Market Friday: visiting the old railway station Hua Lamphong with special exhibition.

After booking a train ticket on the phone, I had to collect my ticket within 24 hours at the station. I quite enjoyed my brief visit to Hua Lamphong station as it always reminded me of my childhood days at my Chinese grandmother’s house. Her old house used to be in a narrow alley opposite the railway station. I felt as if the whole place was my old neighbourhood. Walking among the old buildings and working people around the area gave me a sense of ‘back to the past’.

The past history of the railway made me felt much closer to the old Monarch, King Rams V. I could imagine his utmost desire to modernise Siam as much as possible in a short time. There were so many pressing problems on his mind and he was trying to prevent Siam from being colonized, after the land in the north had been surrendered during a negotiation with a western nation.

The pressure and stress caused his health to suffer and eventually to die very young with poor health. King Rama V governed Siam for 42 years and passed away at the age of 57 years old. There’s a big painting of the beloved King above the doorway at the station. Since the new and modern railway station at Bangsue, Hua Lamphong has become very quiet as only local trains were still operating from there for local commuters.

However, most travelers still bought their tickets at the old station as it’s much more convenient and closer to various public transportation. I had to allow extra time and taxi fee to travel to the new railway station. Most people complained about the inconvenience and extra costs as unnecessary burden being pushed on them by people in authority. On my way out of the station, I noticed some kind of exhibition or special event taking place there.

There were two old steam engined trains at two platforms. So, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to take some photos. The railway staff told me about the special lighting show in the evening and free concert in the main hall. That’s probably why I heard classical music blasting in the hall, I was very surprised to hear Beethoven Symphony no.5 entertaining mostly country folks in the hall. I had to ask a supervising staff who chose the classical music instead of regular pop music. He told me that the contracted organising company was in charge of the music, lighting and exhibition this week.

Most people had no idea that there’s a free event and entertainment at Hua Lamphong this week. The PR wasn’t very effective as there weren’t many people attending the exhibition. The two old trains looked very beautiful as they had been nicely maintained by railway technicians. Both must have been over a hundred years old. I was surprised they could find spare parts for these old trains. The special car for executives or VIPs looked very luxurious with all leather and wooden interior design. Unfortunately, most regular trains are in a stage of poor maintenance and disrepair. There’s a need for an overhaul of the management and to get rid of corruptions at all levels. We would need a big miracle to improve the overall quality of train, services and amenities including management policies.

The poster on the special event looked funny to me as the name of the event just didn’t ring a bell. There was no connection between the theme of lightning show, old trains and concerts with the history of Hua Lamphong station. I didn’t expect the new and younger generations of event organizers to do any research on the history of the first railway station in Siam. I was often surprised when chatting with well educated people during my journey, they often didn’t have any knowledge of history. So, I ended up telling them some historical background to our discussion. I knew I should keep quiet and talk as little as possible. I had to remind myself not to cause others to ‘lose face’.

The natural lighting at Hua Lamphong was quite challenging for my photography. But it’s still much better than the new station where the design of the front facade didn’t allow natural light to come through. The electricity bills should become quite enormous as there were hundreds of neon lights all over the place. The whole gigantic building was also fully air-conditioned; so when the ventilation system is out of order, people would go raving mad one day! In comparison, I could find more faults abd weaknesses in the design and logistics of the new railway station. Older generations of people seemed to have more wisdom and aesthetic inclinations than younger generations with tendency towards superficial and materialistic inclinations. Our education system has been corrupted and young students have been dumbed down by design.

I found notice boards where people could leave their messages such as saying goodbye to the old station. It’s like the traditional ‘friendship book’ which students would be writing farewell messages before they had to move on to different colleges. The idea didn’t work out in real life as passengers or travelers had different priorities from school students. So, I could see that the organisers had to take the matter into their own hands; many colourful hearts appeared on several white boards. There were lots of children’ scribbles and doodles. To my surprise, someone wrote a long curse on the railway authority for their dishonesty and corruptions. So, the management’s effort to appease passengers for closing the old station as the main railway has backfired.

I felt so incapable of taking good photos of the old station. I would need a wide angle lens to capture the curves of classic architectural design. What I could see with my eyes couldn’t be recorded on the memory of my iPhone. So, I had to try to take photos with my eyes and recorded them on my brain. One day the whole place would be gone and a smart city built on this land. I had to accept reality and ‘what is’ and live in the present. So, I continued to take more photos of this station for souvenirs. I always regretted not taking photos of my grandmother’s house while I could still get access to that area.

As I walked towards the clock face, I discovered a big set of train models. The elderly man was setting up the circuits, and models of houses, railways and trains. The whole model was very big with the setting of a European scenery. The set had mountains with pine trees, farmhouse with cows and tunnels under the mountains too. The two models of Thai trains were stationed on the rail track. I couldn’t help wondering why Thai trains were operating among mountains in Switzerland. This setting reminded me of my holiday in Switzerland years ago. I had no time to wait for the owner of the train set to finish his job. I had seen a superb set of model trains at my German friends’ house; it’s very exciting to see all the trains moving automatically at the flick of a switch.

Children would love these train model’s running in circles along the tracks. This model train exhibition with a classical quartet playing classical music nearby seemed out of place at Hua Lamphong. Most remaining passengers who depended on cheap local trains were mostly from working class background. The concert should have been Thai music or traditional country music. Some tourists were quite excited about the old trains and model trains as these reflected their repertoire of cultural values. Middle class Thai with professional cameras has a good time practicing their photography skills.

The old station looked empty and forlorn as all the benches were unoccupied. Very few trains were on the rail track. Gone were all the crowds and long lines of people walking along the platform. No more the ringing of bells nor whistles which could be heard before the train was setting off along its way. Time changed reality so fast that I hardly had the time to adjust to new changes. I wait to see changes at the new railway station in the near future.

I couldn’t imagine what it’s like living under the pressure of being attacked and land seized by foreign armies whose sailing ships were equipped with cannons. There was a small showdown between the Thai marine and French armies on the river. The King was a cool headed negotiator who had to surrender large chunks of land in the north, thus changing the shape of Siamese map from then on. The special friendship with Tzar Nicholas II had saved Siam from eventually being colonised and divided into two separate countries, one part annexed by the British and the other by the French who already took control of Vietnam and Laos.

Older generations of railway staff and their families were very proud of their jobs on the railway as they knew they were the King’ staff who helped in Royal project of modernisation of the country. I had made friends to several railway staff whose families have been working with the railway for three generations. But new generations of managers belonged to the nouveau-rich class who were politically appointed to protect the interests and fiduciary gains for the political party in power. Things have deteriorated gradually as politcians meddle in public enterprises as though these were their own private companies.

The future of Thai railway would have to depend on the new generation of faithful and righteous people who would try to resolve all the problems of corruptions, bad policies and decisions by those in powerful positions. It’s going to be a long and arduous process. Good people have been placated from positions of authority for so long. I continue to hope and pray for mitigating circumstances and Divine intervention for a peaceful and compassionate society.

Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.

#marketfriday hosted by @dswigle.