Amphawa floating market

By: Rungnapha Kornsing and Wipawan Sukkratoke



History of Amphawa district
Amphawa is the district of Samutsongkram province of Thailand. There is the main river called Mae klong river in Samutsongkram province and it connects to the Amphawa district. The history of Amuphawa district is longer than two hundred years ago, the people live riverside for a long time and they still live there now. They conserve the river because Mae klong river combines the Thai ways of life and Thai wisdom, so the people who live there still tie with the river.
Amphawa canal is the important center of commerce. The houses were built from the wood and there are many of fireflies here, the people still conserve those houses because that is the identity of Amphawa community or Amphawa floating market. Their houses facing to the river and they still use the boat to travel like in the past. The people cooperate to protect the river, the ecological system

The tourist attraction at Amphawa district
All countries in the world have their identity and Thailand is the same. Thailand has different ways of life from the other counties, so that it becomes tourist destination. Amphawa is one of the famous tourist attractions of Thailand.
The first interesting part of Amphawa is the floating market. This market is near the Cheytiyaram temple. It’s very attractive because it opens only three days a week, on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. This market sells tasty local foods, some foods we can’t find other places, for example Amphawa fish maw which is so prominent food. This is the one of allurement of Amphawa floating market.
The second attraction is watching fireflies. If the tourists take the boat in the evening, they will be interested by the fireflies. A lot of them are amazed by watching it because it’s hard to see. In the evening the tourists can see their lights that decorate around the canal. People who live riverside will chat with their friends, their relations and they will have dinner together. This reflects Thai ways of life. Most of tourists is unmistakable to circumnavigate for sightseeing in the evening. They prefer to see this in May-October because the sky’s pitch-dark and then it’s easy to see those beautiful fireflies.

For tourists who prefer to get up early. There’s the original Thai ways of life at the Maeklong riverside, too (for touching with Thai subsistence) there are the monks who come about with an alms-dishes, so the tourists can offer the food into their bowls. Someone will come by canoeing or walking pass to the houses of the people who live riverside. At this canal the tourists always see children swim in the river. This mean that they still tie with the river. Thai people like to go to the temple to make merit and there are many temples along the river. Anyone who want to make merit can go to these temples and there are also old churches that is the important places of Thailand. Tourists can visit by from canoeing. That way, you can feel Thai ways of life.

The last important tourist attraction is the walking market at Amphawa. This market is for visitors to shop for. Moreover, there is Thai souvenirs dessert museum. This museum is the collection of Thai dessert. Tourists can walk around the floating market to buy the Thai food from the locals who row in the canoe and who are on the land all day. In this area, the sightseers can make Thai dessert by yourself. In addition the tourist can go cycling to see gardens like herb gardens and vegetable and we can buy the products from the natural materials.
All of this are the interesting tourist attraction at Amphawa Samutsongkhram province, Thailand. If you like the cultural voyage and see the original lifestyles don’t miss these places if you come to Thailand