Marketing on rails

Our last trip had a theme of rocks and flowers, this time we were on the hunt for markets.

On the road at 0700 and we are on the way out of Pattaya when Nik asks me about the route we will take (why is he asking me? I am the driver, I just go where I am told).

What route? I enquire

Remember, I lent you the guide book and some notes on locations?

Ah…..yes.

And you said you had worked out a route.

Did I….? I don’t remember (Clearly I had said “yes’ to one of his questions, but I don’t remember being asked about working out a route.)

Never mind, where is the guide book and the notes? I will work out a route.

Ah…

Not only had I forgotten about being asked about the route, I had also forgotten he had given me the guide book and the notes. So we turned round and went back to the condo to collect them. Not a good start.

Never mind, in a couple of hours we were through Bangkok and on our way to Samut Songkram where Nik had identified a most unusual market. At first glance it just looks like any other busy market in Thailand:

But if you look at the path in the middle of the market you will notice a couple of rails:

Yes, it’s a railway track! Of course the Thais are not going to allow anything as trivial as a passing train to hinder the key activities of shopping and commerce. So as the train approaches, announced by some unknown secret messaging system, the awnings are pulled back and foodstuffs removed from the rails. Shopping continues unhindered:

Once the train comes into view, everyone scurries into hiding, apart from one mad foreigner (me) who squats in the middle of the rails to get a shot.

As the train gets closer I notice two things. One, there is someone in the train taking a photo of me; probably hoping for that elusive foreigner squashed under a train shot.

Secondly, the train overhangs the wheels by a considerable amount and I will need somewhere to move to which is far enough from the side of the train; probably why a number of helpful market staff are pointing to a hole in the wall which might offer some protection. I leap to safety and the train passes within inches (or centimetres). As the train passes I wonder whether anyone in the train is going to the toilet at this time, and whether anyone will wash the fruit and vegetables that are currently being splashed with pee or worse:

Immediately the train has passed, the stallholders swing into action to restore the shopper’s paradise. The second of these two shots was taken fifteen seconds after the first, no time is wasted!

We liked this market and decided to stay for the next train. At around 0930 we checked with the station master who told us that the next train would be at 1100 and then another at 1130. So we hung around, but as we rather expected, the train did not arrive on time; but rumbled into sight forty minutes late. We came back again this morning to catch one more passing. This shot shows that the stallholders know exactly where they can leave goods next to (or on) the track without them being damaged; probably a skill that is passed down from generation to generation:

Comments 🔗

2008-08-13 | mart says

Short vid of the same market(?): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3N7kV9MIH4

2008-08-13 | Spike says

Says it is in Bangkok, so maybe the same principle in another place. Great fun to witness if you get the chance.

2008-08-13 | Billy says

Amazing …. sort of meals on wheels, or perhaps the other way around …..

2008-08-14 | The Ghost says

That was really neat. Very unique. Learned something about Thailand I didn’t know. WHile there’s a lot I don’t know, few blogs actually manage to come up with something that original.

Where was this anyway?

2008-08-14 | Spike says

Samut Songkram; less an hour out of Bangkok, down the other side of the Gulf of Thailand. Devoid of any habitable hotels as far as we could ascertain!