress free. The BTS Sukhumvit Line was a few walk away from the Phaya Thai Station of Airport Rail Link. I bought a ticket at a vending machine located at the entrance of BTS Phaya Thai Station. I rode the BTS Sukhumvit Line from Phaya Thai Station to Siam. There is an interchange at this station from BTS Sukhumvit line to  BTS Silom Line. From the Siam Station of BTS Silom Line, I bought a ticket to Saphan Taksin Station where the Chao Phraya River Express is located. Using the Chao Phraya River Express, I bought a ticket for the Tourist Boat going to N13 or Phra Arthit Pier where Khao San Area is just a walking distance.

If ever you find yourself lost, don’t hesitate to ask questions. The BTS personnel were really helpful as well as those personnel of Chao Phrya River Express.

Getting around

Bangkok, Thailand is notorious for its traffic especially during rush hours, but fear not because there are different modes of transportation available that can help you get around and visit popular tourist sites in Bangkok without getting stuck in middle of the traffic.