Visiting Bangkok's Craziest Markets 🇹🇭 Train, Floating & Hidden!

Bangkok is famous for its chaos but today we are taking things to a whole nother level. We've got markets floating on rivers. It's such a fun experience. Marketed in the slums. Oh my god. And a market that literally has to pack up every time a train rips through it. I felt like I could touch it with my face. I've hired a driver, I have my local guide and we have 24 hours to visit the coolest and craziest markets around Bangkok. Thailand is so unserious. And we're starting things off at Thailand's riskiest one. The infamous Meklong train market. It looks like I am walking through just a regular old market right now but if you look down at my feet I am walking on live train tracks and in a matter of minutes a 50 ton diesel train is going to come tearing through this thing. And there is stuff everywhere. How does this not end in disaster? This market is insane to me. It's so crazy. Everything is just set up right on top of these train tracks and they are selling everything. You've got fresh products right so food, drinks, coffees, juices. You've got handbags, clothes, the famous elephant hands. Then there's fresh produce as well. Fruit, veggies, seafood, all kinds of snacks, lollies, cakes. It's wild. It's absolutely wild. Hello. What's so funny to me about this is if I think about Australia, if somebody tried to set up a market on the railway tracks, the government would shut that down. Like not on your life kids. You aren't allowed anywhere near a railway track. Here they're like yeah we're gonna set that up and everyone's like that's fine. Have a good time. If something happens to you it's your fault. Don't be stupid. Thank you ma'am. This is like a Thai coffee with some condensed milk in there. Good coffee. You're so cute. If you've been watching this channel for a while, you'll recognize Nam from my other videos. Yes. Look at him. Every time I come to Bangkok, Nam is my guide. I refuse. I'm loyal Nam. I've never seen another guide in this city. Just you. So was it Sri in Chiang Mai? Yeah. Sri in Chiang Mai and always Nam in Bangkok. The two best guides on the planet. They're from Absolutely Fantastic and they are absolutely fantastic. I'll have them linked in the video description for you. If you're coming to Thailand, they're who you want to do this with. I trust nobody else. It's happening. It's happening. Everybody pack up. Okay we've been tucked into like this safety guard rail which is a very thin chain. Oh my god. That's so close. Oh my god. That is so close. I am unbelievably close to the train right now. Like my face is jammed up against it. And then as it leaves, they quickly set up again and everybody jumps on the tracks. Whoa. I felt like I could touch it with my face. Yes. That's why you know sometimes if I stand there, I always hold my breath. Yeah. Because I have a big belly now. No you don't. So the train departs Mae Klong station where we are right now four times a day. Something like 6.20am, 9am, 11.30am and about 3.30am in the afternoon. Obviously it takes an hour and a half or so to get here from Bangkok. So if you want to make the 6.20am train departure. Woof. You've got to be up early my friends. I would recommend this time. This is nice. So we aimed for about the 9am departure. If you want to get here before 8.30am, you would see the train arrive and then depart. So you get a bit more time with it. The traffic for us was really bad today. So we were a bit delayed. Thank you. Thank you auntie. Thank you auntie. She asked about you. You came alone? Oh yeah I came alone. I have no friends. You're beautiful. Thank you auntie. All right let's try Nam's pick. What is this called? Crispy pancake. Crispy pancake. Oh lord. I really like that. That is a light little snack. The outside is lovely and crispy. What's the outside made of? Coconut? Coconut and white egg. It's so good. And then what is the white? The white is from the egg. Oh my gosh it's so good. I would never order that. I would never know what that is. It's so yummy. It's delicious. Thank you. Thank you. Beautiful girl. She's so cute. Come come come. That's thank you by the way. You see how happy I get when I come to Thailand. It is such a vibe. If you are thinking about visiting and you're like what's it like? It's like the happiest place on earth. Like if the aliens land and we have to send an envoy to go and meet them, let's just send a bunch of people from Thailand. Let's get the Thai people out there. They'll make the aliens feel so welcome. She's going to get us off to a great start. We are leaving the Mekong market to go to our next market spot. And here's the thing. This next one is controversial. When Nam and I were planning today and I told her that I wanted to go here, she tried to talk me out of it. She was like it's touristy, overcrowded, overpriced, all of those bad things. And I was like I still want to go. I've never been here before. I really want to see it and I want to experience it for myself. And I'm hoping that going into it, knowing that it's all those bad things, is going to even it out. Right? Like if you go into it knowing what it is, then I don't know. Maybe it won't be so bad. Oh look at this traffic jam. Wow. Yeah. That's a lot of tourists. That is a lot, a lot, a lot of tourists. Hello. Slowly. Are you ready for our romantic gondola? That's awesome. This guy is selling ice cold beers. Hell yeah. Oh we're gonna try some food. Rolling up hot on the coconut ice cream shelf. Wow. Hi. Thank you so much. That's awesome. I've got my delicious coconut ice cream. Now it comes with a little bit of sticky rice on top and some peanuts served in this beautiful coconut shell with the orchid. So beautiful. I love them. The coconut ice cream is ice cold and you better believe it is incredibly hot out here today. I am sweating like crazy. That is so refreshing. Okay Nam was right. This place is unbelievably touristy. It is packed full of people. It's super crowded. It's incredibly hot. It's overpriced. It's all of those things and I love it. I'm really into it. I shouldn't like it. It shouldn't be great. This is like the anti-me but it just works. It is such a fun experience honestly. I think a big part of the reason that works for me is that I don't really like crowded places where everyone's bumping into me. But here you're in the boat so you still have your own personal space. So if the boats bump into each other and it's crowded but no one is touching you. You know what I mean? Hello. Oh you're beautiful. You're beautiful. Oh my gosh I feel so embarrassed. If you need a confidence boost come to Thailand. I love that it comes from the girls too. Like there's something about another girl telling you you look beautiful. You're like thanks sis. So before we arrived Nam had asked me what kind of boat I wanted to go with. If we wanted to do the boat with the motor or do the paddle boat. And I said to Nam you choose. You're the expert. She chose paddle boat and I think that was a great idea. I think you're about to see the motorboat come past now because they're so loud. I can hear it coming from the distance. I would recommend this. This is so much more peaceful. It's a slower pace. It's very relaxing. It's very gentle. I don't know maybe if you're an adrenaline junkie you might like to do the speedboat. But for me this is very nice. Oh my god what is that? Our episode this week is thanks to the amazing team at Packsafe. Whether you're exploring the bustling markets here in Bangkok, the incredible souks in Marrakech or anywhere else in the world, their bags are designed to give you total peace of mind. I have been using this Packsafe Go cross body bag and absolutely loving it. Not only is it obviously incredibly cute and functional, it is packed with anti-theft features. It has these really great zips that lock securely so nobody is sneaking into your bag. And this I especially love. It's a detachable anchor strap so you just loop it around the table or a chair leg for example and your bag stays put. It locks so securely. The Packsafe B companion cross body is another goodie. It has even more advanced security features. I'm out and about on a travel and filming day, I have some really valuable stuff with me. My camera, my phone, my passport, I have some of my jewelry, my bank cards and my cash. And what I love is that these bags take the worry away. I have a QR code on screen right now and a link and a special discount code in the video description for you. So you can click through, have a look at the entire Packsafe range and find the bag that is perfect for your next adventure. Where are we? We are at the market. Amphawa floating market. Say it happier than that. This is happy now. Oh my god. Okay, say it again. Okay, where are we? We are at the floating market. Amphawa floating market. Are you happy now? You can see her face, you know, she's happy. She ordered, she said now I'm happy. But look at her, more happier. Oh these are so pretty. Is this like food or sorb? This is a dessert. It looks like it could be sorb. No, that's sorb. I'm sorry Thailand. I've seen these before. This is like a crab, right? It's a crab, you know crispy ready to eat. I'm so tall. I'm like absolutely gonna crack my head. Whoa, look at all these set up. There's so much stuff in here. So many cool shops set along either side. There's all kinds of food. There's like coconut and vegetables and steamed wontons and deep fried crabs and coconut goodies in all shapes and sizes. There's ice creams, there's jewelry, there's like an abundance of everything. Sweet sweet coconut. That's so cool. Come on. This was 35 refreshing baht. Whoa, why does it taste so different to normally? The flour, you know. The flour? The flour is like this. I thought that was going to be like the milk of the coconut, like the water of the coconut, but it's not. It tastes really like almost like roasted, like a darker kind of a flavor, a deeper richer flavor than the traditional coconut water. It's sweeter, almost caramelly. It's good, really good. Thank you very much. Your camera? Yes, you can see my camera. Osmo? That's you, Osmo. Yeah, Osmo Pocket 3. In the middle of that, I'm doing my taste test. You're so cute. It was nice to meet you. My favorite thing about traveling, if you watch this channel, you know, it's a little bit of a connection for me and you come somewhere with like Thailand and the culture is so readily available and the people are so friendly and you get to connect like this and even other travelers like that. That is the kind of thing I just, I absolutely love. This is made from coconut milk and green bean flour. Looks like a jelly. Let's try that. What a strange flavor. It's very like a very light flavor. It's very delicate and neutral. Yeah, it's not sweet. Just like a tiny, tiny little bit sweet. This is very, very light, very delicate. You know like you eat a lava cake because you want to knock your socks clean off with chocolate. This is like the opposite of that. Me? Ah, it's your turn. Oh my gosh, no, I'm gonna mess this up. Guys, oh no, I'm terrible at it. Roll it, roll it. I'm not very good. I suck. I suck so bad. Oh, I'm sorry. Free samples. Come and get your sweets. You guys want to try some? This is so cool. Thank you so much. He doesn't want to take the money, but I've just forced it on him. I just tucked it under some of his supplies. This feels completely different to the last floating market that we were at. This one feels incredibly peaceful. The pace is much slower. It feels a lot more authentic and local. I feel like this one you can really slow down the pace and enjoy a little more. I would recommend doing both. Honestly, it's just nice to have the contrast between the two of them and see the difference between the kind of craziness of the first one and then the chill local vibes of the second one. And honestly, these shop houses are so beautiful. It has taken us around an hour and a half to drive here to Wat Don Wai. Now, if you are familiar with Thailand, you know that Wat means temple, and this market is based around the temple. This already feels like the most local and authentic of all the markets that we've been to so far. I mean, just look around. I am not seeing another tourist in sight, right? So far, it's just me. And you notice the difference in the prices too. So everything here is just cheap. What is this? It's an egg yolk. This morning, we have some of like a crispy. Yeah, this is like the fresh. This market is huge. When you arrive, it just looks like a normal little undercover kind of area, and it just keeps going and going and going. I feel like I am in a labyrinth. How much food can one person eat? That is the question. I've just done a quick tally of how much money is left in my wallet. I have 200 Thai baht in cash, and what I want to do now is stock up on goodies for later on back at my hotel. So let's go spend some of my hard-earned baht. Oh, yeah, I definitely want some pomelo. Thank you so much. Oh, it's so good. Trade with you. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. And then I definitely want some coconut waters, but I don't want to worry about how to open them in my hotel room. Look at this. It comes in this little bag, so I can get these little baggies, and I'll have bags of coconut water. How long does it keep for? How many days will it be fresh? Only one day. Because it's a fresh one, for us, we don't keep too long. We always drink, drink, drink. Right. I've only spent 35 baht, and I've got fruit and some freshly pressed coconut juice. What else can I get? Oh, there it is. The big one. Mango sticky rice. Yes, please. This looks better. So we should spend the extra and get the big one. 60 baht. Thank you. That's for later. Sometimes I think about what it would be like to live here, and I feel like I'd be very happy living in Thailand. I mean, I love how fresh everything is, and you can come to places like this, and it's so affordable to get really incredible quality, fresh produce, like this fruit, these veggies, and then stock up on the street food. My goodness. I just love that. Good morning, you guys. We are starting our day off right here at Klong Doi. Yep. Name's nodding. We practiced that off camera like 10 times, so I hope I got that just right. This place is as authentic and local as you get right here in the heart of Bangkok. There is not another tourist in sight. Yep. I am the tallest, blondest person in here. But what you will see is wall-to-wall locals. It is absolutely heaving here early on a Sunday morning, and everybody is here for their fresh goods. Let's go have a wander around and explore. I would say out of all of the markets that we've visited so far, this one definitely feels the most authentically gritty, if that makes sense. I mean, Bangkok is a massive city. It is absolutely heaving and packed full of people, and here you really feel like you're mixing it with that. It really feels like you're a part of it and you're getting that full-on experience. The prices here are absolutely unreal. Everything is by the kilo. You have like mangoes for 30 baht a kilo, guavas for 35 a kilo, dragon fruit for 50 baht a kilo, whole watermelon is just 50 baht. Head is on my face like in shock. I am in shock. If you lived here, like even if I moved here as like a foreigner, I would come and shop here. This is unbelievable value. How is this cat next to these chickens and not eating it? Can you ask the girls if the cat ever steals the chicken? No, he doesn't eat. It's a good cat. It's a good cat right there. Yeah, you're a good baby. Now what's really cool about this market in particular is that it is set up right next to a slum. So you have got so many locals packed in there, everyone living together, and this is where they come out to get their fresh produce, their meat, their goods, everything like that. And they're going to be doing it daily. I mean, why would you go to the grocery store and do like a massive weekly shop when you can just nip down here and get everything you need for that day and have it be so fresh. Here's our beloved driver. Hey, we love you. I am inside the largest outdoor market in Bangkok. It covers an area of 28 acres. You guys, my mind cannot even comprehend how much shopping that is. This is Jumjak Market. This is the stuff you come to Thailand. Yeah, I'd like to hit the tester. You will see everybody. Oh, can I smell it? Okay, if you come to Thailand, you'll see everybody sniffing on this. What is it? It's just like an inhaler. That'll take you there. That really clears the senses. Mama Mia. Look at the size of this one. Thailand is so un-serious. That's so funny. Wow, look at all the shoes. Now, obviously these are knockoffs, but hot dog, they look good. Clothes shopping is insane. There's so many of these little shops. Ah, these are so pretty. Pretty, pretty princess. And the prices are unreal. Like three for 1,400. Wow. Now, Nam did say you are technically allowed to bargain here, but don't expect huge discounts. If you are bargaining, you might just get like 10% off the price, but there's absolutely no bargaining on food. This place is so cute. Ice cream does make me happy. Coffee, oat milk, coconut ice cream. It's going to be 165. Thank you. The girls that work at this cafe are so cute. I ordered my coffee and then they gave Nam a little soft serve with a teddy bear in it. Oh, that's so sweet. I am so excited about this. This is like my favorite things combined. Guys, they are doing the latte with the oat milk. Shout out Thailand. And you get some coconut ice cream in there as well. So it's like a really refreshing little affogato. That's really good. That coconut ice cream is so refreshing. It's proper espresso coffee too. Oh, that's really good. You come sit with me. It's already recording. Ah, look, we're so cuties. Cheers. It's been so nice to kind of get outside of Bangkok and see a different side and really mixed up with the locals, but also to dig a lot deeper into the city itself and come to a couple of markets that I have never seen before. I think market culture is just such a big part of life here in Thailand. And if you don't visit at least one of these markets, you are missing out. I would also say you could definitely DIY something like this yourself. You could, I don't know, figure out how to get around and take yourself to the markets, but do it with Nam. Do it with Nam. It has been so great exploring with her. I mean, you see how much fun we have having the private driver. They just take care of absolutely everything. For me, that means I can just switch my brain off, show up and have a good time. So I'll have a QR code on screen right now and a link in the video description so you can check out. Absolutely fantastic. And hopefully if you're very lucky, you will get Nam as a tour guide. Yes, you can request her. All right, you guys. And with that, that brings this week's episode to a close. I really hope you've enjoyed it. Now, if you don't already, be sure to subscribe right now so you never miss a single episode and say hello in the comments below. I hope you have the best weekend and I will see you with a brand new episode next week. Love you.