Bangkok 2014 Day 3: Half-Day Damnoen Saduak Floating Market and Maeklong Railway Market Tour

Some free time during CNY so better finish up all the posts for Bangkok.

Day 3: 5 May 2014 (Mon)

I booked the Half-Day Damnoen Saduak Floating Market & Maeklong Railway Market Tour from Deal.com.sg at $26 per person. I would say it is really value for money for the great experience. As the 2 places are some distance away from the city, it saves us the hassle of looking and taking public transport there. The deal is still going on occasionally. So you can keep a lookout if you are interested in going.

This is the description of the deal.

Before the trip, I emailed and confirmed with them about my date of travel and place of accommodation. We were told to wait at the hotel lobby at 7am for their transport. We had early breakfast at the hotel and the transport came at 7am sharp. It was a minivan and there were 8 of us, including 2 other groups of 2 and 4 people picked up from other hotels.

Maeklong Railway Market Tour

Our first destination was the Maeklong Railway Market. The traffic was very smooth and we reached there in an hour's time at around 8.10am.

The minivan dropped us at one end of the Maeklong Railway station.

The scheduled timings of the train. Be sure to check and arrange your coming time so as not to miss the train passing by the market. That's the main reason we were here! We were told that the train will arrive at 9.45am so we had more than an hour to walk around the place here. Not bad as it was not a rushed trip.

Walked to the other end of the train station, and there it is - the Maeklong Railway Market. So what's interesting about this railway market? It looks like an ordinary local market, very busy and many locals and tourists around.

There was only 1 narrow path through the market covered by low-hanging awnings.

Scenes of the busy market in the morning

If you have not realized, we were actually walking on the train track. Yes! That's what is special about the market and why the market attracts so many tourists to come here for the experience of being so close to a passing train and capture the photo moments.

After walking through the market, we met our driver and he told us the train would be late and reach around 10.10am. We rested a while and looked for the best place to take photo of the coming train (which was very difficult as there were too many people like us, haha!).

The action came few minutes before the train comes. You will see the stall owners starting to move their goods away from the tracks. Some of them actually don't care and leave them as it is. When the train is very near, they will pull the awnings/umbrella to the back.

There comes the siren and the train is approaching slowly.

It was a very amazing moment. Just for several seconds, the moving train was just a centimeters away from us. Running through the tracks where the vegetables and fruits were all placed very near and seemed as though the train was running over it! And the best part is, as soon as the train had passed, the stall owners released the awnings back again and continued the business as usual in a matter of seconds. Of course! The train passes by several times a day and they have already been so used to it. They must be 'laughing at' tourists like us haha!

That's why this market has a nickname in Thai called Talad Rom Hoop, meaning Umbrella Pulldown Market or Folding Umbrella Market.

A quick video of the train passing by.

The train stopped at the train station. We went back and many people were taking photos with the train.

I went up the train for a quick shot.

We were a bit behind schedule due to the late train. Quickly went back to the minivan waiting for us for the next destination.

Damnoen Saduak Floating Market

The Damnoen Saduak floating market, one of the most popular floating markets and a major tourist attraction. We took about half an hour from Maeklong and reached at a late time of 11am.

The driver brought us to the boat immediately. The boat just nice to seat in 8 of us.

The leisure boat trip brought us along the river. There were vendors selling goods and souvenirs from their boats. Some cooked and served food from the boats but we didn't try any as we didn't want to take up too much time of the people we shared boat with. The boat trip was actually quite boring as we saw mostly souvenirs and nothing special. Maybe either we were a bit late as the busy morning already ended or the place has already turned too touristic. The sun was scorching hot too at this time. Nevertheless it was my first time visiting a floating market so still an interesting experience.

A short clip of our boat ride.

It took about 30 minutes and we were back to where we boarded. There were some food and souvenir stalls. Nothing special and all of us requested the driver to bring us back before the intended time at 12pm. Took more than an hour back. There was a bit of traffic jam at the city, we returned to hotel at about 1.20pm .

Next: Platinum Fashion Mall

羊年吉祥（三）Hup Tou Sou Cookies 没有核桃的核桃酥

Third CNY cookies. Hup Tou Sou Cookies (Walnut cookies without walnuts) 没有核桃的核桃酥. The name so strange right? People say the traditional Hup Tou Sou has no walnuts. I have never tasted before. Since I have peanut oil and alkaline water leftover from mooncake making. I'm giving it a try.

Into the oven now.

Freshly baked.

Though the ingredients are so simple, just flour, sugar, a bit of butter, no eggs, the cookies surprisingly taste so good! Crunchy, fragrant, sweet and a bit salty. The key ingredients should be the peanut oil and alkaline water which give the cookies a special taste.

I have some problem with the amount of peanut oil from the original recipe. Maybe because I always prefer to weigh liquid ingredients in grams instead of ml, which may not be the same - 150ml may not be equivalent to 150g. So I added the peanut oil slowly until a dough is formed. I used only 100g peanut oil in the end.

Hup Tou Sou Cookies 没有核桃的核桃酥

Ingredients (I make 56 pieces, of sizes from 8-10g)

250g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
125g sugar (can be reduced further for me)
1/2 tsp fine salt

20g salted butter
100g peanut oil or cooking oil (original is 150ml)
1/2 tsp alkaline water 碱水

Method

1. Add all dry ingredients except butter, peanut oil and alkaline water in a mixing bowl. Rub butter with flour mixture till crumble. Slowly add in peanut oil and alkaline water and mix together till a soft dough is formed. Initially the dough is very wet, after few good knead and it will become a smooth dough.

2. Weigh dough into 8-10g each and roll into small balls (initially I used 10g and then reduced to 8g because I prefer smaller size), and place on a baking tray.

3. Use a suitable bottle cap to press on the centre of each cookie to create a round pattern. (I use finger)

4. Brush with egg wash (egg yolk) and bake at 170 deg C for 20 minutes until golden brown.

Recipe adapted from: Nasi Lemak Lover

Done with 3 types of cookies this year. Wanted to try more recipes but not much time and we already have too much goodies at home. So shall end the baking here. Not a lot compared to others but we love all these 3 that I have made.

I wish everyone a prosperous Goat Year!

May all be safe and healthy!!

祝贺大家：新年快乐，羊羊得意，羊眉吐气，羊年吉祥!!

羊年吉祥（二）Bak Kwa Cookies

Second type of CNY cookies. Wanted to try this long ago. Finally did it this year! Yes the bak kwa cookies!

Got some Lim Chee Guan bak kwa at home this year. Cutting the bak kwa into small pieces is a bit troublesome though. Heh!

Easy recipe too. No need shaping, just roll into balls. I made 10g each. I like my cookies small so that I can just pop the whole thing into the mouth. :)

Super addictive! Yummy! I'm digging out all the goat year red packets. :)

Bak Kwa Cookies

Ingredients (I make 46 pieces)

125g butter, softened
35g icing sugar, sifted
40g small egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
200g plain flourm sifted
65g Bak Kwa, mini diced

Method

1. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
2. Add the egg and beat till well incorporated.
3. Add vanilla and mix.
4. Add the flour and bak kwa, and mix thoroughly.
5. Wrap and chill the dough for at least 30 minutes until firm.
6. Roll each ball into 10g each. Place it on a baking tray, spacing out evenly.
7. Bake at 180C for 16-18 minutes, or until it turned slightly brown.

Recipe from: Anncoo Journal and Passionate About Baking

羊年吉祥（一）Sheep design melt-in-mouth German cookies

It's 1 week away from CNY. And I finally start baking cookies for CNY. After having charity bake sale for two consecutive years, I decide to take a break this year. Too tedious! But I am still baking for family. So starting later for freshly baked cookies.

First cookies today - the very popular sheep cookies using melt-in-mouth German cookies recipe. Have been baking this every year since 2011 because it's easy and delicious. Though it's the year of goat, sheep seems to be more popular. Cute what! I learnt this sheep design from FB.

Meh Meh before baking.

Meh Meh after baking. The sheep expand a bit and become rounder and smoother.

Cookies completed! Too cute! So fun to bake when u are not stressed to complete for orders. Love these cookies very much, except the dough is very soft and needs to chill in and out of fridge for better shaping in this terribly hot weather. It is advised to chill the dough in 2 portions and work on 1 portion first, then the other, as the dough will soften very fast *.

You can use this design for closed type pineapple tarts too. But hmm I'm not making any this year. Scared already. Some more I don't like to eat pineapple tarts one, remember? ;)

Recipe again which is same as the original post. Add in some modified parts.

Sheep design melt-in-mouth German cookies

Ingredients (I make 39 pieces)

125g butter, softened
40g icing sugar, sifted
125g potato starch, sifted
80g plain flour, sifted

Method

1. Beat butter and icing sugar till fluffy and lighter in colour.

2. Sift in potato starch and plain flour, mix to form a soft dough. Divide the dough into 2 portions, wrap and chill for at least 15 minutes (read above *).

3. Roll the body of the sheep 8g each. Roll 2 smaller balls and place on the head (just estimate roughly same size or bigger than the chocolate chips). Press a line on each ball (I use back of knife). Place 2 chocolate chips as ears. Place 2 black sesame seeds as eyes. You can also add a smile for the sheep using a piping tip.

4. Bake in preheated oven at 170 deg C for 15 mins, upper rack (need not bake till cookies turn brown).

Wholemeal Orange Chiffon Cake with Chia Seeds

My first bake in 2015! Going healthy by adding wholemeal flour and chia seeds to my usual bake.

The reason for this change. Because my mum went for health screening recently, her cholesterol and triglycerides levels are tested to be on the high side, though medication not required. Actually they have been high since many years ago cos she used to like eating fatty meat. Although she has already switched to eating vegetarian, eating healthily and exercising daily all these years, the levels don't seem to drop lower. So don't think you can eat as much as meaty as fatty as oily as you want because you are still young. Cos they will accumulate in your body till all the problems come. I believe in that!

So the nutritionist advises her to eat more oat and wholemeal products. Then I heard about the many health benefits of eating chia seeds. Besides high in the important nutritions, it is also high in antioxidants, Omega-3 and found to lower LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, increase HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol). So I bought a packet to try. Both of us eating this everyday. I will add 1 tbsp of chia seeds to my hot Milo every morning. Let's see if it will have any benefits.

The wholemeal chiffon cake. Chia seeds not so obvious. Adding crunch to the fluffy cake though the texture is coarser than usual due to the wholemeal flour. Is there any finer wholemeal flour around?

The recipe is the same as the one I posted before, except substituting half of the flour with wholemeal flour and adding 1 tbsp of Chia seeds.

Wholemeal Orange Chiffon Cake with Chia Seeds

From Fairprice $15.90 for 150g packet

Ingredients: (17cm chiffon tin)

3 egg yolks
20g caster sugar
35ml vegetable oil
1 tsp Cointreau
60ml freshly squeezed orange juice
1/2 tsp orange zest (I used zest of 1 whole orange)
40g cake flour
40g wholemeal flour (I use Prima)
1 tbsp Chia seeds

4 egg whites
50g caster sugar (I used 40g)

Method:

1. Whisk egg yolks and sugar until the sugar dissolves.
2. Gradually add in vegetable oil, followed by Cointreau, orange juice and zest.
3. Add sifted cake flour and wholemeal flour. Mix until just combined. Add 1 tbsp of Chia seeds. Mix well. Set aside.
4. In another bowl, whisk egg whites until foamy. Add in sugar gradually and continue whisking until stiff peak form.
5. Gently fold in the egg white into the egg yolk batter (in step 3) in 3 batches.
6. Pour the batter into an ungreased chiffon tin. Give the tin a few slight knocks on the tabletop to remove air bubbles. Bake in preheated oven at 170 deg C for 35 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and invert the tin immediately onto a cooling rack.
8. Unmould the cake only when it is completely cool.

Adapted from: 好吃戚风蛋糕轻松上手

Goodbye 2014 Hello 2015

Another year is gone, so fast. Time to look back at some of the more memorable posts in 2014 (though not much)!

I did the Blueberry Crumble Muffins in January. The photo got me drooling again!

My CNY bakes - 2 types of pineapple tarts with SCS butter! Which one do you prefer?

My must-bake every year, the cashew nut cookies. Probably the last time you will see them in this shape. Still very sad that I lost the mini crescent-shape cookie cutter. :(

My second CNY Bake Sale partly for charity. Tell me, I shouldn't continue next year. So tedious!

My attempt to make Hidden Hearts in my chiffon cake. Pretty yah!

A KitKat and M&Ms chocolate cake. Fun making it!

Completed writing about my Hong Kong trip.

Went Bangkok in May and have not completed writing it, forever in the draft folder. Lol! Surprisingly, the Planning for the Trip post is quite popular with the readers.

The Japanese Cotton Cheesecake has quite many likes in my IG!

Mooncake making for Mid-Autumn Festival.

How can I not bake my favourite chiffon cakes. Usually the ordinary ones. But this Neapolitan chiffon cake comes with 3 flavours that reminds me of the ice cream.

Went for a short Malacca trip in November. Will be writing about it next time.

Then I slack of the rest of the year. I will leave those in the draft to next year. Aiyo!

Looking back at 2014, I had baked and blogged lesser. Most of the time I when I bake, I tend to bake those that family prefers to eat and using the same recipes. That explains the reason of lesser blogging. Sometimes I also feel lazy to blog because oh yes I already posted the photos on FB and IG, haha! Then I also did not go around reading blogs as much as I used to and thus somehow lost some inspiration to bake something new?? Haha, cos we tend to be influenced by what other bloggers posted.

Then this question always repeats, whether I should continue blogging. The answer is almost always yes (I admit I have thought of giving it up many times). Because this blog records all my baking recipes, my success, my failures, my life, my memories. Although I rarely read back what I had written unless I need to find a recipe. LOL! I know many 'old' bloggers also post lesser and lesser or some even quit because it is really hard to maintain a blog due to personal commitments or have switch to other social medias.

Forward to 2015, I will like to continue blogging as long as I can, although not regularly. I may not blog all about baking now, I will also include some of the places I have been to and keep my memories here. Wishing a great year in 2015 for me and everyone!