Ayutthaya Floating Market ( Thailand )
Located in the historic province of Ayutthaya. Seventysix kilometers north of Bangkok. Ayutthaya Floating Market has managed to gain a good deal of attention among visitors due to its unique style of presentation and the performances of traditional Thai dance it .
stages, which take place right in the center of a group of lotus ponds. This floating market is one of the largest tourist sites in and around Ayutthaya province. The objective of this market is to help preserve and promote Thai arts and culture.
Ayutthaya floating market historical park located near Ayutthaya. Outside the island in the north (Tung Kwan) and in the heart of Parramatta is a monument King Naresuan the Great.
The market which opened to the public earlier this year is not a floating market in the traditional sense as the stalls are located around the outside of the ponds rather than aboard small boats. And it’s really the performances that have captured the public’s imagination since they take place upon a network of bamboo-based platforms that sit just a few centimeters below the water's surface.
On arrival, I made a quick visit to the temple ruins at Wat Jong Kom, which are located close to the market’s entrance. It is thought that the temple was constructed during the early Ayutthaya period (1350-1529) but it was later abandoned when the Burmese invaded the city in 1767. The entrance itself was designed to include rows of treesa as well as man-made interpretations of the ponds that inspired the market’s ( Klong Sa Bua).
I passed by a massage outlet near the entrance, which provides traditional massage services in a calm and peaceful setting, then purchased an attractive 100-baht (about three USD).
You can find a huge variety of Thai foods at the market, including several of my favorites such as spring rolls (grilled pork with peanut sauce), Khanom Tuai (coconut cake) and hor mok talae (steamed fish with curried coconut milk) which features a seafood topping and comes wrapped in a banana leaf.
On hearing an announcement that a performance was set to begin shortly. I got closer to the stage as a group of musicians began playing a traditional composition. The venue currently presents up to five shows per day from a total of eleven which are regularly rotated. Most of these performances stem from traditional folk tales.
The show I was set to experience was part of the popular Krai Thong folk tale which features a lead character of the same name. Krai Thong tasks himself with rescuing a beautiful woman who had earlier been captured by Chalawan a huge crocodile that possesses incredible magical powers and can disguise himself in human form.