Samut Sakhon smells of the sea. The city sits at the mouth of the Tha Chin River where it flows into the Gulf of Thailand, about thirty kilometres southwest of Bangkok, and it has been a fishing port for centuries. Locals often still call it Mahachai, its old name. Boats crowd the river, and the fish market near the pier is one of the busiest in the country, piled with prawns, squid, crabs and fish of every kind.
Around the city, the flat coastal land is crisscrossed by canals and dotted with salt pans and shrimp farms. Along the road to the west you can see workers raking salt into white heaps in the evaporation ponds, a tradition that goes back generations. Samut Sakhon also has a large community of migrant workers from Myanmar, many working in the seafood processing industry, and their presence gives parts of the city a distinctive character, with Burmese shops and food.
One of the most unusual ways to arrive is by train. The Maeklong Railway runs from Bangkok to Mahachai, where passengers take a ferry across the river and then another train continues to the famous market at Maeklong, where vendors pull back their awnings as the train passes through the stalls.
About the swim: the coast here is mud flats and mangroves rather than beaches, and the water is brown, shallow and used by fishing boats. Not a place for swimming. If you want a beach, the resorts of Hua Hin or Pattaya are a long ride away. Here, the best way to cool off is a cold drink at a seafood restaurant overlooking the river or the sea.
Riding in Samut Sakhon is busy and flat. The Rama II Road, the main highway southwest from Bangkok, is crowded with trucks and buses, and the city streets are full of scooters, pickups and street vendors. Traffic can be chaotic, with sudden lane changes and vehicles entering without warning. Fuel and food are everywhere. Try the seafood, especially grilled prawns, steamed crabs and fried fish, at one of the many restaurants by the water, then head back toward Ayutthaya and the river roads.