Saturday proved to be a fruitful day for blog fodder: blueberry muffins, Khun Nui’s visit, the Independence Day celebrations. I’ll squeeze one last entry out of that day based on the walk from the football pitch to the Skytrain station.
Since the weather was cloudy, breezy and relatively cool, we decided to hoof it all the way to Sukhumvit, a good 25-minute walk. Instead of staying on the main streets, we cut through talat Khlong Toei – the wet market in the Khlong Toei district.
Khlong Toei is a rough and tumble part of town, home to a number of slums that have sprung up on unused land owned by the port authority and the state railway.
Located originally near the abattoir or slaughterhouses, the section of town provided housing for the poor workers. To this day it is still known as place where the poor and destitute live.
Once a year or so, a fire will sweep one of the slums, resulting in the destruction of hundreds of homes and the displacement of thousands of people. Amazingly, they rebuild quite quickly. Sadly, the homes are never any safer.
In fact, there is the interesting story about the work of Father Joe Maier, an American-born Catholic priest that has spend more than thirty-five years working in this community fighting the ravages of poverty, disease, prostitution and drug addiction. Here’s a link to a recent book about his efforts.
Unlike some of the other wet markets in the city, which are listed in the guidebooks as “unique” (but decidedly accessible) looks into the heart of the daily lives of residents of the Big Mango, Khlong Toei’s market sits in relative obscurity.
It is one of the largest markets in the city and if you eat at restaurants or street vendors anywhere along Sukhumvit or in Siam Square, it is certain that at least some of your food was originally purchased at this market.
Let’s take a virtual tour of some of the sights in the market:
Below is a look down one of the long aisles in the market.
By late afternoon, almost everything is closed and vendors have cleaned up and gone home for a few hours of rest before their day begins again in the middle of the night.
The concrete footpaths are still damp from scrubbing. Sunlight filters down through the tarpaulins. The community of shopkeepers is tightly-knit. Friendships are made and families intermarry. True to the Thai ethos, despite the hard work there is always time for some fun. And nothing is more fun that some chit-chat and gossip. Well, except eating!
Above, a view of the khlong – canal – that runs through the market. This used to be used as an open-air sewer, the tides flushing refuse out to the river twice a day. While it still isn’t the cleanest water in the city, shopkeepers are now forbidden to dump anything into it. From what I understand, most of them comply. Quarters are close as houses are tightly packed but this part of the district is by no means the most humble.
Thai Buddhists love pork but rarely eat beef. The taste of Thai Muslims is the reverse. But poultry, below, is a favorite food for Thais of all beliefs. Guaranteeing freshness, you can buy your chickens and ducks alive and kill them yourself at home, or if your condo doesn’t allow that, have them slaughtered and cleaned for you.
The market offers an interesting array of food and no shortage of people who were curious about the farangs walking through their world. I want to go back in the predawn hours, when the market is at its busiest, and see how it looks then. Probably a lot harder to take pictures, though.
If you’re in town, you should stop by for a look. The market is a very short walk from the Queen Sirikit Convention Centre subway station.
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