While we were in Bangkok, our daughters’ friend came to stay with us for two weeks. One of the activities she wanted to do during her visit was to see a floating market. Having just gone to Amphawa floating market the previous weekend, we didn’t really want to leave Bangkok.

A quick google search found that there are a couple of weekend floating markets inside the city limits.
Khlong Lat Mayom and Tailing Chan floating markets are locate close to each other on the Thonburi side of the Chao Phraya River. As luck would have it we were staying on the Thonburi side, so it would only take a quick 15 minute taxi ride to get there.

We visited Khlong Lat Mayom first, arriving early to avoid the crowds. The taxi driver dropped us off on a gravel road next to some market stalls. We got our bearings and walked towards the khlong (canal). We found ourselves inside a covered market area with food stalls filling the space. Everything looked delicious, but we decided to look around before feasting.

At the water’s edge we found boats filled with produce for sale. We bought a bag of rambuttan to introduce our guest to the juicy deliciousness hidden inside the hairy, red exterior of the fruit.

We had to duck our heads to cross under the bridge to the other side of the market.

On the other side of the bridge we found a stand with fish food and bought a bowl of pellets to toss in the water so we could watch the fish flopping around, scrambling for the food.

Here we fed ourselves, too, and bought mee krob (sweet and sour krispy noodles), satay, fresh squeezed orange juice, and khanom krok. (small fried coconut pudding cakes).

With full bellies, we set off for a boat ride. We chose a paddled flat bottom boat instead of the long boat with a motor and I am glad we did. For only 20 baht (about 60 cents) each we got an hour long private boat ride along the canals.

The canals here are more narrow than at Amphawa. The vining plants covering  the concrete banks added to the peaceful atmosphere. We glided through the water with the slow paddling strokes of our guide.

After about a half hour we turned down a side canal and came to a lotus pond.

Our guide picked a few lotus pods and encouraged us to eat the seeds. We had eaten the seeds before in Vietnam, but it was a first for our guest. We had to remember how to pop the seeds out of the pod and peel back the outer green layer to reach the soft, cream-colored seed inside.

Back on shore we headed back to the gravel road and caught a taxi to Tailing Chan.

Here we found seats at a low table on the dock and ordered squid, blood cockles, and fried oyster noise(?) from the floating vendors. The blood cockles were amazing. We never got the oyster noise, which we figured out was hoy tod, a delicious omelet filled with oyster that we have eaten and enjoyed many times. We mostly ordered it because of the funny name translation, but sometimes we don’t get everything we order due to language barriers. Oh well.

We wandered around some, but Tailing Chan seemed smaller than Khlong Lat Mayom and had fewer interesting food options. We finished our grazing meal with a unique dish of vegetables and bean sprouts in a crispy crepe-like wrap that reminded me a bit of my favorite Vietnamese dish, ban xeo, before getting a taxi back to our place.

If you find yourself in Bangkok, I would highly recommend Khlong Lat Mayom floating market. The peaceful canals seem worlds away from bustling downtown Bangkok. I wish we had stayed there longer instead of going to Tailing Chan, so we could have tried out more of the delectable food options at Khlong Lat Mayom. I can definitely understand why some online sources call it a foodie paradise. And the relaxing paddle boat ride through the canals and lotus pond for only 60 cents reminded me why I love Thailand so much.