Long-tailboats, known in Thai as reua hahng yahw (เรือหางยาว) typically are a
long shaped kind of boat that is powered by a truck engine driving a propeller
at the end of a long shaft. However, similar motors, though usually with smaller
engines, are also used with a variety of other boats. The long shaft of these
motors is specially designed to avoid floating rubble and to overcome the
problem of water hyacinths that are often abundant or may even block the rivers
and canals. Due to its design the shaft can easily be lifted out of the water
and cleared if the propeller gets stuck. The downside however, is that these
kind of motors are generally rather noisy. In this video we take a boat ride
along the canals of Damnoen Saduak in the province of Raatburi (ราชบุรี),
usually transliterated Rachaburi, which has a popular floating market where
people trade from boats, typically two kinds of small flat bottomed paddle boats
are used, one which is called reua jaew (เรือแจว), the other the slightly larger
reua tae (เรือแตะ). The shape of the latter is slightly bent and it is typified
by two bulwark planks above deck, one on each side; whereas the former is
characterized by a bulwark frame that surrounds almost the entire boat above
deck and which is supported by a rib-like structure on the inside. Floating
markets, known in Thai as talaat nahm (ตลาดน้ำ), literally ‘water markets’, are
found throughout the country and are a remnant of the past when there were fewer
roads and life evolved mostly around rivers, waterways, and canals. The name
Damnoen Saduak (ดำเนินสะดวก) derives from Rachasap, i.e. ‘Royal Speech’, and
means ‘Convenient Progress’. Besides being the name for the district where the
floating market is held, it is also the name of a large canal that connects the
province of Ratchaburi with Bangkok, via Samut Sakon (สมุทรสาคร). The region has
many orchards with fruit and coconut trees and the canal was specially dug to
transport these crops in a fast and convenient way to the capital, hence the
etymology behind the name.
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