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Bangkok Canal Tour- A Fun Activity in Bangkok

Posted on June 4, 2015February 14, 2022

Doing a Bangkok Canal Tour is popular with tourists. A canal is called ‘khlong’ in the local language. I went on a tour called Khlong Bang Luang. My guide for the day told us there are many routes on the canals. She added that doing a canal tour is mostly a tourist things. Locals seldom use the canals as they have access to roads.

Long Tail Boat- The Vessel of Choice on a Bangkok Canal Tour

Long tailed boats are very popular across Thailand. they are used for navigating in shallow waters. They are the vessel of choice on the Bangkok canal tours. In the local language the boats are known as reua hang yao. They are fitted with a second hand car or truck diesel engine mounted on the rear long tail and hence the name. The tail is used to navigate the boat!

The Sights on the Bangkok Canal Tour

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Out on his Boat

In earlier times the canals were used for navigation by the locals. Now most of the areas are connected by the road so it is rare to see such sights.

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Commerce on the Canal

I saw a long tail boat stopping at this canal shop to buy something. There are some shops and restaurants on the canals.

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Graffiti on the Walls

As we were taking this tour during songkran I only had my waterproof cell phone with me. All the pictures in this post are clicked with it. I did not see too much graffiti. Whatever was there was colorful.

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A Local Temple

When I would ask my guide with all excitement about the monument we were passing by, her usual reply would be, “oh it is a local temple.” The Bangkok canal tour offers many such moments.

Songkran on the Bangkok Canal Tour

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Songkran by the Canal

As I was in Thailand at the Thai New Year, I enjoyed songkran, the water festival. As we went on the Bangkok canal tour in the morning the tone was muted. Still, we did get some water thrown at us!

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Locals Enjoying Songkran

This group also splashed some water on us. They were clearly enjoying their day by getting drenched, an excellent way to keep cool on a hot day!

Feeding the Fish on the Bangkok Canal Tour

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Feeding the Fish

Nothing was bared, the stall was just selling bread. The bread is used to feed the catfish in the river. Feeding the fish is considered to be auspicious in Buddhism.

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Feeding the Catfish

Here was one of my group members feeding the fish. You can see that we were in our Songkran attire.

Passing by the Taling Chan Floating Market on the Bangkok Canal Tour

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Taling Chan Floating Market

I visited Taling Chan Floating Market on my first trip to Thailand in 2013. On my fifth trip in 2015 I passed by it again on the Bangkok canal tour through Khlong Bang Luang.

My tour guide said taking a canal tour was a touristy thing now. I was still quite happy to sit in the long tailed boat and let Bangkok go by me.

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44 thoughts on “Bangkok Canal Tour- A Fun Activity in Bangkok”

  1. Preethi says:
    June 4, 2015 at 9:41 pm

    It looks so charming 🙂 🙂

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      June 5, 2015 at 10:10 pm

      Thank you Preethi.

      Reply
  2. Niranjan says:
    June 4, 2015 at 9:54 pm

    Those long tailed boats are so beautiful and colourful. That should be a nice experience.

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      June 5, 2015 at 10:09 pm

      It was quite a lot of fun Niranjan.

      Reply
  3. Maniparna Sengupta Majumder says:
    June 4, 2015 at 10:32 pm

    The long=tailed boat reminded me of the boats in the backwater of Kerala… 🙂 But, these are more colourful…

    Reply
    1. Maniparna Sengupta Majumder says:
      June 4, 2015 at 10:33 pm

      long-tailed*** sorry for the typo…

      Reply
      1. Mridula says:
        June 5, 2015 at 10:09 pm

        Yes Maniparna they do resemble the Kerala boats!

        Reply
  4. Somali K Chakrabarti says:
    June 4, 2015 at 11:29 pm

    These colourful boats surely look like a lot of fun.

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      June 5, 2015 at 10:09 pm

      Thank you Somali.

      Reply
  5. Ravish Mani says:
    June 4, 2015 at 11:35 pm

    You’d have lots of fun on this canal tour on Thai New Year. Songkran seems something like Holi of ours without colour.

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      June 5, 2015 at 10:08 pm

      Yes Ravish but it is a public festival, quite safe to join in with the crowd. I wish holi will become like that one day.

      Reply
  6. Ragini Puri says:
    June 5, 2015 at 1:08 am

    I have never been on a long tail boat and the one featured here looks so gorgeous. Though I am averse to doing touristy things while travelling, but boat rides are something I love! Lovely post, Mridula ma’am!

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      June 5, 2015 at 10:07 pm

      Thank you so much Ragini. I like new experiences, tourist, non-tourist all are welcome!

      Reply
  7. Archana Kapoor says:
    June 5, 2015 at 1:12 am

    Wow! What fun! I haven’t done this yet!

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      June 5, 2015 at 10:07 pm

      Archan do it the next time!

      Reply
  8. Indrani says:
    June 5, 2015 at 9:25 am

    An interesting must do kind of activity. Great pics Mridula.

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      June 5, 2015 at 10:06 pm

      Thank you so much Indrani.

      Reply
  9. Anupam Chakraborty says:
    June 5, 2015 at 10:07 am

    Interesting Post! Touristy or non touristy, experience and the fun that really matter! Pics are nice!!

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      June 5, 2015 at 10:06 pm

      I agree Anupam.

      Reply
  10. Akanksha Dureja says:
    June 5, 2015 at 10:32 am

    What fun it must have been! Gorgeous Boat that was!

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      June 5, 2015 at 10:04 pm

      Thank you Akanksha it was indeed fun 😀

      Reply
  11. Ami says:
    June 5, 2015 at 11:42 am

    Very nice indeed. Have not been to one as yet but saw them when we had gone to the floating market 🙂

    Cheers
    Ami @http://thrillingtravel.blogspot.in/

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      June 5, 2015 at 10:03 pm

      You mean the long tailed boat? 😀 It is fun.

      Reply
  12. Amit Agarwal says:
    June 5, 2015 at 11:42 am

    Amazing! Thank you Mridula for taking us around:)

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      June 5, 2015 at 9:58 pm

      Thank you Amit for joining the tour 😀

      Reply
  13. Jatin Adlakha says:
    June 5, 2015 at 12:00 pm

    Very nice and inviting pics, Mridula!!

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      June 5, 2015 at 9:56 pm

      Thank you Jatin.

      Reply
  14. yogi saraswat says:
    June 5, 2015 at 12:13 pm

    Thalinad is being your second home and we are enjoying your posts. Thanx Mridula ji for taking us there . Very attractive pictures.

    Reply
    1. yogi saraswat says:
      June 5, 2015 at 12:14 pm

      Pl. read it as * Thailand

      Reply
      1. Mridula says:
        June 5, 2015 at 9:54 pm

        Thank you Yogi, it does feel like my second home!

        Reply
  15. rupam { xhobdo } says:
    June 5, 2015 at 12:21 pm

    wonderful photos

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      June 5, 2015 at 9:54 pm

      Thank you Rupam.

      Reply
  16. Manjulika Pramod says:
    June 5, 2015 at 12:22 pm

    Yippiee… this was fun!
    We had a fun group and colorful boats and the river cheered us for the day…

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      June 5, 2015 at 9:53 pm

      True Manjulika 😀

      Reply
  17. srikri says:
    June 5, 2015 at 2:51 pm

    Beautiful Shots.

    http://www.srikri.com

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      June 5, 2015 at 9:53 pm

      Thank you.

      Reply
  18. arv says:
    June 5, 2015 at 7:11 pm

    Interesting information, haven’t come across this piece of info anywhere else… thanks for posting !

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      June 5, 2015 at 9:51 pm

      Thank you Arv.

      Reply
  19. Debopam Banerjee says:
    June 5, 2015 at 11:22 pm

    Highly exciting journey…………………

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      June 6, 2015 at 11:50 pm

      Thank you Debopam.

      Reply
  20. Bushra Muzaffar says:
    June 6, 2015 at 11:21 am

    Such a colorful and interesting journey. It seems very nice… and as always.. your clicks are beautiful 🙂

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      June 7, 2015 at 12:14 am

      Thank you so much Bushra.

      Reply
  21. Tirtha Tanay Mandal says:
    June 6, 2015 at 11:45 pm

    Very innovative kind of tour– Canal tour. Wonder is it possible in Kerala backwaters. Feeding fish , water baths , shopping on water – all are wonderful concepts.

    Reply
    1. Mridula says:
      June 6, 2015 at 11:50 pm

      I have been on a kayak on the Kerala backwaters and it was amazing fun!

      Reply

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About Me

I am Mridula Dwivedi and I started this blog in 2005. It has been an amazing ride. I have visited 33 countries till date! I have worked with many tourism boards and prominent travel companies. My blog was featured on the BBC and the Guardian.

I did my Ph.D. from IIT Kanpur. I worked full time in academics till 2015! I quit my job as a professor, thinking I will take a break for one year, which turned into five.

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