Talaat Nahm Khwan-Riam (ตลาดน้ำขวัญ-เรียม)

Thai. ‘Khwan-Riam Water Market’. Name of a floating market located on Khlong Saen Saeb, a major canal in Bangkok, i.e. a section past the last jetty of the Bangkapi express boat service near Wat Sri Boon Reuang. The market area is around Wat Bang Peng Tai (fig.) and both sides of the canal are connected with a bridge in the form of the skeleton of an ancient rice barge and referred to in Thai as saphaan kradook ngu, i.e. ‘snake skeleton bridge’ or ‘snake bones bridge’. Visitors can take a boat trip along the waterway or have a meal at one of the many barges turned restaurant or coffee shop, although there are also ample shops and stalls on land. Around the market there is also a range of Thai cultural effigies on display, as well as some live animals, such as rabbits, miniature pigs and ponies, and different species of ducks, geese and swans. The name of the market is taken from the story Phlaek Kao (แผลเก่า) written in 1936 and which is set in the area of today's floating market, and represented in an effigy of the protagonists from the story seated together on a water buffalo, i.e. Khwan, the son of the Bangkapi Village Chief; and Riam, the daughter of Ta Rueang (ตาเรือง), who lived along the Saen Saeb Canal.  The effigy stands along the canal on the southeastern side of the rice barge skeleton bridge. In the story Khwan and Riam are lovers despite the fact that their families were each others adversaries, and when Khwan was eventually shot and killed by a jealous contender called Somchai (สมชาย), Riam took Khwan's knife and slit her own throat in order to follow her lover into the hereafter. Also transcribed Talaat Nahm Kwan-Riam. See also Ban Suan Phuttasin and talaat nahm, and WATCH VIDEO. 回