808. Bangkok Part 13 | Maeklong Railway Market

A couple weeks ago we booked a private tour to visit Maeklong Railway Market and Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. It was one of my favourite days from this trip so far. I really loved both markets a lot! They were both very unique. This post will be about the Railway Market which was the coolest market I've ever visited. I remember seeing this place on Instagram before and watching some videos but it never occurred to me it's located in Bangkok (well a couple hours away from the city) until recently.

This market is built directly beside/on the railway tracks. The train passes through several times a day. A few minutes before it arrives, an announcement is made on the loudspeakers. Vendors will fold up the shades, pull in their products or just cover them as you can see in the photo above. It's done very fast and takes less than a minute. Then as soon as the train is gone, they set up again super fast and within seconds, it seems like a train had never passed through. It was very interesting to observe.

For our tour, we had a driver and tour guide. We departed at 6:30am and the driver brought us to a station called Kalong where we boarded the train at 8am. It was nice to be able to experience the market from inside the train as well as outside afterwards. I also really enjoyed the train ride. It went through some rural parts which I always love to see. We rode it maybe 30 minutes but I wouldn't mind riding the entire train route.

The place where we boarded

Once again, very empty! There were a few locals on there with us. Normally there are a lot of tourists.

Arriving at the market! It's quite blurry since the train was moving but you can see how close it is

Observers from the ground

Maeklong Station where the market is, is the terminal station. The train stops here for maybe 30 minutes before turning back.

We got off and went to explore the market

Our guide told us that everything here is very fresh and cheap, so many people come from Bangkok to shop. For example this is 8 fish for only $3.60 CAD! I really like how this market attracts a lot of tourists yet it is still very authentic. Maybe the vendors enjoy it more now with less tourists crowding their space.

Preparing for the train's arrival again!

Our guide took this photo of us. As you can see..it gets super close! A LOT closer than I had expected. In fact I had to lean back a bit (there was no space for us to stand further back). Of course the train goes by slow when it's passing through the market. I've never been so close to a moving train before and probably never will again unless I return.

A little plate of fruit left out there for luck (or as an offering)



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