Bangkok off the Beaten Path for #Monomad Challenge

It's about how I found and fell in love with a fantastic area of Bangkok...

I was traveling on the train from the old central station of Bangkok and photographing that bizarre neighborhood lining along the rails: huts and shacks, blackened buildings, some of them looked abandoned, graffiti, cement fences...

Then, I got an idea to find a way to visit the place afoot one day.

I researched on Google.Maps and found a pathway to sneak into that railside reality.

It was strange to see those empty spaces in the very central Bangkok as well as the harsh industrial landscape.

Later, I returned to explore the nearby area three more times in 2024.

The railway is relatively busy only in the morning and evening when commuter trains come and go to nearby cities. The rest of the time, not much railroad traffic there since the central station changed its location several years ago. And that adds a surreal flavor to the place - the railway looks like a mysterious empty gravel road cutting the city in the middle.

I love industrial landscapes as well as slum-like architecture + all those charming alleys around...

But I also discovered the area is great for cat photography.

Firstly, you can find cats in the unusual scenery - rails. Cool.

Secondly, the essence of that area is "the small alley neighborhood full of cats" with one significant difference - there is much light there: railside houses, yards, and backstreets are well-lit with late afternoon sun since the wide railway space allows the light reach the scene.

I have already posted cat stories from there:

• Railway Felines. Catsploring Railside Neighborhood in Bangkok
• Feline Couple in Love. Catsploring in Railside

But the place is also cool to photograph people.

Children, when they see me with a large camera, sometimes ask to be photographed.

First, I took an image of his female friend who posed well with the social media smile and v-sign. But the boy was brimming with so much excitement it was hard for him to stay still. Look how he's trying to show the v-sign:

But... too happy to pose:

Charming!

Let's return to exploring: my last walk revealed that there is a hidden canal next to the railway neighborhood.

It was fun to explore it and the view at the intersection of it and a major canal was beautiful:

But that is not all! The described places are adjacent to a canalside area with narrow alleys, tiny houses, and a mosque - I found this area on Google.Maps. My instinct tells me there will be a lot of cats there and the adventure will be just right! That's my next destination!

More images and stories from Southeast Asia are ahead! Check out the previous ones on my personal Pinmapple map.

I took these images with a Nikkor 50mm and a Nikkor 70-300mm on a full-frame DSLR Nikon D750 in March 2024, in Bangkok, Thailand.