There are many places to shoot street portraits in Bangkok. One of my favorites is Khlong Toei. The entire
district is visually stimulating, and the market is a people shooters paradise. One can spend hours in the continually changing scenes of people and wares.
Khlong Toei (also Klong Toey, Thai: คลองเตย) is a district in central Bangkok. It is bordered by the Chao Phraya River and contains major port facilities. It is also the name of a major market, though not touristic. The market is served by the Bangkok Metro station Khlong Toei on Rama IV Road.
The district was once part of Phra Khanong. It was later separated into a new district on 9 November, 1989.
Originally Khlong Toei consisted of 6 sub-districts. Three of which have since left to form the new Watthana district (announced on 14 October, 1997, effective from 6 March, 1998). The area has a history dated back to the ninth century as a port to cities upstream along Chao Phraya River. It was a city called Pak Nam Phra Pradaeng (Thai: เมืองปากน้ำพระประแดง) as oppose to the currentAmphoe Phra Pradaeng built during King Buddha Yodfa Chulalokeperiod. Khlong Thanon Trong (Thai: คลองถนนตรง) was a khlong(canal) and a parallel road built by King Mongkut around 1857. Later, it became known as Khlong Toei and Khlong Hua Lamphong for different sections of the canal. Khlong Toei means the canal of pandanas the plant grew along the southern bank of the canal. The road was renamed to Rama IV Road by King Vajiravudh in 1919. In 1947, a large portion of Khlong Toei canal was filled up to expand the Rama IV Road surface.
