In April is the annual Maeklong Lychee Fair, and December is the Mackerel Eating and Mae Klong Famous Products Festival in front of city hall, here you can taste 50 different dishes of mackerel from the local area as well as elsewhere, sales of fresh mackerel and food products from mackerel, as well as various agricultural products.
One of the most popular day trips from Bangkok is to see the floating market where Thai vendors paddle round in boats selling their wares.
Another trip to The Floating Market
Another TeakDoor member visits The Floating Market.
One of our members tries to win the lottery at a merit making ceremony.
Ban Khao Yi San Museum
The museum presents the stories of the community which are important and worth a study. On the ground floor, there are displays of folk wisdom, life and culture, tools for making herbal medicine, and household utensils.
Chang-Eng Siamese Twins Memorial and Boat Museum
The statues were built in memory of Chang-Eng, the Siamese twins who made Thailand famous around the world.
Orchid Farm
This Orchid Farm is located on Samut Songkhram - Bang Phae Road. It is a tourist stopping point with a beautiful orchid farm and butterfly farms. It is open from 08.00.-11.00.
Ban Maeo Thai Boran
Ban Maeo Thai Boran is a house where species of genuine Siamese cats have been conserved. The house of traditional Siamese cats was created by lovers of Siamese cats to promote and support the conservation of Siamese cats to be a treasure of the nation.
King Rama II Memorial Park
This park was built under the project to honour King Rama II, run by the King Rama II Phraboromrachanusorn Foundation under royal patronage. It is built to commemorate his great patron to the arts and culture, which become a national heritage.
Ban Dontri or House of Music
Ban Dontri or House of Music is located in the temple compound of Wat Kudi Thong. A school building is used for instructing traditional Thai music. The Samut Songkhram Primary School Office has envisioned that the cultural value of folk wisdom should be preserved and inherited to the next generation for their pride in the future.
Bang Kung Camp
When arriving at the camp site, visitors will firstly see an imitation wall built in memory of the battle. Here is a historic navy camp site. Following the second defeat of the Ayutthaya kingdom in 1767, King Taksin the Great moved the naval force to set up camp in the district of Bang Kung since Mueang Mae Klong (the city of Mae Klong) was in the way used by the Burmese army.
Bencharong House
The Bencharong House is located on Samut Songkhram - Bang Phae Road. This is where beautiful Bencharong crockery that represents the exquisite craftsmanship and the beauty of Thai Art, are produced. The Bancharong crockery is suitable for household use as well as for house decoration. Visitors could see the Bencharong crockery production process.
Bang Nokkwaek Floating Market
Decades ago, the Bang Nokkwaek Floating Market was so packed with vendors on boats every the 2nd, 7th, 12th days of both the waxing and waning moon of the lunar calendar but, after roads were built in the area, the market gradually faded into a memory of glorious past. Revived by the community as an attraction, the market now opens during weekends and holidays (8am to 5pm) and offers delicious food such as crab noodle, chicken congi, Phad-Thai with fresh shrimps, baked scallops with butter, seedless sala in syrup and fermented banana blossom as well as Mae Klong River’s fresh shrimps and tuna fish. Visitors can also explore over-100-year-old wooden row houses, the Tong Sua Heung Pharmacy, the House of Mister Kungwal, a former influential tug boat businessman whose life inspired a film, and the House of former Thai boxer Apidech Sithiran who was famous for kicking an opponent in the neck down to the bend of the knee in three fast steps. A free boat trip is available for those wishing to sightsee or buy “Mamoung Hao Manao Ho” (Christ’s Thorn or Carissa carandas) at Bt50 (S$2) per plant.
For information, call the Samut Songkhram Tourism Office at 034-752-847-8.
Located in Samut Songkhram, this is a classic market with unique experiences to offer to its visitors. They have to walk on the railway while shopping around because all stalls are lining along a 100-metre portion of track between Mae Klong and Ban Laem train stations. Whenever trains are running past, vendors will quickly fold their parasols (including sunshade canvas) and move away any containers placed too close to the tracks.
Their movement is so quick and so natural that visitors have dubbed this market, originally known as "Rot Fai Market" and "Ratchapassadu Market", as Rom Rub (Folding Parasols). There are eight trains coming daily at 6.20am, 8.30am, 9am, 11.10am, 11.30am, 2.30pm, 3.30pm, and 5.40pm. Local stalls are selling fresh, quality seafood, fruits and vegetables at a cheap price.
This market is open from 6am till 6pm every day. For more information, call 0 3471 4881.
Tha Kha Floating Market
Located at Khlong Phan La or Khlong Sala, this floating market takes place on the 2nd, 7th, 12th days of both the waxing and waning moon of the lunar calendar, and also operates every Saturday and Sunday from 7am to noon.
At this rendezvous of vendor boats selling carry local food, vegetable, and fruits, you can try “Uncle Jook’s red-colored beef noodle soup”, mussels fried in batter and egg, steamed rice-skin dumplings, “Med Khanoon” mock jack fruit seeds made of Mung bean marzipan and egg yolk, glutinous rice steamed in nipa palm leaf and coconut sugar or but locally-made handicrafts such as decorative items made of coconut shells.
Boat rental services are on offer for travelling to the villages and fruit orchards around the neighborhood and you can visit the Ban Sadet Prapaston, a house of wealthy man named La where King Rama V used to stay during his visit and help freed La’s slaves.
For information, call the Tambon Tha Kha Administration Orgnaisation at 034-766-208 or the Samut Songkhram Provincial Organisation at 034-715-544.