Traders and visitors are busy again at Mae Klong Railway Market

International visitors visiting the market at this time will have many surprises with what is happening here. At Mae Klong Railway Market, traders and visitors are busy and bustling, but when the signal of an upcoming train arrives, local buyers and international tourists drift into the alleys. Meanwhile, the stall owners quickly moved their stalls off the tracks, making room for the train to slowly pass. That bustling scene returned with a frequency of 6 times a day.

The railway section is 500 meters long in Samut Songkhram province, far from Bangkok, Thailand about 80 km to the west, is the business place of hundreds of stall owners with a variety of items from food, fresh produce to clothes and souvenirs.

The scene at the Mae Klong Railway Market is very impressive when the train passes at a very close distance, it seems that only a few centimeters can be inserted through the vegetables placed right next to the edge of the track.

Ms. Somporn Thathom, a small fish trader, said: “At first, the vendors only used umbrellas for their stalls, there was no electricity, no water. After that, many people started coming here to visit the market. So the number of vendors also increased. Now most of us have switched from using umbrellas to tents that can be folded every time the train passes.”

Ms. Samorn Armasiri, a fruit and vegetable seller at Mae Klong market, said her family has opened a stall at the market for more than 50 years and she has never witnessed an accident.

Ms. Samorn Armasiri said: “When the train arrives, the staff will blow the horn and everyone will pack up. We are used to this way of doing it.”

After a period of being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Thailand has now reopened its borders and foreign guests are also gradually returning.

Ms. Ella McDonald, an Australian tourist, said: “There was a bit of panic. I was quite surprised that people cleared up the dishes very quickly. If I were to sell goods here, I would be very stressed.”

The market manager said that the uniqueness is the attraction for tourists to come here. Visitors can visit, shop for local specialties and souvenirs.

Currently, industry travel to Thailand is transforming to no longer depend too much on Chinese tourists who come here to buy durian, soon loosening travel regulations to attract more visitors in other countries as well as changing some services to suit more suitable for domestic customers.

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