Weekends bring life to the century-old Ban Mai Market in Chachoengsao, where local vendors set up stalls to offer a wide range of local delicacies like chaenglon (grilled fish cake), galorgee (rice dumpling topped with black and white sesame), kanom tuay (coconut rice custard) and hoi jo (deep-fried crab meat rolls) that evokes a rush of nostalgia. Standing along the banks of the Bang Pakong River, meandering through an intricate network of classic wood shophouses can whisk visitors back to the reign of King Rama III when Chinese migrants turned this neighbourhood into a bustling trading hub. Surrounded by plantations of pineapple, sugar cane and vegetable fields, Chinese marine merchants gathered here to exchange both wild and agricultural goods.
After the original riverside market burned down in 1904, this one was built in its stead as a memorial to the old Chinese community. Around 60 years ago, it was home to more than a hundred gold jewellery shops, eateries, coffee shops, Thai bakeries, barbershops, fashion boutiques, drug stores, gambling and opium dens as well as blacksmith workshops. Later, it became stagnant and was abandoned as transportation switched from the river to the roadways, and the younger generation relocated to midtown and other big cities.
In 2004, the community revived this market to attract holidaymakers and emphasise the allure of a waterfront lifestyle. Here, visitors can also visit two Chinese shrines and worship local gods and goddesses for luck, .