Canal Contemplation

It’s a tired tourist brochure cliché but people like to say that Bangkok was once the Venice of the East, replete with canals that crisscrossed the city, providing sustenance for the Central Thai rice bowl before eventually draining into the mouth of the Gulf of Thailand.  Many of these canals are now paved over or at least downgraded to objects that appear to be closer to drainage ditches rather than proper urban waterways.  But I’m here to argue that the demise of the Bangkok canal is somewhat overstated.  Hop on a random bus or taxi going almost anywhere in the city and chances are that you can’t travel more than a kilometer or two before cresting a small bridge that crosses a canal.  If you are traveling on a non-AC bus and reading a book, it might be your nose that gives the only clue to as to the close proximity of a canal, and often bringing your nose from your book to the direction of the window allows only a passing glimpse of the small waterways.

A Typical Bangok Canal

Not surprisingly, land along a smelly canal full of black water does not exactly qualify as prime real estate.  As a result, those who live alongside the many canals of the capital are inevitably poor.  With the exception of some of the larger, better maintained canals, you will usually find corrugated aluminum type shacks lining the raised banks of most of the smaller canals.

Just yesterday while on a run, I came across one of these neighborhoods.  I recently moved to a different apartment, about 4km from my previous place, and this week has been full of exploratory runs as I scout out potential new running territory.  While scrolling through google maps I noticed a dark black line tracing through a neighborhood about a kilometer south of my apartment.  The line plotted a consistent course through the neighborhood ranging from east to west and it was only after zooming in a few levels that I realized it wasn’t a road but a very narrow canal.  I knew immediately that my run that evening would take me along this canal, as Bangkok canals, despite presenting a few unique obstacles, pass for “ideal” running spots in a city that is decidedly runner-unfriendly.

This new discovery didn’t disappoint.  Most of my previous canal running experience in Bangkok has fallen on the broad shoulders of the Saen Saep canal, one of the few canals in the city that still supports a working passenger boat service, and has even served as an inspiration for world premiere as a stage writer!  The Saen Saep is easily 50 meters wide at points and it feels like a more substantial flow of water.  The canal I ran on yesterday (which I have yet to find a name for) was much smaller, usually only 5-10 meters across.  A small path, slightly narrower than a standard suburban sidewalk, hugged the rim of the canal while a broad canopy generously shaded me from the last hour of sunlight.  The temps were the same as they are for every one of my runs in Bangkok, 90 degrees with a dew point hovering between 70 to 75.

It turned out to be an immensely enjoyable run.  At times I felt as if I was literally running thru peoples living rooms or at least front porches, because of they way they have informally expanded their houses to sit on stilts extending over the canal.  A small roof, inevitably less than 6 feet tall, will connect the mainland portion with the canal side extension forcing me to dodge people transiting different parts of their house while hunched over in an attempt to avoid any serious damage to my head.  Additional obstacles include cats and dogs lazily sleeping on the path and uneven cracks in the sidewalk that force me to clip and lengthen my stride when appropriate.

I have no doubt that I am a strange sight to anyone who suddenly has their cozy canal path invaded by this tall and goofy looking farang.  But I never get a feeling of animosity from anyone, usually any looks I receive are of indifference or curiosity.  I plod alongside the canal and I almost forget that I sweating through the middle of a huge metropolis of 10 million people.  Along the canal, everything feels older, slower, and peaceful.  I don’t want to slide into a flow of nostalgia here, but it is a slice of what I imagine a lot more of Bangkok looked like only 20 or 30 years ago.