Khlong San District

Canals whisper stories in Khlong San District. They murmur of a past when longkong orchards lined the waterways and boats laden with goods plied the khlongs. Khlong San District, on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River, gets its name from these very canals, “Khlong San” or “Khlong Prasan”. Picture bustling wharves where overseas cargo ships docked, long before Bangkok Port existed. Khlong San District wasn’t always known by its current name. It was once called Bang Lamphu Lang, then Buppharam, finally becoming Khlong San District in 1916 when it was still part of Thonburi Province. This district is old, a witness to Bangkok’s growth from a collection of villages to the sprawling metropolis it is today. It even housed members of the influential Bunnag noble family. The Maeklong Railway, which once terminated in Khlong San District, played a key role in the district’s development. Imagine the steam trains chugging along the tracks, bringing traders and goods. But progress has a price. The railway line was cut back to Wongwian Yai in 1961. Canals were filled in to pave the way for roads like Lat Ya, Prajadhipok, and Khlong San Roads, now part of Somdet Chao Phraya Road. Khlong San District holds within it layers of history, from orchards to railways, whispers of canals replaced by the rumble of traffic. It became a district of Bangkok in 1971, when Thonburi and Phra Nakhon Provinces merged, bringing Khlong San District into the heart of the capital. Its population in 2017 reached 73,263, spread across 6.051 square kilometers. It remains a testament to a time when canals were the lifeblood of commerce and longkong the taste of the district.