Living, loving, eating

Picture a bustling market ambience fuelled by the aroma of BBQ pork, old-fashioned noodles and super-sized sweet flat bread or roti. Conjure up an image of retro-style shophouses, made of rustic tin sheets, where artisans and vendors offer hand-made pottery, rattan, woodcarvings and more. Marvel at iPod-toting children falling under the spell of low-tech charms like wooden toys, vintage car models and old-fashioned puppets.

By ditching the shopping malls and making the journey to Kwan Riam Floating Market, Bangkok’s latest weekend market, you can exchange chain stores for down-to-earth stalls made of tin sheet, Starbucks for bitter-yet-super sweet, old-fashioned iced coffee and Carbonara for boat-noodle with murky “bloody soup”. 

Tucked away in Min Buri, Bangkok’s eastern suburb, Kwan Riam Floating Market has popped up on both sides of Saen Saeb canal. It’s named after Kwan and Riam, the male and female protagonists in Mai Muangderm’s 1936 classic novel “Phlae Kao”.

Like Romeo and Juliet, Kwan and Riam were born into the families that hated each other. And also like Shakespeare’s young lovers, their romance ended in tragedy. Set in the rice paddies along Saen Saeb canal, the couple hides their love for each other, sneaking out for trysts behind the bushes in the Min Buri countryside. They swear their ever-lasting love to the guardian of a giant fig tree in what is now Bang Kapi but Riam forsakes Kwan to live with a wealthy family in Bangkok, leaving the country boy melancholy. A misunderstanding leads to both their lives coming to an end. The story happened almost 80 years ago, but the spirit of Kwan and Riam still lingers around Saen Saeb canal so what better idea than to reinvent the romance to draw weekenders to an old-fashioned market.

Kwan Riam Floating Market is located on the section of the canal between Wat Bamphen Nuea and Wat Bangpheng Tai, two Buddhist temples facing each other on the north and south banks. You can come to the market from either temple. On my quest, I arrive on the southern side around 10am on Sunday, and find the marketplace throbbing with activity. 

The outer rim is filled with itinerant vendors selling foods of all sorts – sweet and milky sticky rice wrapped in smoky banana leaf, BBQ squid and “roti saimai” (a thin flour sheet wrapped around sugary strings). 

Two teenagers wait for their turn to snap photos with a mock-up of a cool water buffalo – one of the main characters in Mai Muangderm’s novel. A Japanese tourist jumps into the old-fashioned trishaw and starts uploading photos from his iPad. A hungry weekender walks along munching deep-fried pork and an old woman cruises around in her wheelchair. 

The southern section of the market on the Wat Bangpheng Tai side, is refitted with make-believe bygone stalls and shophouses selling art, rattan works, hand-made leather bags, perfume and therapy oil made of flowers and old-fashioned coffee. Visitors wander through the market stalls picking up items, sampling food and drinks and enjoying the game of bargaining. I find a table at an ancient looking coffee stall, order “o-liang” (black iced coffee), and watch the world turn around me.

“Excuse me,” says a man in his 40s, approaching with his iPhone. “Can you take a photo for me?”

Like everyone else wondering around Kwan Riam Floating Market, my man cannot leave the weekend market without his photo. Sitting cross-legged against the back drop of vintage Coca-Cola sign, he poses like an old-time hero in a Thai movie of 40 years ago waiting for trouble at a coffee stall near the bus terminal somewhere in the countryside.  

Nearby is Porn Khong Kao, a small store offering everything from magnet cards and wooden puppets to vintage turntables and radios.

Kwan and Riam are here too, sitting side by side on the buffalo and waiting for their latest photo call. I’m amused to see that 80 years later, Kwan and Riam look just like teen idols and soap stars Nadech and Yaya.

The southern of the market is linked to the northern end by a bridge designed to resemble a keel. The able-bodied and energetic can climb the stairs to the bridge while the disabled, elderly and lazy can take the elevator. 

The northern side of Saen Saeb that fuses with Wat Bamphen Nuea, is paradise for foodies. 

The food vendors are spread out along the northern bank in an unbroken line that stretches as far as the eye can see. They are also good chefs. An entire roasted pig, snout and all, piles of wild berries, coconuts, sweet and milky tea, steamed chicken, flat noodle with egg and coconut ice cream are among the delicacies that beckon the hungry.

I venture down the line and get “khao hor bai bua” for lunch. Wrapped in lotus leaves the old- fashioned way, the steam rice with salty yolk and sweet sausage is not half bad.

To recapture the spirit of the Saen Saeb canal and its murky waters, you can jump into a boat and listen to the tales of the canal and the romantic tragedy from a youngster who serves as tour guide.

Apparently, the Kwan Riam Floating Market, with a legendary love story as its gimmick, aims to follow in the successful footsteps of other old marketplaces – Amphawa in Samut Songkhram, Sam Chuk in Suphan Buri and Baan Mai in Chachoengsao to name a few. 

It should succeed too. After all, what city dweller can say no to a quick dose of nostalgia and lots of  mouth-watering experiences?

 

If you go

_ Kwan Riam Floating Market is located in Bangkok’s Min Buri district. Public buses (27, 502, 11, 58 and 514) stop over at the market. If you drive, you can get into the market from both Seri Thai (Soi 60) and Ramkhamhaeng (Soi 185 and 187) roads. Parking spaces fill quickly so get there early.