Visit this place before it's popular
Lak Ha is an underappreciated old school community 80km outside Bangkok
The Tourism and Sports Minister Weerasak Kowsurat recently visited Ratchaburi to promote universal tourism. As part of his trip, he and those who travelled with wheelchairs stopped by Talat Nam Lak Ha (Lak Ha Floating Market) in Ratchaburi’s Damnoen Saduak district.
Located along the banks of Klong Damnoen Saduak, the low-profile Lak Ha community was crowded with locals, state officials and media. His visit was widely covered by traditional and social media. To hype it up, the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s Kanchanaburi Office also launched a short video clip to promote Lak Ha floating market.
The video clip showed the minister donning a traditional Thai dress, a short-sleeve white shirt and pink chongkraben (traditional Thai pantaloon-like trousers). He took a classic wooden boat from a private pier of Siriwet traditional Thai medicine shop to cross the canal to Wat Prasatsit or Wat Lak Ha. About a dozen of wooden boats offering fruits and decorative plants awaited his arrival around the pier of the temple. The clip also plays the song of the popular
Bupphaesannivas ( Love Destiny) TV series. Those vendors wore the same uniform, a long-sleeve blue shirt and a farmer straw hat. The video ended when the minister ascended to the temple pier and extended his hand to help a lady and two girls in traditional Thai dresses, who had been in the boat before the minister, to get off.
The ambience was classic. Those who saw the video clip, news and pictures wanted to have a boat ride experience and to see the floating market too. Little did they know that those boats were arranged just for the event.
“Where is the floating market?” asked almost every visitor when they walked around the community a day after the minister’s visit. They looked for vendors in e-pae wooden boats on the bank of Wat Lak Ha, but there was none. The only subjects they saw were water hyacinth and debris that were floating in front of a large sign board stating the name and the welcome message to the minister.
Their faces obviously showed their disappointment.
There is no real floating market during weekdays or weekends, nor a boat ride service for visitors at Wat Prasatsit. But the Lak Ha community, which is now being promoted as Lak Ha Floating Market Community, does have something slow-life travellers might appreciate.
History has it that Lak Ha community was founded after Klong Damnoen Saduak was constructed in 1866. The canal which took three years to complete connects the Tha Chin and Mae Klong rivers. The length is about 32km. Wat Prasatsit is the old temple of the community. It was built by Somdet Chao Phraya Borom Maha Si Suriyawong (Chuang Bunnag) who oversaw the canal construction project. The temple was named after his title when he was Phra Prasatsit.
About 50 years ago, there was a big floating market at the waterfront community. It was called Bua Ngam or Pho Hak Floating Market, which some locals said the market was the origin of the famous Damnoen Saduak floating market today.
Like other old communities along waterways, the Bua Ngam Floating Market gradually shrunk after roads were built. People changed the mode of transportation and commuted by land rather than by boat.
At present, almost half of those wooden shophouses lining the canal banks are closed. Some shops that are still opened sell things or services for people living in the community like a barber shop, grocery stores, noodle stalls and a vintage zinc food container shop.
There was an attempt a couple years ago by some locals who wanted to revive the floating market, but without success. If you visit the community nowadays, you will see some remaining objects of the attempt such as selfie checkpoints and a large kilometre marker post indicating the name of Lak Ha Floating Market.
For me, I would like the community to remain as low profile as it is because I like strolling along the long wooden walkway along the canal without bumping into people. I also like sitting on the wooden floor of a small noodle shop without fighting for space in the crush.
My favourite place is the space in front of my friend Siriwet’s shophouse. Whenever my friends and I have a chance to visit her, we will lay down a mat next to the pier at her house. The wind constantly blows and makes us feel relaxed. We like eating, talking and watching long-tail boats passing by. When we hear a bell ring, my host shouts “ice cream”. The ice cream boat will stop and come to us.
According to my friend, the coconut ice cream is made by an old couple in the Lak Song community. They ride a boat to sell their home-made ice cream along the canal every day except the days when coconuts are expensive. Their boat will reach my friend’s house around noon.
The ice cream has a strong coconut fragrance and is creamy. Having the smooth cold sweet taste in my mouth during the sunny day was very refreshing.
From time to time, there are vendors who paddle or ride their engine boats to sell food along the canal. Some honk the horn to let their potential customers know of their arrival.
My city friends seem to stop every merchant boat out of curiosity. We buy (steamed Chinese chive dumplings) for only 3 baht a big piece. It is served with a dipping made of soy sauce and vinegar. We also taste roasted duck and eat kuaytiew ruea (a noodle dish made by a vendor in the boat). She sells a bowl of noodles with minced pork and pork balls for only 20 baht. Before returning home, my friend bought
khun si mangoes for each of us. The green mango has a sweet taste. The price is also cheap at only 20 baht a kilo.
I told my friend that I could gain weight easily if I lived here. Perhaps, I think it is fortunate for me that some visitors felt upset when they couldn’t find much to do or buy at the Lak Ha community, but for me and for anyone who appreciates the ambience of the old community along the waterway and also like doing nothing while having a short trip outside Bangkok, the Lak Ha community really fits the bill.