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