Good day dear followers & steemians !
I remember a few years back that I saw a documentary about the craziest and most exciting markets on our planet. One of them was in Thailand, the Railway market in Maeklong.
As I'm a big fan of visiting all different kinds of markets I decided last weekend to do a trip to the famous market in Maeklong, which is a city in the province of Samut Songkhram (Around 65km away from Bangkok Central).
How to go there?
You can go there by bus , which cost you around 2.50$ - Just go by BTS to the last green station Mo Chit , take a Minivan from there to the big Bus Station Terminal 2 (Chatuchak) and get a ticket for 90 BATH to Maeklong (90min drive).
I started my day quite early as I dont live directly in Bangkok (60min south - Chonburi) and woke up around 06:30 AM to catch my bus at 08:00 AM to Bang Na, Bangkok where I switched into the BTS to go up to Mo Chit. On this day I was super excited for the trip and also to try out my new Tamron lens (24-70mm 2.8).
Maeklong, Railway Market
As soon as I got out of the Bus I already started feeling the strong Sun which the forecast predicted earlier in the Radio. God, It was Hot!!!!!!!!!!!!.. But of course that didn't hold me back from walking around the whole day and enjoying the markets. Even I changed my T-Shirt 2 times, Ha! Just make sure to cool down yourself every once in a while and Hydrate yourself with as much water you can!
The Railway market started about 5 mins away where the bus dropped us off. There are plenty of different regional fruits, vegetables and also fish & meat to buy.
The train is passing the market 5 times a day. That's the most exciting moment when the train horns 3 minutes before it arrives. Well, at least for the tourists :D .. For the market owners its just a normal day.
| Train Arrival times | 8.30 a.m., 11.10 a.m., 2.30 p.m. and 5.40 p.m. |
|---|---|
| Train Departure times | 6.20 a.m., 9.00 a.m., 11.30 a.m. and 3.30 p.m. |
Just make sure to be on the railways about 10 - 15 mins before the train arrives as it gets pretty crowded and people getting very excited to get the best spot to take a photo.
Shortly after you hear the horn of the train , market owners are getting ready to pack and move their stuff away from the railway
As you can see here it's all really narrow and there isn't a lot of space to move
After spending around 2.5 hours at the railway market , I decided to go to the floating market which is just near by (around 10 minutes by local share car - 10 Bath)
Maeklong, Floating Market
The floating market is basically a market on the river where you can buy food and drinks from and on the boats. There are also nice walking ways around the river where you can find a lot of restaurants and shops. My first stop was a nice place to drink an iced tea to cool down my body a bit as it still was crazy hot outside o !
I would have loved to stay at the floating market also by night but unfortunately the last bus to Bangkok goes back at 7:00 PM so I just went to one of the nice looking restaurants around this area at about 6 PM to eat some dinner. I had some scallops and a big fish which was fantastic. Some locals even say that you can find the best seafood of Thailand in this area.
View over the river
I will definitely come back to stay there over night to take some photos in the morning and at night. I really enjoyed this area while walking around and also having great food :)
Thank you for reading !
best
Chris :))
And as always, feel free to have a Chat with me in the comment section! Cheers!
@steemitworldmap
[//]:# (!steemitworldmap 13.536510 lat 100.270249 long Tripreport Floating/Railway market d3scr)