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After taking the naturally cooling bus from the southern bus terminal in Bangkok, we arrived at Ban Laem Temple in Samutsongkram province as this is the point where the bus ends its route. I felt a bit relieved that at least the bus stopped in the place I knew. But what now? We want to go to the market near the train track in Maeklong or Talad Rom Hub (Close-Umbrella Market) or Risky Market as it’s called. How to go from here in front of Ban Laem Temple? (Obviously we didn’t have mobile phone or GPS at that time.) Suddenly a middle aged man, the driver of Tuk-Tuk or 3-wheeled taxi approached us and asked where we wanted to go. I looked at my mother and looked at the man. I think my mother allowed me to negotiate with him so I said “Talad Rom Hub”. “35 baht” he said. I thought that was not expensive at all so we agreed to take the Tuk-Tuk. We climbed up the Tuk-Tuk, the old man started the engine and the Tuk-tuk bustled. The Tuk-tuk went along the road leftward from the temple and made a left turn and came to a stop in less than 10 seconds since we climbed up. Here we were. Talad Rom Hub was right in front of us and it was less than 100 meters from the temple! My mother and I looked at each other. No need to say a word. We made our first connection with the local all right. I vowed to myself that I would remember all my life how close it was from Ban Laem Temple to Talad Rom Hub. Close-Umbrella Market is the market where vendors sell their goods along the train track in Maeklong Train Station which was built in 1901. Only in 1984, a couple of vendors started to sell their goods along the train track and the vendors have increased until there are about 250 vendors nowadays. Most products that are sold here are fresh or cooked seafood: all kinds of fishes, squids, shrimps, crabs, frogs (although the last one are not seafood, but they are sold here also) and so on. This market is not far from the pier where fishery boats dock. Here, the vendors have their stalls or shops so close to the train track that they actually cover the train track. I mean, you cannot see the train track and you might not think that there is one there. But 4 times a day, the train will arrive at Maeklong Station and the vendors need to move their stalls as well as close the umbrella covering the stalls, thus the origin of the name Close-Umbrella Market. As time passes, vendors have invented things like rolling wheels for the stalls and changed from umbrellas to awnings in order to speed up or facilitate the moving of the stalls when the train arrives. When the train does arrive, vendors, buyers and tourists will be unbelievably so close to the passing train that they can smell the passengers inside the train while worrying that their toes could be run over by the rail wheels. Anyhow, now my mother and I were walking in Close-Umbrella Market, somewhere over the train track maybe, because I could not see what was underneath those stalls. My mother was obviously more relaxed than I was. As I looked at my watch and it was close to the time for the train to arrive, I told my mother “Hurry” and touched her on the elbow, trying to move her forward. My mother said to me “What are you so worried about? Look at the vendors.” Well, the vendors have been here every day, haven’t they? Soon, we heard the whistle of the coming train. The vendors unhurriedly pulled back their stalls and closed the umbrellas. As I saw that, I was still worried that some of the products on the stalls still seem to be out of place and could be damaged by the train, but there were no such worries for the vendors. After all, my mother and I survived the Risky Market with all our toes in place.