22 Walks in Bangkok. Kenneth Barrett

      The first thing to be learned when taking the Skytrain across the river today is that Wong Wian Yai station is not quite at Wong Wian Yai: it is two-thirds of a kilometre away, being located on Krung Thonburi Road. The station steps lead down next to Bang Sai Gai canal, a small waterway that threads its way through this district. On the bank, and visible from the main road, are the red roof and white walls of the Chao Mae Aniew Shrine, a small and ancient Chinese shrine with a small stage in its courtyard for community meetings and performances. Hemmed in by timber houses with open verandas, this quiet setting is the first intimation of the pleasant rural area this must have been within living memory. The canal path leads to a dead end, the water disappearing under a low bridge, so a return to the main road is necessary, followed by a right turn into Somdet Phra Chao Taksin Road. Wong Wian Yai is directly ahead. Of course, long gone is the tranquillity of that old 1950 photograph, the king rising high above a sea of traffic, and pedestrians and advertising signs. Corrado Feroci, the Italian sculptor who spent almost forty years in Bangkok and is regarded as the founder of modern art in Thailand, has cast him in metal and placed him on a reinforced concrete pedestal some nine metres above street level. The king, brandishing his sabre in the direction of Ayutthaya, is mounted on his horse, or to be more correct a Thai pony, an indigenous breed that stands naturally at about twelve hands and which has the toughness and stamina for both military and pack animal use. The circle is a brilliant splash of colour, its gardens planted with red, green and yellow blooms, and the place is frequently lively with gatherings, for it is a focal point for local rallies and community activities. Around the circle is a large selection of shops, prominent amongst them the haunted shell of the Merry King department store, closed for many years now, the darkened entrance to its basement carpark the stuff of B-grade werewolf movies.

      Just off the circle is Thailand’s strangest railway line. The Mahachai-Mae Klong line was built by the Tha Cheen Railway Company under a private concession and opened in early 1905, its purpose being to bring fish and farm produce from the coast. The trains run down to the Tha Cheen River, near to where it empties into the sea at Samut Sakhon, a fishing port also known by its older name of Mahachai. There is no bridge there so everyone disembarks, catches a ferry, and boards a train on the other side, which then goes further along the coast to Samut Songkhram, or Mae Klong. Both stretches are the same length, almost thirty kilometres. The line is completely independent of the national railway system and is a single track. Although Wong Wian Yai is the terminus, it is the most modest terminus that can be imagined, for passengers simply walk through a gap between two blocks of nondescript commercial buildings on Somdet Phra Chao Taksin Road, and the platform and ticket office is there, sitting next to the pavement. Railway anoraks love this line, as indeed does anyone who travels on it, because it is rather like a grown-up train set that winds its way out of the city and through the rice fields, orchards and plantations. They coo over its whimsical rolling stock and wayside stations, marvel at the occasionally wiggly rail lines, and hold their breaths during the rainy season as the little trains plough manfully through the lakes that appear at certain stretches, the line disappearing under the muddy water and no one being quite sure whether or not the rail bed has dissolved. The grand soul-sucking moment for everyone comes when the train eases into the centre of the market at Samut Songkhram, where railway and market are not easily distinguishable, the stallholders politely removing their produce from the sleepers and folding their umbrella shades to allow it through. The Thais have a wry sense of humour, and the market is known locally as Talad Lom Hoop, or “Closing Umbrella Market”. Despite its Toytown quality, the Mahachai-Mae Klong line is a hard-working one with a frequent service, crowds of commuters along with pickups stacked high with boxes of fish, fruit and vegetables regularly emerging between the two grimy buildings at Wong Wian Yai and adding to the general traffic chaos.

      There is a narrow road that runs alongside the railway track. Liap Thang Rot Fai is almost rural, with old timber houses and modest brick buildings along the route, the clamour and traffic of Wong Wian Yai left behind within minutes. A lone foreigner trudging down this odd little country lane is assumed to be lost, and along with the smiles and waves there will be offers of help and even of food and drink from residents sitting in their gardens. A landmark on the right-hand side, not far from the station, is the Suan Phlu Mosque, marking one of about twenty Muslim communities in Thonburi, descended mainly from the communities that had existed in Ayutthaya or from prisoners of war brought back by Taksin from his campaigns in the east and the south. Off to the left is a maze of little lanes, with a few old and rather splendid houses behind high gates, a huddle of more modest dwellings, and a couple of neighbourhood temples. One of these, Wat Kantathararam, was privately endowed. There is a plaque on the wall outside that says the one-and-a-half acres of land were donated by a couple named Mr Kan and Mrs Chan in 1891, and that they and their children also contributed to the construction of the ordination hall. The family were successful farmers and traders, and when Talat Phlu station comes into view a few minutes later, the name indicates at once what this area was: a betel market. It was in fact the main betel market for Bangkok.

      Talat Phlu is on the bank of the Bangkok Yai canal and can be traced back to the time of Taksin, when Teochew people who had migrated from southern China settled in the area. Farmers and traders, they cultivated plantations of piper betel, or phlu, which stretched along the bank of the Bang Sai Gai canal, the Bang Waek canal, and other areas next to waterways. Chewing betel was popular at that time, people using it during social occasions, as a breath freshener, and to blacken their teeth, the height of fashion. The ingredients were kept in little ceremonial boxes, and consisted of dried pieces of betel palm nut and betel leaf folded into a cone shape and daubed with poon daeng, a paste of slaked lime, turmeric and water. Some users added shredded tobacco leaves. Farmers paddled boats loaded with betel leaves along the canals to the wholesale market at Talat Phlu, which grew as Bangkok grew, and eventually occupied a long stretch of the canal bank.

      The betel-chewing habit continued long after Taksin’s time. It only ended during World War II., when the government of Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram banned the growing and trading of betel to put a stop to the random spitting by chewers that soiled the city’s streets, lanes and buildings with red stains. Talat Phlu ceased trading betel, but the canny Chinese traders transformed it into a successful wet market. This has also become one of Thonburi’s most popular eating areas, famous for its traditional Teochew food that can be found in countless little family-owned restaurants and food stalls around the market and station. This reputation actually began many years ago, having gained considerable ground in the latter part of the nineteenth century when King Rama V visited Jeen Ree restaurant to sample its mee krob, a dish of crispy rice noodles stir-fried with pork, shrimp and egg. Located in a graceful old building next to the Talat Phlu Pier, and with a soothing interior of greys and blues, Jeen Ree is still there, serving the same dish. Presumably because of its royal fame this is one of the most expensive items on the menu, but at only 150 baht (less than five dollars) no one is going to complain, and it makes a satisfying lunch: mix the crispy noodles with pickled garlic, chives, bean sprouts and kaffir lime, and wash it down with Chinese tea. Elsewhere in this area, look for Teochew specialities such as chive dumplings, fish-ball soup and (my own favourite) duck noodles.