Originally, along the Ping River bank were rows of wooden row houses or shophouses facing towards the Ton Lam Yai Market and the back of the buildings turned to the Ping River. It is assumed that these row houses were built to support the trade growth during the time of boat and train trading. Kad Ton Lam Yai was the center of transporting goods from two major markets, rural areas and Bangkok.
Trade center of goods from the rural areas The goods consisted of agricultural produce and handicrafts, especially basketry work. The people from the time had mentioned that everyday at dawn merchants from outer districts such as Saraphi, Hang Dong, Sanpatong, Mae Rim, Doi Saket and San Kam Paeng and from as far as Lamphun Province would bring their goods in carts or minibuses. Chinese merchants also came to trade bringing goods back from the districts to be sold there. A merchant named Chiw Chua said he went out buying tamarind and sealing wax from villagers in Ban Mae Hia and Ban Pa Sak in Hang Dong District to sell at Ton Lam Yai Market which gained him a good profit.
Center of goods from Bangkok Some merchants would buy various goods like salt, mackerel, fabric and steel from Bangkok and nearby warehouses near the railway station to sell in Ton Lam Yai Market.
Because it was the center of gathering goods, each day huge numbers of people would come to the market to buy and sell. The majority of the merchants were Chinese, some of whom were married to local women and some rented the row houses to open stores in the area. Sern Chirakhup said that some of the merchants who rented the wooden row house around the Ton Lam Yai Market would open shops right there whereas others might open another store in the market area and use the row houses as their homes. There were about 20 houses. Over 10 of those were stores run by the Chinese. The locals stores in the rows sold fresh fish, mackerel, salted eggs, rice, ice and food, etc. Other goods sold there were such items as baskets, umbrellas, fabric and steel.
The row houses along the Ping river bank were demolished and improved for a better landscape replacing them with walkways and a retaining wall. However, the idea seems to have been unsuccessful because all of the walk way improvements have become the largest flower market in Chiang Mai. Though the Municipality had built a parking building behind the market and allowed the flower vendors to sell flowers on the vacant land below the building, many flower vendors and food stalls still insist on staying along the walkway along the Ping river.
References
Anu Noenhad, Pol. Lt. Col. (2003). Sang Khom Mueang Chiang Mai Lem 5 (Chiang Mai Society vol. 5). (in Thai). Chiang Mai: Nopburi Printing.
Plaiao Chananon. (1986). The roles of merchant capitalism in the rise and expansion of capitalism in Northern Thailand, 1921-1980.
(in Thai). Masters thesis in Economics, Chulalongkorn University.
Sern Chirakhup. (2004). Talad Ton Lam Yai nai rob satawat (a century of the Ton Lam Yai Market). Rueang Lao Chao Kad Lem 1 ( the stories of the market vol. 1). (in Thai).
Chiang Mai: Urban Development Institute Foundation.
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