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Taling Chan Floating Market and Buddha Monthon

Posted by Stuart at 07:55 PM on March 04, 2007

Shortly after dinner last night, Francois and I were preparing to board the Skytrain at Siam when Todd called and talked us into meeting him and Hoang out at Silom for a drink. It was Macha Bucha Day, a Buddhist holiday, so our drinks ended up being fruit shakes, but it was still fun to sit outside and enjoy a much quieter Silom scene than usual.

Francois and Hoang both go back home to the US at the end of the week, and so we were talking about what tourist sites they should see before they go. Someone mentioned the Floating Market. I don't care too much for the main touristy one at Damnoen Saduak, so I recommended going to Taling Chan

Now, I haven't actually been there myself, but I have heard about it before, so we headed there this morning. Piyawat was kind enough to drive, and Francois joined us. Then we rented a regular taxi for 100 baht (US$2.80) per hour to follow us and to carry Todd, Hoang, and another friend named Kevin.

It turned out to be a great day. The market at Taling Chan is not very big, but there is a great selection of food, fruit, and plants for sale. There is a floating restaurant on the canal where the six of us ate a delicious and amazingly cheap lunch -- 600 baht (US$17) -- which included a huge fish, lots of big prawns, and various other Thai food goodies.

We then rented a long tail boat for a personalized tour of the Thonburi canals. It was a one hour trip that set us back 800 baht (US$22.50) and was well worth the money. No matter how many times I take boat rides along the canals, it's still fascinating to see how people live there -- watching some fishing for dinner, or passing by rows and rows of orchids being farmed, or admiring the gymnastic skills of young boys doing flips off their porches into the water, or old ladies going house to house selling ice cream from their boat.

After the boat ride and wandering through the market tasting various fruits and snacks (and having one amazingly refreshing apricot/strawberry/black currant shake) we loaded up again and hit the road, going farther west to the province of Nakorn Pathom and the famous Buddha Monthon.

The Buddha Monthon is a huge 1,000 acre park with a 15 meter-tall Buddha statue at its center. The park is well landscaped with man-made ponds and fountains and is quite beautiful. It was built to commemorate the 2,500 year anniversary of the start of Buddhism. (This year is the year 2550, so that means that the park was started in 1957). Even though we were quite far outside of downtown Bangkok by this time, the park was still full of picnicing Thai people, most of whom were now sleeping on grass mats under the trees.

The highlight of the park, though (other than the huge walking Buddha image) was the large wiharn building. In it, there were hundreds of bright colored paintings showing stories from Buddha's life, as well as the usual folk scenes and even some modern scenes of Thailand and its people. There are also 1418 big marble stones that have the words of the Pali Canon (the Buddhist holy scriptures) carved into them in gold letters.

So all in all it was a great day trip for the six of us. I highly recommend visiting the Taling Chan floating market and the boat rides through the canals. And if you're a fan of Buddhist art, then the trip to Buddha Monthon is well worth your time as well. And as always, pics to come soon!