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BANGKOK – Few in their right mind would consider kayaking a Bangkok canal for fun, but that’s exactly what some folks have been doing lately.
The Ong Ang Canal, near the Chao Phraya River, has been transformed from a fetid canal covered by a toy and electronics market to a jade-colored canal lined with wide sidewalks and street art. From Friday to Sunday, the banks of Ong Ang host a night market with buskers serenading the crowd.
The kayaks are free for anyone to use, says Pongsakorn Kwanmuang, a spokesman for the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.
“People in Bangkok think the canal water is dirty and they can’t touch it,” he tells The Straits Times. “But we have tested the water here and it is very clean.”
It’s all part of a larger transformation that has seen the city of more than 10 million gradually become cleaner, greener, and more walkable, in part because public transportation options have improved.
Bangkok’s growing network of air and subway trains can now drop visitors into the heart of Yaowarat, its Chinatown, or as far away as the Erawan Museum in Samut Prakan province.
The city has an average of 7 square meters of green space per person and wants to increase it to 8 square meters, Pongsakorn says.
“When you go to London, you think of Hyde Park. When you go to New York, you think of Central Park. When you go to Singapore, you think of Gardens by the Bay,” he said. “We want to create a tourist attraction like that.”
Stuart McDonald, co-founder of Travelfish, a Southeast Asian travel planning website, still remembers his first experience in the city.
“I first arrived in Bangkok in 1993, flying from Kathmandu, Nepal. I left Don Muang (airport), in thick air like butter and each person had a motorcycle. That night, in Phra Athit, near Khao San Road , I ate delicious street food. The atmosphere was amazing, it was love at first sight and a bite, “he told The Straits Times. “The city was dirtier then, but it felt more real and lived.”
That dirt is disappearing fast.
Fresh flower vendors at the famous Pak Khlong Market, who used to spill their scented wares on the sidewalks, have been moved indoors.
Khaosan Road, the backpacker hub, now sports smooth new street-level trails and shiny bollards that can be removed whenever the area is turned into a pedestrian mall.
It’s hard to say how popular the changes are because most tourists are still excluded by Thailand’s entry ban to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. McDonald, for example, believes that some of the renovations like Pak Khlong’s are poorly regarded.
“There is clean and there is sterile. Their character, people, life and energy are being sucked out. For what? To create an artificial and tasteless Instagram background,” he said.
Sumrit Paitayatat, a local resident, does not complain. On a cool Friday night, he was strolling along the Ong Ang Canal with his wife and two-year-old son.
“It used to be very messy and crowded. Now it is beautiful and relaxing,” said the 49-year-old engineer. “I think I’ll be back.”
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