Maeklong Railway Market

The Maeklong Railway Market is located in Maeklong District in Samut Songkhram province, 75 kilometers or an hour drive away from Bangkok.

The name of the market in Thai - Talad Rom Hoop literally meaning "Market Umbrella Pulldown" directly defines the nature of the market - storekeepers pulling down their umbrellas when the train passes by. 

As the market has been situated at the Maeklong district long before the government decided to build a railway through it in 1905, the locals have already been used to this phenomenon as a daily routine of keeping and retracting their goods when the train passes by. 

And while tourists visting the market keep looking at their watches to check when the train will arrive (most of the time the trains do not arrive as scheduled), the locals seem to know exactly when the trains will pass by, only keeping their stuff just a minute before the train passes by.

When the train passes by, you are just less than 1 meter away from the train. But fret not, no danger posed here, as the train is one of the slowest line in Thailand, running at only an average speed of 30Km/h.

Immediately as the train passes, the storekeepers push their stuff back to the railway track and resume business back to usual. The whole process of pushing the stuff in, waiting for the train to pass and pushing it back only took less than 5 minutes. 

While waiting for the train to come or after the train passes by, you can walk along the train track to see the locals selling fresh produce such as vegetables, seafood or fruits.

This is a type of salted fish, put into a bamboo basket sold in most stores at the market. And you buy the fish together with the basket, so it's convenient to just put the bamboo basket directly into the steamer to cook the fish at home.

This is the Maeklong train station where the train will end it's journey or start off from here. 

Tourist can have a photo opportunity close up with the train when it stops at the station. 

As usual, souvenir shops line along the railway track for tourists to bring home a piece of Maeklong Station remembrance. 

We had a light lunch of fishball noodles at one of the stalls located at Maeklong station area. 

 I ordered the dry kway tiao. Although it looks quite dry without much sauce, it actually taste quite good! I especially like the fried garlic sprinkled on top of the noodles.

My kakis ordered the soup version. I think it should be quite tasty as well.

There are also stalls selling cakes and sweets. Very nostalgic.. reminds me of the days when I was a child. 

 

The guide recommended us to buy this. Roasted in charcoal, and wrapped into a cylindrical shape while hot, it is a sweet and crunchy snack.

The roasted squid looked good! And very cheap at THB20, I couldn't resist to buy a stick to try. However, I could only taste the saltiness from the seasoning. Would be much better if they used less salt.  

Guess what are these? it took me a while before realizing that they are actually fishballs! 

The train runs through the Maeklong railway track 8 times a day, departing at 6:20, 9:00, 11:30, 15:30 and arriving at 8:30,11:10,14:30,17:40. So you have to be at the railway at these times in order to catch the train in action!