Klong San Pier and market

Today, crossing over Somdet Phra Chao Taksin Road from the
Wong Wian Yai terminus, it can immediately be seen where the
railway line used to run, for concrete slabs have simply been laid over
the course of the track. On the corner of Charoen Rat Road, along
which the line had passed, is one of Bangkok’s leading leather
markets. Further along this road there are some attractive old houses,
one of them being home to the Thonburi Full Gospel Church, a
conspicuous pink landmark with a huge red cross on its frontage.
Keep walking, following the ghost of the line, and Klong San Market
comes into view. At first sight this looks like any other small urban
market in Bangkok, but look a little closer and it becomes apparent
the market has been laid out exactly on the site of the old Klong San
station, and consequently has a long, linear footprint. Although there is
a wet market off to the left, the main attraction is the garment market,
which occupies the site of the line and the platforms, and is one of the
best-known markets for young Thais to shop for inexpensive fashion.
Klong San is, for compulsive non-shoppers (I think you know who I
mean), a rather tedious market to negotiate, because much of the
thoroughfare is a single alley: you go up and you come down the same
way. At the end of the market, next to the steps that lead up to the
river pier, there is a long, single-storey timber building that housed the
ticket office.
Klong San is today an almost forgotten corner of Bangkok,
imp
ortant only to those who live here or the ferry passengers passing
through. But in the days of Ayutthaya and subsequently the Thonburi
kingdom, the entire bank of the river, starting from here, was the port
where the ships moored to offload their produce onto smaller vessels
or into warehouses, and for the captains to pay their taxes and tea
money. This continued into the Rattanakosin era, with the old harbour
busy with the produce of the rice mills and timber yards located along the Thonburi bank, and remnants can be found today. Turn
northwards at Klong San Market, and an enormous marine mast can
be seen towering above the rooftops.