22 Walks in Bangkok. Kenneth Barrett
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.
The King Taksin statue in the compound of Wat Intharam, where his ashes are interred.
Heading back towards Wong Wian Yai there is the choice of Thoet Thai Road, which runs parallel to the railway line, or the back-ways and alleys next to the canal. The latter are more picturesque, with only the occasional possibility of ending up in someone’s backyard. Go past the Baptist Church, past the fire station, past some old timber shophouses, over a small canal and past the pumping station, and then through Wat Klang Market, where the rooftops of Wat Mon can be seen glittering red, white and gold above the huddled roofs.
Wat Mon was built around the end of the Ayutthaya era by a community of Mons led by a soldier whose name is no longer known, but who may have been in charge of a small garrison here. Temple legend says that woodland on this bank provided cover for troops and that shallow water on the far bank drove boats close to the wooded shore, where if they were enemy boats they would be attacked. The settlement was known as Bung Ying Rua, which means, “to hide and shoot at boats”. The name was later corrupted to Bang Yi Rua, which means “Boat Village”, and as rural temples usually took their name from the locality, this was the early name of the temple.
During the Thonburi period, one of Taksin’s closest allies was a general named Phraya Pichai, who was also the governor of Uttaradit province, in the north of the country. Within this province is a village named Namphi, and nearby is mined an ore that goes into the making of a very tough steel traditionally used to forge swords for Siamese nobility. During one of the battles to drive the Burmese out of the country, Pichai confronted the enemy with a sword made from Namphi steel in his left hand and an ordinary sword in his right. The right-hand sword snapped during the fighting, but Pichai fought on two-handed with the Namphi sword and the broken blade. He won his battle, and entered into Thai history as Dap Hak, or “Broken Sword”, a heroic figure who is also revered as one of the great masters of Thai boxing. Pichai renovated and enlarged Wat Mon as a way of making merit for the men who had died during the battle.
Although Rama I made subsequent additions, Dap Hak’s chapel still remains, and carries his name. The artificial mountain near the temple wall dates from his time and is clad in seashells and rocks taken from the beach; there is a Buddha footprint on the top. Next to the temple gate is a small chapel containing an image of the Buddha lying flat on its back, symbolising the time immediately before cremation, the pose being known as Tawai Phra Ploeng. The image is about two-and-a-half metres long, almost filling the room, and is wrapped in a gold sheet, with an angel at the foot of the bier. Installed by Dap Hak, the image is the only one of its kind in Thailand. Pichai, 41 at his death, was cremated and his ashes interred here at Wat Mon, in the stupa. Devotees leave offerings at a small altar in front of a portrait, and next to the stupa is a topiary of Pichai in a fighting stance.
Longtail boats ply between communities alongside the Thonburi canals.
There were three temples at Bang Yi Rua that were so close they all bore the same name, being differentiated by the suffix Nai (inner), Klang (centre), and Nok (outer). While Phraya Pichai was renovating Wat Bang Yi Rua Nai, King Taksin found peace at Wat Bang Yi Rua Nok, where he would rest and meditate. He became fond of the temple and decided to adopt it as his own, carrying out extensive renovations and naming it as a royal temple. The temple became the most splendid of those along the canal bank, and an important place of worship for the noblemen and courtiers who were building homes alongside Klong Bangkok Yai. As befits Taksin’s Chinese ancestry, the architecture is a mix of Chinese and Thai. Inside the chapel, or wiharn, carved from a single piece of wood and flanked by four pillars and flower curtains, is the seat upon which the king would sit cross-legged in meditation. In front of the wiharn are two stupas, shaped like lotuses, and here is the final resting place of this great king. After Taksin’s death, his body was cremated and his ashes brought here and interred in the stupa on the right, the ashes of his queen being buried in the stupa on the left. Rama III bestowed the temple’s present name, Wat Intharam, when the temple was enlarged. The statue of the king upon his horse, sabre held high in his right hand, horse and