Backpacking in Asia: Maeklong railway market (Thailand)

After crossing from Cambodia into Thailand, I took a 2 hour bus ride to Bangkok where I celebrated the Passover holiday with a friend of mine from Jewish summer camp who now lived in Bangkok. But I had a day to kill and decided to check out the Maeklong railway market.

This market is unique because it is ON THE TRAIN TRACKS of a live trail line that passes through several times a day. The schedule is known to all, and before the train comes through, merchants move their goods off of the tracks (or under them), and fold up the canopies of their stalls so that the train doesn't hit them. As soon as the train passes, they put everything back and continue as before.

The market isn't too far from Bangkok but there's no direct way to get there and the journey takes a couple hours each way. It involved a bus, a ferry, and a train (the very train that passes through the market, in fact!)

Nazi?? On the crowded ferry w/o much for a barrier if you got too close to the edge

Here you can see how the market looks without the train there. It's as if the tracks are just decorative. But if you look closely you can see that the canopies can be moved away, and the tables closest to the tracks are on rollers to be pushed aside when the train comes:

As the train comes, you can see that everything has been pushed away...except for things that are low enough for the train to pass over! On the right the train is passing by while everyone casually waits.

Here's a video I took: