Wednesday Walk: a visit to the old railway station in Bangkok.

I had been to the old railway station, Hua Lamphong, in Bangkok quite often as I had to get my reserved tickets. Hua Lamphong has been decommissioned about fourteen months ago as the new railway station has become fully operational. I still couldn’t get used to the fact that Hua Lamphong has been abandoned and replaced by a new but badly designed new railway station. There’s no unique character nor iconic design as a train station. The new over-sized station reflected many design features which were aimed at high costs for excessive budgets and hidden high commissions. The safety and practical aspects for travelers failed completely from my perspectives.

This has caused lots of problems for commuters and passengers including many railway staff. Some employees had to resign their positions as the location of the new station involved longer traveling distance, they had to get up much earlier and pay for taxi fares as there was no public transport to the new station. The old Hua Lamphong sat on top of a hub of underground trains and had several bus stops near the entrance of the stations. Hua Lamphong was only ten minutes’ drive to central areas of Bangkok, both the financial and shopping districts. King Rama V had incredible foresight when he built this railway station about 150 years ago. In the old days, people could even travel by boats to the station as the river was right by the car park. In time of emergency, I could imagine a helicopter landing in the car park too!

I had to pay more for the taxi fare as I had to use the motorway as the new station was further away from the city center. I haven’t yet met any regular travelers who preferred the new railway station. But most people were very careful in expressing their opinions about government’s building projects in which corruptions were rampant. So, each time I visited Hua Lamphong station, I was rather sad and angry at those corrupted officials at the same time.

Sometimes I would walk around the old station and take some photos. The plan to turn the old station into a museum was rather half-hearted and the we result was negligible. Some old trains were brushed up and put on display. The authority made some income by renting the station to film crews and advertising companies. The various projects to turn the area and land around the old station into a multi purpose complex with private companies had been prematurely made public and attracted lots of attention and public scrutiny. Hence the wonderful retirement funding projects by some people had been halted for fear of further investigations. To pacify the public’s fear of the station’s closure, a few local trains were in service for short distance commuters and for few destinations in the east. This served to pacify the lower rung of travelers from staging a protest.

Recently, I found an old fashion vendor selling very interesting food and snacks which used to be common features several years ago. This vendor seemed to have come through a time warp. She had the traditional bamboo baskets which were hand-made (which was probably over fifty years old) with a bamboo pole for carrying two baskets on her shoulders. We hardly saw these walking vendors with bamboo baskets nowadays. The old craftsmen who knew how to make these baskets were all dead years ago.

This vendor was originally from Nakorn Sawan, an old strategic town during the time of King Nares who later liberated Siam from the Burmese domination. She told me she came from a long line of ancestry in Nakorn Sawan. I had to ask about her family and ancestor as she looked so typical of Siamese from the forgotten history of Siam. She even chew betel nut which my Thai grandmother used to chew and she had to carry her betel basket with her everywhere.

The chewing of betel nuts was discouraged and it became unfashionable during the reign of King Rama V, about 130 years ago. Foreigners weren’t used to seeing Siamese with black teeth and red gums, from chewing betel nuts. Black teeth used to be an aspect of beauty in a young woman in those days. Old Siamese used to laugh at trendy young women with white teeth like those foreigners. Western people with fair pale skin and white teeth were quite a startling sight for Siamese!

I was very impressed by the choices of all snacks, food and vegetables in her baskets. The baskets contained all the rare and basic food which were very popular some thirty years ago. These were home made in small quantities by local people from various provinces. She seemed to have traveled by train and stopped at provinces along the way to buy food and snacks from local vendors. The most expensive and rare item was the pickled fresh water fish, the special chili paste to accompany fresh Sadaw flowers, and other herbal leaves which we couldn’t find in big shopping malls. I had to take her photos, baskets and food on offer.

Hua Lamphong used to be such a free and liberated railway station where poor abd working people could come to sell their home grown vegetables in baskets, roast chickens, boiled eggs, fruits and sweets. The authority wanted to modernise the station so poor looking vendors in tattered clothes weren’t allow to make a decent living anymore. Big chained businesses usually had the contract to have shops selling processed food and chemical laden sweets at the station. The opportunity for lower rung of poorly educated people had no way to earn a living in this materialistic society where bribery became the norm.

The vendor was very surprised by my questions and appreciation of her background and how I could relate to her ancestry and family tradition. I have met some descendants of soldiers who fought during the war of independence from Burmese rules. Some inkling of my past lives made me compulsive to chatting with people whom I felt a bind from fighting in the same battle long time ago. To my surprise, I could get along with people whose ancestors were from strategic towns along the routes to the battle fields. I felt I owed these people gratitude for the sacrifice they had made for our independence.

Hua Lamphong was a very important gesture by King Rama V in his effort to modernise and imitate all things from England, France, Germany and Italy. Perhaps, by appearing very similar in terms of structures, buildings, architecture and clothing, Siam could be deemed as far from being uncivilised and in need of salvation and education. I could sometimes felt the emotional stress in old buildings and monuments which reflected the sufferings these Siamese had to bear for trying not to succumb to being colonies by the technologically superior western colonisers.

I was glad I met the old fashion vendor at the station. But she probably didn’t know that most people would be using the new railway station. I bought some pickled fish and local sweets from a nearby province from her. I should have bought all the sweets from her; it was super delicious as it was made the old way with coconut cream, cane sugar, rice flour and sesame seeds. This sweet brought back the joy of my childhood to me. I hoped that I would meet her again one day so that I could buy lots of her food and sweets.

Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.

#wednesdaywalk hosted by @tattoodjay.