Sawasdeeka: The Pattaya Floating Market

Continuing my travelogue before end of the year...

We couldn't fit in a half-day trip to the famous traditional floating market in Bangkok, so when I accidentally found out that there's a "man made" floating market in Pattaya, we decided it would worth a visit.

The Pattaya Floating Market is a new attraction in Pattaya, located on Sukhumvit Road, on the way to Sattahip district. It's a little out of action but from its website I've learned that there's bus services at an affordable 20 baht to and fro most major destinations in the city.

Since we had a bike, we didn't need to figure out transportation to the place. After a nice shower at the hotel, we set off to Floating Market. It was quite a distance from the Beach Road, but it wasn't difficult to spot it.

If you see many tour buses lining up the road, you know you are at the right place :)

Unlike Damnoen Saduak which is a real market set up on the river, Pattaya Floating Market is a tourist attraction that was built to "showcase" this special "Thai floating shopping experience". So you can expect less chaotic, more organized and well designed buildings.

Though losing a little of the authentic touch, the place is still ideal for a leisure walk and tasting some traditional Thai food.

Once entering the market, it's like a wooden maze on top of the water. There are many wooden bridges/ walkways linking all the traditional-looking buildings, and some hawkers selling from their boats.

They sell all types of things and food there. Popular Thai snacks like Koh Kae (the peanuts) and Tao Kae Noi (crispy seaweed) have their own outlet there.

The landscape of this floating market was carefully planned out. I really like how they try to maintain the Thai feel of the place, even in details like using coconut shells as pots for their flowers gave this place a wonderful local twist.

Almost every corner of the floating market makes a good backdrop for photos. No wonder since its opening in late 2008, this place had been attracting many foreign tourists.

And for us, the main thing to do there is of course trying some local Thai snacks!

The first boat we stopped for is my favorite coconut ice-cream. The lady seller is so friendly and when she saw us taking photos, she turned and posed hehehe. So cute! Thais are generally friendly, no wonder they called their country "the land of smiles" :)

The coconut ice-cream here comes with more toppings. It was a great dessert on a hot afternoon, love the thick coconut taste!!!

Right beside the coconut ice-cream, there's another boat selling barbecue seafood on skewers. The smell was so nice that we couldn't resist the temptations.

Fresh, big, succulent scallops, the ends were a little crispy but the flesh remained juicy and chewy. Dipped in the Thai sweet chili sauce, I swear it's really the best scallops I've ever tasted.

Drinking plenty of water is a must in Thailand, because the weather is seriously hot and most of the food are heaty and spicy. We saw this stall selling sea coconut drink, I like I like! So we bought a cup.

The drink is really nice, not overly sweet, and is cooling too :) Thumbs up! A good replacement for fresh coconut drinks.

There are too many food selling along the way, including things that you don't expect to see like deep fried duck's chins. Err... erm... *gulped* I didn't try that.

Many of the food looks appetizing though. A lot of yummy deep fried stuff, but we couldn't try everything. And mind you, this is only barely at the entrance area! We must leave some stomach space for the rest.

Other than walking around the Floating Market, visitors can also choose to take a ride on the pedal boat.

We went there quite late in the evening, almost near to their closing time (the place is open till late but most of the shops and vendors close around dinner time) so the place was a little deserted. Most of the big tour bus departed by the time we walked in.

More exotic food were found! Crocodile meat satay! Argh! I thought crocodiles eat human, not the other way around? Dare to try? Not for me, I still prefer to victimize those tamer animals hahaha.

Thai sausages! The fat sausages looked extremely inviting. We ordered one spicy one and I've got to say, it's so delicious!!!

The sausage was stuffed with I don't know what exactly, but it's some chili and spices stuffing, melted perfectly together with the chewy sausage texture. An upgraded version of Taiwanese sausages. Argh! I am craving for them now!!!

We continued to walk along the wooden walkways aimlessly, looking at shops and things along the way (without any intention to buy hahaha). Without the noisy crowd, the place is awesome to linger around.

We spotted more interesting food along the way but we need to save our stomachs for proper dinner later. Could only stare at the nice food, swallowing our saliva hahaha.

From their website, I've learned that there are free cultural performances everyday. Probably during the peak hours only, so we didn't get to watch any.

Other than food, there are also a lot of shops selling interesting souvenirs and t-shirts. I am not sure about the price, I think they are quite standard though.

Saw some funky spectacles on sales so I tried a couple of stupid looking ones and YM managed to snap a few photos for me before the seller told us "no photo, sir" hahaha. Too late, I've already taken them!

We walked and walked and then YM spotted some plump squids on the grill and he was so eager to eat them.

There, fat squids cut into smaller pieces, drown in a pool of sweet and sour homemade chili sauce. Woots!

I am not a big fan of squids (unless deep fried) so I only tried one piece. Judging from YM's contented face, I could easily conclude that it tasted really good.

That evening's weather was great, cloudy and breezy. When the sun started to set, I saw most vendors preparing to call it a day.

The Floating Market also has some fun activities for the visitors such as the "sling adventure" where you will be secured in a harness and flung across the lake. This can be found at the Swing Bridge there.

When the sky dimmed, the place started to light up. It'a a nice view seeing the wooden huts glowing in warm lights and the reflection flickering in the water. Lovely.

Just as we were about to leave, we passed by a shop selling some really "interesting" snacks. Deep fried crickets, silk worms and grasshoppers. Game for a try?

I would imagine them tasting like some crispy snacks and I heard they didn't taste weird except the fat worms might be a little disgusting with juicy, soft flesh inside *eww*. I am not risking my stomach for anything exotic. So nope, I did not eat them.

The sky was actually quite dark by the time we left the place. Took a photo with the giant Koh Kae before leaving. OMG so big, hehehe.

We had a fun evening exploring the Pattaya Floating Market. Although the place might come across a little too commercialized for some, I still think it's worth a visit if you happened to have some spare time in Pattaya.