Bangkok

Taling Chan Floating Market and Orchid Farm
By SBE (dabbler - 2 reviews)
Written on 29th June, 2009 after a visit to Bangkok in ,
A visit to the weekend floating market at Taling Chan combined with a boat trip to a orchid farm makes a very pleasant escape from the noise and pollution of Bangkok for a few hours. The boat trip in particular is worth doing ... it's quite an eye-opener to discover all that clean air, rural countryside and lack of traffic noise so close to Central Bangkok!

The Taling Chan weekend market is a small but colourful floating food market which still retains a certain degree of authenticity. Entrance to the market is free and you don't get hassled by touts. The pedestrian-only road leading to the floating market itself looks like a miniature version of Chatuchak with stalls selling everything from live terrapins to Buddha images and flowers.

At the floating market itself, there's a large open air floating restaurant where people can sit and eat a wide range of freshly cooked Thai food bought from any of the numerous small wooden boats moored next to it.

Taling Chan is also the starting point for canal boat tours to an orchid farm which takes you past traditional wooden Thai houses, temples, orchards and the even the odd monitor lizard, allowing you glimpses of an older, slower way of life. The tour lasts about 90 minutes and includes a couple of stops at temples as well as a visit to the orchid farm which boasts some very beautiful and unusual orchid species. Plantaholics can buy plants there for very cheap prices too.

It's best to do the boat tour early to avoid the crowds and the heat. The first trip starts about 9.30am and gets you back in time for lunch at the market. Not many foreign tourists go to Taling Chan but it's very popular with Thai people and gets busier as the morning wears on. Most of the Thai visitors come here for the food so you may have difficulty finding a place to sit on the floating restaurant at lunchtime!

How to reach Taling Chan

The market is open 08:00 - 17:00 on Saturdays and Sundays only.

You can get there very cheaply from central Bangkok by taking a #79 air-con bus. The journey time is usually under an hour though this depends on traffic of course. The bus route is convenient for most of the main tourist areas in Bangkok.

An information booth at Taling Chan has the departure schedule for the boat tours and sells tickets. The orchid farm trip costs 90B (adults) and 50B (children). On Sundays only there is also a longer three hour canal tour starting at around 13:00 which includes a visit to a snake farm. This trip costs 150B (adults) and 60B (children).

There's some great pics of Taling Cham on SBE's flickr site here.