Dear Steemit Friends:
Travelling to South East Asia has given me the opportunity experience some of my ancestrial, indochinese culture in completely new and fascinating ways. Often these experiences amount to small things, exemplified by the local traditional way of life. One example would be the Damnoen Floating Market, an entire market built on the river canals of local residents. These kinds of local markets really carve out Thailand's unique landscape, both figuratively as well as physically, leaving an unforgettable experience in the hearts of all who visit.
Locals have thrived with the tourist industry booming, as such, the markets have had a second life in Thailand. Once, they were a place for bartering and trade amongst locals, now they serve an international audience. Perhaps some aspects of their produce have adjusted for the benefit of the new influx of visitors, but in other aspects, strong traditions remain.
Today, I'll be taking you on a trip to another one of these special markets. This one is famous because the market is built on top of an active railway track!
Join me and let's see some more..
The railway market and floating market are located just a short 20 minute drive away from each other. When I arrived, I was set down beside some rail way tracks, unbeknownst as to why they were there. Perhaps it might be some place of interest ?
Moments later, I was surprised to find myself picking up the sweet scent of Coconuts and other various cold drinks which drew my attention over for a closer look.
A paradise of freshly squeezed fruit juice.
With just one chop, the sweet fragrance of the coconut seeps out inviting you to drink from it!
This railway market is also known as Maeklong Food Market.
This is the Maeklong Station. Trains going to and from Maeklong station will go through the Maeklong market, and this is the the main reason why the market is so famous. Amazingly, the train is able to traverse through the market with just centimetres of clearance. This is why the market is also known as the worlds most dangerous market, what with trains crossing through it, throughout the day (8 times a day). Maeklong Market has therefore become a hotspot because of this unique arrangement.
One hundred years ago, this market was only open for business on Sundays and served only the residents of the Samut Songkhram province. In 1905, Bangkok decided to connect this little town to it's rail network but in doing so, threatened the closure of this long standing market. After a while, no agreement on compensation was made between the traders and Bangkok, reluctantly, the government allowed the market to stay. To the surprise of many, this little town's market remains as popular as ever, mostly due to it's unique situation of having trains pass through it several times a day. It has even been called one of the 8 great marvels of Thailand.
You can't help but be amazed when you step into the market. Stalls on both sides of the market are only the width of 2 people apart. The tracks are left clear for the shoppers and obviously the train.
First let's take a look at the various fruits and vegetables the locals come here to buy. It's quite interesting how they are arranged, some are placed in bowls, others in steel pots. They also use these bamboo woven lanterns to light up the fruits making them extra enticing. How many of these fruits and veg can you recognise?
Next up, we have the seafood. My eyes were bedazzled looking through all the different kinds of seafood on offer. Not only is there such a wide variety of fish, and shell fish, they're all arranged in quite unique ways. For instance, one stall was selling fish inside Hong Kong dim sum style steamer baskets, another was selling fish in rice boxes. Others were put in pots and pans. One stall arranged the fishes in a flower like pattern, no doubt catching the eye of many prospective buyers (and mine). Compared with fish markets in China, this market has so much more imagination !
Dried fruits in every colour under the sun.
There are also loads of little snack foods, the names of which I cannot tell you as I am a bit rusty with my Thai!
It's not just humans who visit the market too, I spotted a fair few of these cute cats roaming around the market !
Beautifully dressed flowers!
As I was busy browsing the markets and starting to really get into it, out of nowhere, I heard a loud and urgent whistle sound, and just as the sound was heard, all the shop keepers around me started packing up their stalls. Some even had some clever little wheels and their own tracks to pull their whole stall back. In a matter of seconds, the market suddenly became wider!
The stall canopy's were also drawn back, within 1 minute, like magic, the full rail tracks could be seen extending all the way through the market!
After the frantic tidying up, everybody stood facing the direction where the loud whistling sound came from. As if they're awaiting a celebrity to appear on the red carpet. Not a single person was without a camera / phone or video camera, all getting ready to record this wonderful moment.
Here comes the train! Everybody moves to the side, unfortunately there is so little space that there isn't even a security barrier or safety line drawn for people to stand behind. The best people can do is stand well inside the stalls as the train passes by. As you can see, there are still some salted fish on the ground, but not to worry, the train misses them by a hair, completely untouched!
The train leaves such little room as it passes by, it's almost touching my face! When I was taking this picture, the train honked its horn and scared me a little. I thought I was going to get hit on the face. What a thrilling experience!
This experience is surely one I'll remember for the rest of my life. I hope you enjoyed this little blog about the Train Market at Maeklong, if you do visit Thailand, then I would highly recommend you go experience this century old tradition. You'll walk away with bag of fresh fruits and veg, but most importantly, an intimate encounter with a train quite like no other!
来到曼谷，我最大的热情就是逛极具泰国本土特色文化的集市了，泰国的集市各有特色，有在水上面漂浮的神奇集市，例如前几天我们一起探索的丹嫩沙杜艾水上市场，还有在火车铁轨旁的集市，听起来是不是有些冒险，接下来就带你们去探索一下吧！铁路集市和水上市场距离很近，从水上市场出来，再坐20分钟车就来到了一个铁轨旁。下了车，我还没有领悟到，把我带到铁轨边干什么，难道也是个景点吗？惊讶了两分钟后，我迅速被路边椰子和各种冷饮飘来的清香所吸引。
铁路集市又叫作“美功菜市场”。 这里是火车的美功站，美功铁路因经过美功菜市场而出名，从美功站往曼谷方向会穿过美功菜市场，重点是列车穿过的菜市场宽度不足2米，所以被人们称作世界上最危险的集市。在一百多年前，在周末开市的美功集市只是满足夜功府小镇居民的生活需求。到了1905年，曼谷连通夜功府的“美功铁路”正式通车，因为铁路横穿了整个“美功集市”，导致市场几乎被迫搬迁，但由于政府赔民众的偿金问题没法达成共识，最后政府只好同意把“美功集市”保留下来。大家都没想到，这个小小的集市竟然因为铁路出名了，并被大家叫做泰国的“八大奇迹”之一。听到这里，我和大家一样，已经迫不及待要去火车集市探探险了。走进集市，这个场景真的让我惊讶，铁路和两旁菜市场的距离基本上是挨着的，中间的铁道也就是2个人的距离。先来看看泰国本地人喜欢逛的菜市场里的新鲜蔬菜水果吧。它们的摆放真的很有自己的特色，有些摆在盘子里，铁锅里，并用竹子编著的竹筐等照着水果，好有意思。最有趣的是他们卖鱼的方式，有些鱼被装在吃港式下午茶的蒸笼碗里卖，有的被装在饭盒里，盆子里碗里，有的小鱼被精心摆成了好看的圆形，花得样子，和中国卖鱼的方式很不一样，好有泰国的民俗特色。
正在我逛的很享受的时候，突然，不知从哪里传来了几声急促的哨音，商户们瞬间忙碌起来，开始把所有摆出来的货品全部收进自己的商铺，有的货铺好先进，桌子腿装了轱辘和轨道，可以慢慢把一整桌货物推回商铺。紧接着，又把自己家的阳棚收起来，一条完整的延伸向远方的铁路像变魔术一样在1分钟以内，露了出来！接下来大家像，等待电影明星走红毯一样，拿出手机相机，准备照相录音，记录下这个奇妙的瞬间。火车来了，大家都靠边。地上的咸鱼尾巴几乎就在火车的车轮下，巧妙地摆放，竟然让咸鱼们毫发无伤。火车和人的距离好近，这是我第一次和火车距离这么近，基本是贴着我的脸开过去的，那轰轰的声音让我合影的时候还会有些担心被碰到，真的好惊险呀。这个经历会是我一生中很难忘得体验，希望你们喜欢我介绍的铁路市场，下次去泰国，你们不妨也去感受一下，提着一袋子菜和火车亲密接触的瞬间。