Tag Archives: Khlong

James Bond on the Khlong Saen Saeb Express

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After two trips to the old city on Saturday to visit a lock store (which gave me the opportunity to see horses on the expressway while driving there), I needed to make a third and final visit on Monday, since the store was closed by the time I arrived on my second trip Saturday.  This time, facing the prospect of weekday traffic, I decided to ride the Khlong (canal) Saen Saeb express boat into the old city.

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I’ve written before about the Saen Saeb express boat in an entry about a journey on seven modes of transport in Bangkok.  It is an 18-kilometer water route that cuts east-west through the middle of the greater Bangkok area, running from the northeastern outskirts of Bangkapi all the way to the edge of Rattanakosin Island, stopping adjacent to the Golden Mount.  While the water is filthy and the boats are very crowded during rush hour, the express boats are not only an interesting way to get around, they are also a bargain with fares topping out at 20 baht, or about 65 American cents.

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While the inbound ride was packed – some 50 people sitting and another 30 or so standing – the return trip from the heart of the city at 9:00 am was almost completely empty, just me an a handful of passengers.  This gave me a chance to appreciate the breeze, which makes the canal express boats one of the coolest ways to travel.  However, with the murky water sometimes splashing over the plastic barriers, your risk of Hepatitis A infection is also higher on the boats than on any other form of transit.

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While enjoying the less crowded ride back home, I noticed the safety equipment that is lashed to the inside of the boat: flotation devices with a rather sinister man demonstrating their proper use.  His reminds me a bit of Sean Connery as James Bond.  What disturbs me, though, is not that James Bond is demonstrating the floatation devices.  What disturbs me is that the man appears to be standing in water that is only hip-deep.  If you’ve seen the water in Khlong Saen Saeb, you wouldn’t blame him! 

 

The Venice of the East

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Riding my bike a few weekends ago past the new Skytrain Sukhumvit Line extension (more about that later), I crossed this khlong, or canal, near the Third Stage Expressway.  Bangkok has long been referred to as the Venice of the East, although most of the canals have either been filled in to make roads or are stagnant dumping grounds.  This canal, though, flows unimpeded to the Chao Phraya River and seems to benefit from a twice-daily flushing by the tides.

Khlong Map

The arrow on this map illustrates the location and direction of the first photo.  It is charming that there are still communities that live on the edge of the water, whose land has not been expropriated for development into condos, hotels, and office buildings.  Of course, in some areas, those are the poorest communities and homes are little more than corrugated tin shacks.  In other areas, such as the Phra Khanong community in the first picture, residents are of modest means but their community is long-established with solidly-built homes and shops.

 

The Flooding of Amphawa

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While some guests were in town, we took a trip to Amphawa, a town in Thailand’s smallest province, Samut Songkhram, to visit the weekend evening floating market that is there.  We arrived late afternoon and had no trouble hiring a long-tail boat and heading out on a tour of the khlongs, or canals, of the province. 

For those of you who have never been, here is a three-minute video with commentary to give you a sense of what such a boat ride is like.

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Above, a flower vendor about to set out for the market.

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One of the buildings at Wat (temple) Chulamanee.  This building, interestingly enough, was not the main Buddha image hall.  Instead, it was a recently built building that houses the remains of the temple’s former head monk, who was apparently highly revered.

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Inside the building there is an altar like display, a wax effigy of the monk, and his mummified body in a glass coffin.  Uncommon as in Buddhism bodies are normally cremated, but I’ve seen this a few times before.

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Wat Bang Khae Noi, another temple on the western shore of the Mae Khlong River.  This one has beautiful teak carvings on the interior walls depicting the stories of the Buddha’s previous lives.

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A new, more modern arrangement of statues at the temple, overlooking the river.  The kneeling figures are not Buddhas but are disciples, praying to the Buddha image in the center.  On the right is the depiction of a Buddhist angel.  This display wasn’t here last time I was at this temple a year or so ago.

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Bruce and Howie enjoying their ride along the river.

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Sunset along the Mae Khlong River.  (Note that this is not the same as the Ma Kong River, which runs between Thailand and Laos and Thailand and Cambodia.

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The flooding in Samut Songkhram province has been very severe.  They had just experienced three days of heavy storms and the water level was very high.  To get an idea of just how high, notice that in the picture above, the customers at the floating food stalls are sitting on benches that go down one or two steps.  Compare that to the picture below, taken in July, when there were at least ten or twelve steps above the water, consistent with where I’ve seen it on all my previous visits.

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