Wat Takien: Between Pagodas and Boats

Every Monday, I take you on a journey somewhere in Thailand—to discover a place, a dish, an emotion, a unique experience designed to spark curiosity and inspire something truly memorable.

So… is it a floating market or not? Is it traditional, authentic, ecstatic, apathetic, beneficial, touristy, comical, cosmic, energetic, exotic?
Take a breath, we are switching to “sabai sabai” mode, the gentle philosophy of Thai life.

Sunday morning, 8:55am. The sun is already high over Nonthaburi, just 30 minutes from Bangkok.
I enter this extravagant temple through the mouth of a tiger and exit through the jaws of a dragon, a symbolic passage meant to keep evil spirits away. Just a few meters away, a canal awaits. A wooden boat carries me along old riverside homes, each surrounded by orchards, almost swallowed by jungle. Water hyacinths form floating carpets on the surface. Small rowboats return loaded with fruits and vegetables. Here and there, vendors drift by on their boats – serving hot soups, old-style coffee, even gas cylinders. Storks perch quietly overhead, while ducks glide in orderly lines across the water. It feels like a parallel world, moving to a different rhythm. You simply let yourself be carried by its softness.

Back at the starting point, boats are moored along the riverbank. Some still sell produce from their gardens, others have turned into tiny floating kitchens – fried noodles, skewers, omelets .
Under the covered market, everything comes alive. People eat at small tables or take food home. You rediscover a childlike sense of wonder, an appetite for discovery, the urge to taste everything. At every step, eyes widen.

Freshly harvested vegetables overflow from the stalls. Fruits are abundant – some rarely seen in the city. Santol with its yellow skin and cottony white flesh, sapodilla with caramel notes, salak (snake fruit), seasonal Marian plum, and gac (Fak Khao), a large spiny orange fruit whose pulp becomes a delicious juice. And there are many more.

Stalls overflow with dishes that tease the nose, sharpen the eyes, and awaken the taste buds: sausages with cabbage leaves, smoked or dried fish, fried prawns, crispy pork rinds, fish cakes wrapped in banana leaves, steaming curries infused with countless spices, sticky rice with red beans cooked in bamboo, and desserts in every color: coconut-based sweets, tapioca pearls, and much more.
Smoke blends with laughter, conversations, and calls from vendors. It becomes a long, joyful disruption of the senses. The mind can no longer keep up – it wants everything at once.

A kind of exhilaration takes over…
Then suddenly, you come back to yourself, slumped on a chair, still licking your lips, fingers sticky, tongue stained. What just happened?
This, too, is life: small moments that become rare, meaningful memories.
A return to something essential, deep within oneself.

So, does the idea of a “floating market” still feel the same? Certainly not this one.
Gently nudge your clients by the ear-and leave the rest to us. Smiles and happiness? We take care of that.

Until next Monday,