THE music is playing. The beer is flowing. People are lounging on wooden benches, taking in the cool evening air.
This could be any pub in Bangkok, if not for the trains which swish by, within inches of the patrons, every 10 minutes or so.
About 1km north of Hualamphong Railway Station, this local watering hole consists of three wooden tables and benches perched on an island of loose gravel between rail tracks.
Regulars say it's less precarious than it looks, as train drivers entering the station are careful to slow down and sound their horn if drunks stumble onto their path.
The 'bartender' is Ms Siriya Leucha, 40, who sells ice-cream, potato chips, beer and soft drinks from her wooden shack by the tracks. Bottles of the local brew, Leo Beer, go for 40 baht ($1.65) a bottle, 'the cheapest around here', she claims.
On one side of her shack is a jukebox which belts out country tunes for 10 baht per song. A noodle shop sits on the other. Still, it's a world away from some of the trains that roll past them with travellers from all over the world.
Technician Wichit Suttpahatee, 52, who goes there most evenings, says: 'Our homes are small, so people sit outside on the tracks.'
His only complaint? When it rains, the party has to stop.
