webfact Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 This is what Saphan Lek looks like now (VIDEO) By Sasiwan Mokkhasen, Staff ReporterBANGKOK — 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lust Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 Nice, perfect place for a market.. Idiots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoePai Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 Brilliant - well done to City Hall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alive Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 The video to the story is on youtube. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hornyskunk Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 Praise Buddha. Now please shut down every other illegal street stall in the country. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovelomsak Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 (edited) 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manarak Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezflip Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 Looked at the photo and thought 'wow, nice'. Looked at the video and thought 'hmm, good attempt but failed to carry through'. TiT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thechook Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 Looks like a sewerage canal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thai3 Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 Excellent, no soi dogs, rubbish or shanty town crappy market, vast improvement Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanukma Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoiBiker Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elgordo38 Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 (edited) 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lannig Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoiBiker Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manarak Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoiBiker Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 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... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
berybert Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lannig Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 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... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyFrenU Posted July 14, 2016 Share Posted July 14, 2016 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? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thai3 Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 (edited) 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovelomsak Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impulse Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 (edited) 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 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thian Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 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 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoiBiker Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 Bangkok needs a new Phantip where all those electronic vendors can be together. It already has one - Fortune Town. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fxe1200 Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jippytum Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoiBiker Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 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. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandy Freckle Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 ...., ah the effects of thin rarified air on the sanctimonious high ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boss Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 Looks more like an open sewer to me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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