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By Graham K. Rogers
Living on the Thonburi side of the river, I see a lot of the parts of the city that are not on the tourist trails. Examples can be found in some of the areas not far from my home that I have photographed already:
More recently, I had a look at a local market and walked home along the railway track.
Close to here is another resource: a railway line that is used by locals but not often by tourists. It runs from Wongwianyai down to Mahachai in Samut Sakhon province. It was originally built to bring produce into the city, but is now almost a commuter line, but with a somewhat local flavour.
Just across the river from Mahachai is a second railway, with much less traffic, which is famous for the market at the end of the line: the tracks need to be cleared each time a train passes (very slowly). I have been down both lines a number of occasions and trip reports, with my photographs are online:
Taking a trip on the railway - any trip for that matter - is not the same each time. Especially with a camera, there are new sights and new picture opportunities every time I make the journey on the line.
This week was no exception. I took three cameras and a selection of lenses. Two of the cameras were Nikon digital bodies; with a Hasselblad taken along as well. Some photographs from that will be uploaded separately, but the photographs below (and above) are a selection of some of what I saw.
Mahachai was relatively quiet this time, being the middle of the week, but the people there are always worth focussing on, especially if they are unaware they are being photographed.
The river holds a fascination for me as much as railway lines do and the port facilities here are always busy, although the old and decayed also have elements of beauty. Once across the river, the area of Banlaem, where the other line starts, is far more quiet, even with its own parts of the fishing industry.
Looking back in the direction of Mahachai, there is much more of the fishing industry evident close to the river.
Back on the Mahachai side, the streets had filled up a little, but round the railway area there was more activity.
Heading back, there is always something to see from the train, although some of the scenery passes too fast to catch. Nonetheless, there are occasional interesting points.
I do not use the terminus at Wongwianyai, although that is a grand title for the single-track station. Instead my journey ends where it starts at the Thaladphlu railway station where there are a few popular street restaurants.
See also:
A Run Down to Mahachai and Across the River to Banlaem (2) - An Analogue Exercise
A note on copyright. If anyone happens to reach the end of the page, there is a copyright notice. Elsewhere on the site there are more full conditions stated, but basically, if you are an individual, a student or even a teacher, feel free to borrow information from the site with an acknowledgement and a link to the original. If you ask nicely, I may also send you a much larger image.
That does not apply to thieving organisations who seem to believe that anything on the open internet is theirs for the reaping, although they do not apply the same rules to their own content. I think particularly of those news corporations that are normally referred to by their 3-letter acronyms, but others may recognise themselves. These (and other professional organisations) may ask nicely and we may come to an agreement. Or not.
Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand where he is also Assistant Dean. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs. He is now continuing that in the Bangkok Post supplement, Life.
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