Bangkok / Thailand

Last April, I took up my new post in Bangkok to work for Marubeni Thailand Co., Ltd, where I am in charge of fabric sales to customers, mostly within Thailand. This sales activity centers around the Sampeng area, the wholesale fabric district located in a part of Chinatown. It is something like Semba or Dobuike in Osaka. The stores in this area are run by Thailand-born Chinese and Indian people and the area is bustling all day long with Thais from the local area, as well as customers from Africa, the Middle East and other places around the world.

The beginnings of this commercial area date back over one hundred years to the time of King Rama IV, when the king's land was lent for this purpose because of its water canals and suitability for easy communication. Besides fabric stores, there are also countless stores selling gold, shark fin, and Chinese medicines, and in front of each store, there are yet more people with small tables lined up crammed with their wares which range from wallets, knick-knacks and CDs to scissors, Chinese tea and socks.

When I went there for the first time, I realized that I was the only person in the whole area wearing a suit and tie. Everyone there was more involved in the business of buying and selling to worry about what other people thought of them, and there was no air of humility about them at all. Everyone wears open-necked shirts and sandals and most of the eating and drinking is done at open-air stalls rather than inside. All sorts of goods and chattels are crammed along the maze-like array of alleys only two or three meters wide, while there is a continual stream of scooters loaded up with fabric passing through the alleyways with their horns blaring.

From time to time rainsqualls hit, instantly flooding the streets and paralyzing the markets. The water is often ankle-deep, but the young men in sandals just strut through this water along the streets.

I was already thinking that from next time I would come in a t-shirt, shorts and sandals, and from my second visit onwards, I gave up on the suit and tie.

I had worked virtually all over Japan with nine years in Osaka and three in Tokyo, but it had been a while since I had seen such a lively area. Just being there stirred up the business drive in me. Most of my customers in this area are Thais of Indian descent. Mostly, they are Sikhs, adorned with turbans, who were born in Thailand, and they do business in a sophisticated and fair manner. On top of this, they are incredibly friendly, and now I am on very good terms with these customers and often see them outside of work hours, too.

China and other neighboring countries are quickly gaining on Thailand's textiles market, and naturally Thailand is feeling the pressure. And yet, there is something about this Sampeng market that gives me the feeling that they will continue to forge ahead in good spirits. These days, I am hooked on the Sampeng market and its people.

The main street in Sampeng market. This street often turns into a river.