Pattaya Floating Market

When I see a photo of a floating market – Thailand will always comes first to my mind. They’re like synonyms to me. Though, I’m more interested experiencing it in Bangkok, in the famous Damneouk floating market –, I think Pattaya’s version didn’t disappoint me either. Despite the expensive entrance fee of 200 baht.

We didn’t eat our lunch in in Nong Nooch Botanical Garden as the food didn’t look delectable that day. We were starving when we arrive in the floating market, so we instantly bargain for good food. There were a lot of choices. Others were sold on the boats, while some in the stalls and food carts.

 

Too bad, boat ride costs 600 baht (very expensive!), so we decided to explore the market on foot, which isn’t bad at all. You get to see interesting food being sold and bargain souvenirs in different shops. Though prices are higher compared to Bangkok, but it all boils down how expert you haggle.

Matching up to what I’ve read about damneoouk floating market, I think Pattaya’s less crowded, more organized and a little dirt free. The lake may seem dark and filthy, but it looked unpolluted to me.

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On our way back to Sukhawadee Palace for our van pick up, Mr Toh, our driver for the day, brought us to a winery – Silverlake. It’s a vineyard slash restaurant. It’s just disappointing they don’t offer free wine tasting. Haha. But the scenery is great. You can get close to the plantation and the garden, for a fee of course. We didn’t bother. We just bought some grape-flavored cookies and pies.

Just few meters away from Silverlake is the very unusual Buddha Mountain. When most Buddha sits in a temple, this one is being carved into a mountain. They say this was a gift made for the King’s birthday. It’s also called as the Laser Buddha, because it was whittled by a laser and the spaces were loaded with gold. I wonder how it looked like in the evening. My companions didn’t make an effort getting an up close view with the Buddha, you can see from afar anyway. But I did – for maybe less than 15 minutes.