Damnoen Saduak district
Damnoen Saduak (, , often referred to simply as Damnoen, ) is a district ("amphoe") in western Thailand in Ratchaburi province. The central town is known for its floating market held every day till noon on a khlong not far from the district office. Geography. Neighbouring districts are (from the east clockwise): Ban Phaeo of Samut Sakhon province; Mueang Samut Songkhram and Bang Khonthi of Samut Songkhram province; Mueang Ratchaburi, Photharam, and Bang Phae of Ratchaburi Province. The district is crossed by the Khlong Damnoen Saduak, which connects the Tha Chin with the Mae Klong Rivers. History. Originally, most of  the area in Damnoen Saduak was land. Local traveling was mainly by land route. Until during the King Mongkut's reign (Rama IV), he ordered the Khlong Damnoen Saduak to be excavated to connect water transportation (its name literally 'comfortable travel'). It took two years to complete handled by Somdet Chaophraya Sri Suriwongse. The official inauguration ceremony took place in 1868 at Bang Nok Khwaek, its origin. Khlong Damnoen Saduak is a longest straight line man-made canal in Thailand, it links two rivers to facilitate transportation and trading routes as mentioned above. It also connects to the Khlong Phasi  Charoen, which leads to the Chao Phraya River in the Bangkok area. Khlong Damnoen Saduak is about long, divided into eight milestones (at present, the remaining original area of Damnoen Saduak is the area of Don Phai sub-district). Most of the workers are Chinese from southern China. When the canal was finished, they settled on two banks of the canal, resulting in the condition of the floating market and waterfront community as it appears today. The occupation of Damnoen Saduak people in the past was mostly gardeners due to fertile land, they extended their new farmland to Khlong Damnoen  Saduak. There were farmers working on their farms and others worked in transportation, at that time, there was no road, trading by waterways was very busy. There were many kinds of boats commuting in the canal, including large boats, medium-size boats, sampan boats, tugboats, wooden boats and others. The originally local houses were made of wood. When a number of people moved into Damnoen Saduak areas, hence the houses are next to each other. There are pathways on both sides of the canal bridging all the houses, so it was easy to get by, creating a nature of the  community. The geography of settlements facing each other along the waterways. Administration. Central administration. Damnoen Saduak is divided into 13 sub-districts ("tambons"), which are further subdivided into 105 administrative villages ("mubans"). Local administration. There are five sub-district municipalities ("thesaban tambons") in the district: There are eight sub-district administrative organizations (SAO) in the district: Pop culture. Damnoen Saduak is the setting of a Thai country song ("luk thung"), titled 'Damnoen Jaa' (ดำเนินจ๋า, "Oh Damnoen"). It was sung by Suraphol Sombatcharoen in the year 1966. It can be considered as one of his signature songs, which earned him the  nickname "King of Luk thung". The lyrics can be interpreted in two ways: describing the beauty of Damnoen girl, or mentioning his love for a woman named "Damnoen". However, this song is said to bring great pleasure to Damnoen Saduak resident. The origin of this song took place on March 3, 1966, when four luk thung bands joined in a music contest in Damnoen Saduak. At that time, the result of the contest was judged from a garlands ("phuang malai") and applause received from the audience. The band of Suraphol Sombatcharoen, who performed as the last, then they announced the  first song he wrote especially for Damnoen people. It is titled "Damnoen Jaa", his band got lots of garlands from the first song. Then they continued with the second song "Nueng Nai Damnoen" (หนึ่งในดำเนิน, "One in Damnoen"), the audience poured their love to Sombatcharoen's band ever since.