Bangkok’s Train Market

I remember, when I mentioned to one of my Indian friends about my visit  to the Walking Street Market in Chiang Mai, he quite cynically told me, what’s the big deal – we can do the same thing here at Karol Bagh. I was at a loss for words for quite a while after that. Now, I need to find him again and ask him to tell where I can find the Indian Equivalent of the Bangkok Train Market. Yes, in Darjeeling we did see a dry market on the train tracks at the Batista Loop, selling souvenirs, but that was only for about two hours in the morning, when the train was not running.,

This market here,  at least for me, was something I’ve never seen before. It is both a wet and a dry market, quite permanent in nature and is built on and absolutely adjacent to the train tracks, through which a full size train actually plies about 4 or 5 times a day. While the vendors are quite free to go about their hawking all through the day, the excitement starts when it is time for the train to come. Minutes before the train arrives, the hawkers gather their wares and move them a safe distance away from the tracks. Besides moving their wares, the hawkers quickly fold back their awnings and other display stuff which would otherwise obstruct the train. The train passes through the market at a reasonable speed, blowing its horn, while tourists take their selfies and photos. And barely has the train passed, within seconds thereafter, the awnings are out again, the wares are back on the tracks and it is business as usual.   As usual, my photo gallery of the visit is below

A short video of the train entering and passing through the Train market is below