Neighborhood Walks: The First Walk (Talad Noi and Yaowarat)

I will joining an amazing new experience this coming year: the National Museum Volunteer's Neighborhood Walks Program!

The Neighborhood Walks is a program for NMV members to explore and discover parts of Bangkok that they might not know so much about.

Each year the program accepts 20 NMV members on a first-come, first-served basis. The members are broken up into five teams of four, and each team is assigned a neighborhood. From November through January, the teams are expected to explore their assigned neighborhood, and then, in January through March, each team will lead a tour for the rest of the group.

The tour must take around 3 hours, and it must include one coffee break and a stop for lunch at the end.

I was very excited to join this fantastic program!

the orientation session

A few weeks ago, I met up with the other 19 members at a beautiful apartment in Thonglor Neighborhood, the home of one of the French organizers. During this meet-and-greet and information session, we were given an orientation presentation, broken into groups, and assigned a neighborhood to walk in. Afterwards, we had coffee and cake. The group is a vibrant mix of nationalities (mostly European, just like the NMV program itself), and everyone is super nice! When they were breaking the groups up, they made sure that all of the newbies were in a group with at least one experienced walker.

My Team! Our neighborhood? Talad Noi and Yaowarat (Chinatown)

We got our assignment, traded contact information, and organized our first fact-finding walk. We are expected to go on a minimum of three walks to really get to know our assigned neighborhood before planning our tour and leading our group.

My group was assigned Talad Noi, the area along the Riverside in Old Town, and Yaowarat (Chinatown). I'm super excited about this!

I picked up a copy of Kenneth Barrett's famous book, 22 Walks in Bangkok, dug my Nancy Chandler Map out of storage, and began browsing through the phenomenal Twitter Feed of Richard Barrow, MBE, the "Voice of Bangkok's Expats". 

On a lovely cool November day, I met up with my team at Wat Mangkorn MRT Station, to begin our very first fact-finding walk.

*****

The First Walk

It was early, and I was a little groggy. I ended up getting on the wrong MRT line, which took me the long way 'round (just by two or three stations, though) to Wat Mangkorn. My little "detour" allowed me to see a part of the city I hadn't seen before, though, as I had to change lines at a terminal intersection before going on my way to Chinatown. It was a cool, early morning, and I was filled with the excitement of discovery!

Yaowarat Road, the heart of Bangkok's vibrant Chinatown, is one of the city's most colorful, chaotic, and sensational neighborhoods. Stepping onto the sidewalk along Yaowarat really does feel like being transported to a different country. What makes Yaowarat - the world's largest Chinatown neighborhood (!), so special, is that it has its own unique culture. 

Unlike many Chinatowns in the US, UK, or elsewhere, which are mostly home to first and second-generation Chinese immigrants, Yaowarat is home to the powerful and influential Thai-Chinese population, who have settled in this area for over two centuries. Thai-Chinese culture is distinct from both Thai and Chinese cultures, but the Thai-Chinese population are considered to be totally and completely Thai; a fascinating subculture within the kingdom.

We started our walk by wandering down a narrow alleyway market. It turned out to be a fascinating place to explore, and I'm sure we will end up taking our group down this way.

Here, fruit, spices, tea, and more sit for sale along the dark and shady alleyway, as motorbikes zoom chaotically past. Bangkok's Chinatown is not a peaceful place... it is loud, noisy, smelly, chaotic, and busy... but it's one of the most beautiful and atmospheric parts of the whole city.

We came to a small Chinese shrine, the Leng Buai Ia Shrine. The shrine was tucked away in a quiet courtyard hidden away in the maze of winding market alleys in Samphanthawong District.

Leng Buai Ia Shrine is the oldest Chinese shrine in all of Thailand. An inscription at the shrine notes that it was established in 1658, during the Ayutthaya Era. The Teochew-style shrine was built in the sleepy fishing village of Bang Gok (today, Bangkok) to service the spiritual needs of the merchants and traders who would sail from China up the river to the Siamese capital of Ayutthaya.

 Historically, the shrine would have been both the spiritual and social center for the Chinese merchants in Siam. It would have been used by Chinese businessmen aiming to pray for the prosperity of their businesses, as well as to establish social connections

The interior of the small shrine was quite typical of a Thai-Chinese shrine. Shrines are different than temples (like Wat Mangkorn, the central Chinese temple in Thailand), in that they do not have their own monks, and are dedicated to Taoist or Confucian deities rather than to the Buddha.

Next, we continued to walk down the dark, covered alleyway of the busy little market.

It was still early, and Buddhist monks were still out and about on their morning alms rounds; visiting shops and stalls to collect donations from the faithful for their daily meals.

We continued down the market alleyway, until we came to a very old, very traditional shop. At first, it looked very much like a traditional Chinese-style pharmacy, but when we stepped inside, it was surprisingly modern!

This was the main shop for the famous Nguan Soon "No. 1 Hand Brand", a very famous spice and cooking ingredient company whose products are sold at every shop, supermarket, and convenience store in the city. The company opened in 1954, and has become one of Thailand's most famous and popular producers and distributers of herbs and spices.

Other shops were more traditional and old-fashioned, where shoppers could scoop nuts, seeds, herbs, or even loose tea out of big bags. At this type of shop, the shopkeepers charge by the kilo.

Visiting a Thai market is such a genuine way to experience what local life is like.

As we walked past the food shops, the delicious smell of barbecued pork and roast duck wafted through the air, mingling with the spices and herbs of the local Chinese pharmacies.

Eventually, we came out of the market, and made our way to the Luang Kocha Itsahak Mosque, one of the oldest and most historic in all of Bangkok. The architecture doesn't look at all like a Mosque - in fact, it's very European!

Behind the mosque was a small Muslim cemetery with headstones dating back over a century.

We walked down Songwat Road, one of the ancient royal roads in the city. The name "Songwat" means "Drawn by the King". After a great fire in 1892 which destroyed a large part of Samphaeng area, King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) sought to expand the road and modernize the area. Taking a pencil, the king drew the new route on a map himself, thus giving the road its auspicious name.

The road runs near the river, and when we looked through some heavy wooden gates, we could see the water rising up nearly to street level. Even though the rains have slacked, the river is still dangerously high.

Pei-ing Public School, founded in 1920 on the grounds of an old Chinese shrine, is the oldest and most prestigious primary schools in Chinatown. It was established to teach the children of Chinatown, and today is most famous as a language school, teaching students in Thai, Chinese, and English.

The school was accessible from a small corridor to the side of the shrine hall.

Since it was a school day, we obviously couldn't go in to the school to look around, but the teachers told us that we could make an appointment to come back to visit on a future walk. It might be an interesting place to take our group, since it is a big part of Chinatown's history and heritage.

We decided to backtrack a bit by taking the Orange Flag boat back down the river to River City, a shopping mall on Charoenkrung Road (the oldest paved road in Bangkok).

We were in luck! The boat comes by every half hour, but it was pulling up right as we stepped onto the pier.

It only took about 10 minutes to get back down to River City. We don't really want to have to backtrack on our walk, though, so we will need to work on figuring out what the best route to take for our guided walk should be.

I love taking the river boats! It gives you the chance to see a whole new perspective of the city's riverside.

As we disembarked, we had to climb over the flooded streets on a rickety, makeshift footbridge.

Holy Rosary, or Kalawar Church (a Thai version of the Portuguese word " Calvario", meaning "Calvary") was founded in 1767 by a group of Portuguese merchants and expats following the Fall of Ayutthaya. The Portuguese were the earliest European country to establish diplomatic relations with Siam, with contact going back to 1511. Unfortunately, due to flooding, the church was not open for us to visit, so we had to move along.

The next place we went was the first branch of Siam Commercial Bank (the "Purple Bank"). It's the oldest bank in Thailand, the only bank which operates under a royal warrant, and, incidentally, the bank at which I have an account. I had never been to this beautiful old branch of the bank, though. 

The outside of the bank is built in the Rattanakosin-era style of Thai architecture. It's a classic and timeless look.

Next, we paid a visit to the Marine Department. Located right on the river, the Marine Department HQ has just finished a massive renovation, and the new, modern building (built right alongside the original architecture), looks fantastic. The original building is built in the same style as the nearby bank.

The Marine Department has a shrine to the Naga, the mythical serpent and King of the Water. I think someone's been praying a little too hard at this shrine, though... Just past the Marine Department HQ, we began to see some of the parts that had suffered the worst from the recent high waters of the river.

We had really wanted to visit this little Chinese shrine, the Rong Kuak Shrine.

Unfortunately, flooding made the shrine inaccessible. It would have been interesting, though. The shrine is dedicated to the Chinese god Caishen, the god of wealth and fortune, and holds a festival to honor Caishen every year (usually in October).

I've never seen flooding like this before, but I know it can get worse (and it has before). In fact, we can almost expect it to get worse every year - the entire city of Bangkok is sinking by around 2-3 centimeters annually, and the city government is trying to come up with solutions to keep the Big Mango above water.

A shiny golden statue of the Buddha looks out from a viewpoint at the Marine Department's dock.

We had gotten so lucky with the weather! The morning of our first walk was the first day that it felt a bit cool, and it made walking fun and easy! We also got lucky that there was no rain, although the floods were still annoying.

This is the little Chinese shrine we had wanted to explore. Too bad it was flooded. I think it must be a really interesting and historical spot. I'll have to try to come back this way sometime soon.

This area of Talad Noi is famous all across Thailand as the place to come if you need any sort of mechanical or industrial parts! Piles of engine parts and more are stacked up against old warehouses and workshops, and if your car breaks down and you need a rare or exotic part, this is the place to come!

It's on the outer edge of Chinatown, and the walls of the local shops are decorated in Chinese motifs. I actually had no idea that Chinatown extended this far down! I hadn't ever really explored Talad Noi before, so planning this walk has already been very good for me as I have gotten to get to know the city a little better.

Sol Heng Tai Mansion is a 19th-century Chinese-style family mansion on the edge of Bangkok's Chinatown. Today the mansion is still owned by the family; it's owned currently by the 7th and 8th generation descendants of the original owner! 

To help support the family and preserve the mansion, the entrepreneurial family has converted the property for a variety of ingenious uses. It's primarily a coffee shop, with plenty of atmospheric spots to sit and enjoy your iced mocha in the shade, but not long ago the family installed a large pool. Now, it's one of the premier diving schools in Bangkok.

Finally, we were getting a bit tired. We passed by one final old shrine, which sat in front of the famous River View Residence Hotel. The hotel itself is ordinary, but it's best known for its rooftop restaurant which has a great view across the river.

Part of planning the walk is making sure to schedule in a coffee stop. Although I'm not sure exactly how this place would fit with our walking schedule, we found the coolest coffee shop in Talad Noi.

Built in a refurbished 19th century Chinese merchant's house, the café features artifacts dating back over 200 years to the earliest days of Bangkok.

Finally, we ended up back in Chinatown proper, at the Gate of Chinatown just outside the Temple of the Golden Buddha.

The Temple of the Golden Buddha itself was still closed, but we were told it would reopen in December. If we do decide to visit it on our walk, I'll be sure to feature it in an upcoming post!