Pahk Khlong Talaat (ปากคลองตลาด)

Thai. ‘Canal Mouth Market’ or ‘Market at the Mouth of the Canal’. Name of the biggest wholesale and retail fresh flower market in Bangkok (fig.), located between Memorial Bridge (fig.) and the mouth of Khlong Khoo Meuang, i.e. where the Old City Moat connects to the Chao Phraya River (fig.), and from which the market derives its name. Besides flowers also vegetables are sold here daily, which are delivered by porters that push and haul carts with large baskets filled with fresh goods, running up and down the narrow corridors between the many market stalls. These, often immigrant labourers, wear either a green or a pinkish-red waistcoat with a white trim and a white number on the chest, identifying them as official market workers who have permission to do the deliveries, for which they in 2020 were paid 20 Thai baht per cart delivery, irrespective of the distance or the amount of goods loaded onto the cart. Whereas  those with a green waistcoat are allowed to transport only vegetables, those with a pinkish-red waistcoat may transport only flowers. These self-employed workers have to buy their own waiscoast from the market management, which in 2020 were priced at 3,000 THB for a pair, i.e. 1,500 each, but both have to be of the same colour, as the price includes also the permission to work, which allows them to gain beween 800 and 1200 THB a day. In English, usually referred to as Flower Market. See also POSTAGE STAMP, MAP, and WATCH VIDEO. 回