Amphawa Floating Market and a Sunset Firefly Cruise

The Amphawa Floating Market is a series of shops, bridges, and walkways along the Amphawa Canal and is the second largest floating market in Bankok, located some 50 km outside of the city. As opposed to the touristy Damnoen Saduak, Amphawa draws mostly local visitors.

I boarded an organized minivan tour on Khaosan Street that first stopped by the Maeklong Railway Market before arriving at the Amphawa Floating Market.

The bustling market is only open on weekend afternoons and is bright and colorful and lined with stalls selling food, crafts, and other goods. Merchants on wooden boats row up and down the river serving a freshly caught and prepared array of crabs, prawns, fish and other seafood.

I walked along the edge of the canal until I passed all of the vendors and shops and entered a quaint and quiet residential area. I didn’t see anyone moving about any of the homes but their doors and windows were wide open and welcoming. There were a few people sleeping in hammocks and for a few cats and dogs lounging in the warm afternoon sun

I imagine it’s refreshing to live away from all of the concrete of downtown Bangkok by edge of the water where you trust your neighbors and visitors so much you have no problem leaving your home wide open while you are away or taking a nap.

Eventually, I came across a bridge, walked over to the other side of the canal, and slowly made my way back to the market.

I walked along the other bank and reached an open-air shopping complex filled with quaint and colorful crafts and desserts.

I was starting to get hungry after the 20 baht (0.75 USD) pad thai I had eaten from the Maeklong Railway Market and sat down for some fresh clams and pineapples skewers with hot peppers and satay sauce.

I also gave these interesting looking desserts a try. They are a frozen yogurt/sorbet-like dessert wrapped in a plastic balloon sort of packaging. The top is cut off and you essentially suck the contents out, the balloon deflating along the way.

These are not real candies!

The last leg of my tour included a sunset firefly cruise. I boarded with the rest of the tour group and we were taken out of the Amphawa Canal into the Mae Klong River as the sun went down.

There weren’t too many fireflies due to urbanization but I still saw a number of them, tiny pinpricks of light blinking periodically in the bushes and trees at twilight.