This is what Saphan Lek looks like now

[webfact]

This is what Saphan Lek looks like now (VIDEO)

By Sasiwan Mokkhasen, Staff Reporter



BANGKOK — It’s been over eight months since the labyrinth of cheap toys, games, and electronics that was Saphan Lek was hit by the wrecking ball.

The successful eviction of hundreds of stalls on Oct. 20, which had for decades squatted over a canal that was technically public property, was a significant victory in City Hall’s campaign to reclaim public space, usually at the expense of vibrant street markets.

Full story/video: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/bangkok/2016/07/14/saphan-lek-looks-like-now-video/

-- Khaosod English 2016-07-14

[lust]

Nice, perfect place for a market.. Idiots.

[JoePai]

_{Brilliant - well done to City Hall}

[Alive]

The video to the story is on youtube.

[Hornyskunk]

Praise Buddha.

Now please shut down every other illegal street stall in the country.

[lovelomsak]

Does not look like Thailand to me. Looks more like an European city canal. Potted plants and all. Give me the real Thailand any day. Most of these changes here come back to haunt them.

Edited July 14, 2016 by lovelomsak

[manarak]

Praise Buddha.

Now please shut down every other illegal street stall in the country.

the stalls are the best ward against corporate slavery like in the west

[ezflip]

Looked at the photo and thought 'wow, nice'. Looked at the video and thought 'hmm, good attempt but failed to carry through'. TiT

[Thechook]

Looks like a sewerage canal

[thai3]

Excellent, no soi dogs, rubbish or shanty town crappy market, vast improvement

[sanukma]

Excellent, no soi dogs, rubbish or shanty town crappy market, vast improvement

How can it be a vast improvement when it looks totally dead with no people around?

Massive failure if you ask me.

[SoiBiker]

Excellent, no soi dogs, rubbish or shanty town crappy market, vast improvement

You don't really know what was there before, do you?

Actually, I wonder how many people commenting had ever visited the market. It was an interesting place, but somewhat specialised.

[elgordo38]

Praise Buddha.

Now please shut down every other illegal street stall in the country.

the stalls are the best ward against corporate slavery like in the west

They are after all living breathing human beings trying to survive. Street stalls are part of Thailand culture. Yes the canal looks nice but at what expense of human livelihood. They gave the canal some character. Those that knock these people should try walking in their shoes. Edited July 14, 2016 by elgordo38

[Lannig]

Yes, how many jobs lost? How many families without income now? All this for a bloody "canal"? more like an open sewer to me.

From the video, the result is only marginally less ugly than it was before

And now we have a lot of people p***ed off who will probably join the growing mass of people who want this junta out.

[SoiBiker]

Praise Buddha.

Now please shut down every other illegal street stall in the country.

the stalls are the best ward against corporate slavery like in the west

They are after all living breathing human beings trying to survive. Street stalls are part of Thailand culture. Yes the canal looks nice but at what expense of human livelihood. They gave the canal some character. Those that knock these people should try walking in their shoes.

You didn't go there either did you?

It wasn't a case of street stalls giving the canal some character - it was a warren-like indoor market covering the canal entirely.

[manarak]

Praise Buddha.

Now please shut down every other illegal street stall in the country.

the stalls are the best ward against corporate slavery like in the west

They are after all living breathing human beings trying to survive. Street stalls are part of Thailand culture. Yes the canal looks nice but at what expense of human livelihood. They gave the canal some character. Those that knock these people should try walking in their shoes.

You didn't go there either did you?

It wasn't a case of street stalls giving the canal some character - it was a warren-like indoor market covering the canal entirely.

I have been there before.

In all honesty, can you really say the canal in its present state is picturesque and is worth being shown as a city attraction ?

looks now like an abandoned place where muggings will take place at night. I don't know if the canal stinks or not though. I hope the city has some plan for substantial further embellishment, because replacing stalls with a barren place is not really progress, it looks like a waste of space, litterally.

While I welcome clean, walkable sidewalks and bicycle lanes, I also think Western-style city desertification has to be avoided at all costs. I prefer busy streets packed with stalls to empty, dead streets where the next open store is 3 Km away.

[SoiBiker]

The stretch of the canal down where the Indian restaurants are is actually quite pleasant now. The other section is kind of featureless for now, granted.

I'm not saying what's happened is a good thing - I liked the market. I'm just pointing out that much of the reaction is a typical knee-jerk, 'they're ruining the city' whine from people who never visited the place before, and probably never will.

And seriously, its pretty obvious you're one of them...

[berybert]

When they said 'we will clean up the canal and give it back to the people', what were people expecting ? It has been cleaned up and people can now use the sidewalks. The canal is full of shit just like every other canal in Bangkok. The only difference now is that you can see it where as before people used to walk over it.

Were people expecting a sandy beach to be laid, or it to look like Venice ? Its a dump canal and looks like what it is.

[Lannig]

The stretch of the canal down where the Indian restaurants are is actually quite pleasant now. The other section is kind of featureless for now, granted.

I'm not saying what's happened is a good thing - I liked the market. I'm just pointing out that much of the reaction is a typical knee-jerk, 'they're ruining the city' whine from people who never visited the place before, and probably never will.

And seriously, its pretty obvious you're one of them...

I am, for one, indeed. Does this make me less entitled than you are to have an opinion? don't think so. You're not more entitled than the people who've lost their jobs over this either.

I see people kicked out of their bread-earning shops to make an open-air sewer now visible.

No need to go visit to have an opinion.

Besides this, your reaction was so typical of your usual "I know better than the TV populace" posts...

[MyFrenU]

So a closed-in sewer is better than an open air one?It looks like the beginning of an urban regeneration project to me who knows what is planned for the future?
Is it supposed to look like The Bund,Shanghai the day after demolition?

[thai3]

Excellent, no soi dogs, rubbish or shanty town crappy market, vast improvement

You don't really know what was there before, do you?

Actually, I wonder how many people commenting had ever visited the market. It was an interesting place, but somewhat specialised.

I have been there, it was a slum. OK it's a bit of a dump still and stinks but you can't blame the authorities for trying to improve an illegal 3rd world s hole, squalor only has charm for those not brought up in it.

Edited July 15, 2016 by thai3

[lovelomsak]

So they cleared out a market right. So how do the people earn a living now? Did the government retrain them for new work or just leave them on the street to try and open a new shop some where else.Seems to be poor treatment of citizens,for no real reason. Other than to make a sewer canal visible.

[impulse]

I love street markets. I lament the loss of Bangkok's character.

But the Saphan Lek Market was a deathtrap. And that's putting it mildly. Had there been a fire, dozens to hundreds would not have been able to get out. The place was a maze, and there were were very few exits.

Many of the vendors are now moving into once vacant areas in existing markets all over Chinatown. I suspect the rents may be higher, but they're also being paid to people who actually invested in safe, well constructed buildings with exits, and not being paid to mafiosos who simply looked the other way as vendors and shoppers put their lives at risk.

Edited July 15, 2016 by impulse

[Thian]

So they cleared out a market right. So how do the people earn a living now? Did the government retrain them for new work or just leave them on the street to try and open a new shop some where else.Seems to be poor treatment of citizens,for no real reason. Other than to make a sewer canal visible.

It was a very messy market, very narrow walkways and loads of electronics for sale (vely much copy copy games and so).

Bangkok needs a new Phantip where all those electronic vendors can be together.

Chinatown is fun but very hard to walk around. Would be nice if they also cleaned up all pavements and make more marketsquares for business. Also it's hard to find a place to relax, have a drink/food. People in this area of BKK are rude though, if you don't walk/drive fast enough they just start pushing .

[SoiBiker]

Bangkok needs a new Phantip where all those electronic vendors can be together.

It already has one - Fortune Town.

[fxe1200]

Does not look like Thailand to me. Looks more like an European city canal. Potted plants and all. Give me the real Thailand any day. Most of these changes here come back to haunt them.

Any European city would have installed a handrail.

[jippytum]

Every province has a similar problem .Individuals taking over public space for their own use . Walking street Pattaya is an example .City hall has outstanding court injunctions for the removal illegal buildings encroaching the shoreline . Perhaps the army appointed administration will get some results.

[SoiBiker]

Does not look like Thailand to me. Looks more like an European city canal. Potted plants and all. Give me the real Thailand any day. Most of these changes here come back to haunt them.

Any European city would have installed a handrail.

You've clearly never been to Amsterdam. Or Venice. Or London.

[Sandy Freckle]

...., ah the effects of thin rarified air on the sanctimonious high ground.

[Boss]

Looks more like an open sewer to me