We are off to Thailand and Cambodia in a month and I have one itinerary question. We will have 3 full days in Bangkok before touring the rest of the country and Cambodia. The three full days are the first three of our trip. We have booked a driver for our first full day to take us to the floating market in the morning and the Prasart Museum in the afternoon. I thought that this would help acclimate us to the heat and jet lag, as most of the day will be spent in an air conditioned car. But after reading some comments on the floating market, I am wondering if we are just wasting a half a day that could be better spent elsewhere. We will have enough time on the 2 other days in Bangkok to see the 4 major wats and Jim Thompson House, but probably not Vinnimek mansion. We are not into spending lots of time shopping. We are more interested in sightseeing and experiencing culturally intersting things.
Should we spend a half day going to the floating market to take a klong boat ride of about an hour and take some photos , or would our time be better spent in Bangkok?
Thanks for all of your past good advise.

I'm not a fan of the floating market. The author of the Luxe guide refers to it as "floating tourist junk" and I would be hard-pressed to disagree with her. There are others on this board who are fond of the market.

If it were me (and, obviously, it is not), I'd start the first day with a couple of wats, Wat Ben to watch (and perhaps participate in) the merit-making, and early stops at another wat or two, perhaps a stop at the Erawan shrine. I'd schedule a long, leisurely lunch, then off to the Prasart.

Skip the floating market. It's not special. The Prasart Museum is very special. If you get up early, you can go see/participate in the alms giving. If your first day is Sat. or Sun., you could go to the Chatuchuk market. It's interesting, even if you're not a shopper. If it's during the week, Limphini Park from 7-9:00 a.m. is fascinating.

Thanks for your replies. I think we will skip the floating market. Just curious-is there anyone out there who has been to the floating market recently and thought it was a special or worthwhile experience?

The market is cheap and tacky. It may appeal to the kind of person who likes to prowl the aisles of TJMaxx looking for a bargain.

It is not the type of place for people who stay at the Oriental.

we like the floating market....we never look to buy anything there....we just like the visual that you observe there....

in your case, with only 3 days i think you could well spend the day doing something else...

but more importantly, i do not think it wise to plan to do so much on your day of arrival or the next day....you will be dog tired believe me....could you reschedule your driver to the last day you are in bkk?? and doing floating market and prasart in one day would be too much---you would not get the enjoyment out of either one, imo...

We were in Thailand just a few weeks ago (first timers) and we did Bangkok in 3 days as well. We booked with Ratt and had someone from her team take us to the floating market, Bridge over the River Kwai and the Tiger Temple. This was one of the highlights of our trip. We didn't buy anything at the market but we loved the experience and took some amazing pictures. I would highly recommend it-yes it was touristy but we really enjoyed the experience. We booked this day trip on our first day in Bangkok and if we could do it again we would have done it a day or two later. We were exhausted and a bit overwhelmed by the heat and jetlag like we have never experieced before on any trip.

Also-If you are in Bangkok over a weekend make sure you go to the Weekend Market-a great experience and the cheapest shopping that we found on our trip.

Hope this helps...

Thanks Bob and pmalinow. I too am only interested in the visuals of the floating market (not shopping). After reading your opinions, I am again waffling about whether to spend the time going there. This trip could be rescheduled to our second full day in Bangkok. The driver could pick us up to go to the floating market at 8am and we could go to the Prasart at 2pm. Do you think that doing just the floating market in the morning and the Prasart in the afternoon is too taxing for one day? By my calculation we will be out of the airconditioned car for only one hour at the floating market, and two hours at the Prasart. Other than that we will be sitting in an air conditioned car. That seems to be a pretty relaxing day to me, but maybe I am not anticipating how bad the jet lag and heat will be. By the way Bob, I really enjoyed your trip report on India and Thailand.

I've done both albeit on separate days - you can easily be back in Bangkok by 1 PM if you don't much else besides the floating market so in theory you could do the Prasart. Just ask your driver to make all of the arrangements and see what the response is.

I'll chime in with a vote for the floating market. (I guess maybe the Oriental's not for me!) Touristy, yes. Tacky? Ok. But take it for what it is. The scene is fascinating. And I loved the faces of the women in their boats piled high with fruit and vegetables. Lovely photo opportunities. Go early. It's visually unlike I experienced anywhere else during our three weeks in Asia. I won't go back on future trips to Asia, but I thought it was well worth a morning. You can be back in Bangkok by lunchtime.

shelly, most of us leave bkk about 6:30AM...this way you get to see the FM at its best before the bus tours arrive....i don't think you could go at 8 and make prasart comfortably by 2...and have a quick bite of lunch too...

We went to the FLoating Market in Nov on our 6th trip to Thailand and having never gone before so thought we would take a look. Had no intentions of shopping and did not (except for some mango YUM!) We had Tong for the day and decided to stop there. She made sure we went up canals that were virtually empty and those more bustling. Got there before the big crowds and really did just enjoy the color and feel of it all. The boats full of all the wonderful fruits and the boats that manage to cook up spectacular treats in such a small space. I think if you went to shop it would be a different thing but if you go to just absorb it all then we enjoyed it. Like I said it took us 6 trips to go there!
Happy travels J

was in Thailand in Nov.2005 and am very glad that I did NOT skip the floating market. We did not buy anything there but took a lot of pictures. it IS really very exotic place. You need to be there early morning before the tourist groups arrive. Spend a couple of hours at the market. You will love it. It is definitely a star attraction in the BKK area.
Lev.

Another yes vote for the floating mar