Chinatown & Pahurat

Easiest access is either by subway to Hualamphong Station or by Chao Phraya expresses boat to Tha Ratchawongse (Rajawong; N5) at the southern end of Thanon Rajawong, which runs through the centre of Chinatown. This part of the city is also well served by buses from downtown Bangkok, as well as from Banglamphu and Ratanakosin; from Banglamphu either take any Hualamphong-bound bus and then walk from the train station, or catch non-air-conditioned bus #56, which runs along Thanon Tanao at the end of Thanon Khao San and then goes all the way down Mahachai and Chakraphen roads in Chinatown – get off just after the Merry King department store for Sampeng Lane. Coming from downtown Bangkok and/or the Skytrain network, either switch to the subway, or jump on a non-air-conditioned bus #35 or #40, both of which run from Thanon Sukhumvit, via Siam Square to Hualamphong, then Thanon Yaowarat and on the Pahura.

Orientation in Chinatown can be quite tricky: the alleys (known as trok rather than the more usual soi) are extremely narrow, their turn-offs and other road signs often obscured by the mounds of merchandise than clutter the sidewalks and the surrounding hordes of buyers and sellers. For a detailed tour of the alleys and markets, use Nancy Chandler’s Map of Bangkok; alternatively, ask for help at the BTB tourist information booth (Mon-Sat 9am – 5pm) just northwest of the Chinese Arch of Thanon Yaowarat.

Wat Traimit and the Golden Buddha

Given the confusing layout of the district, it’s worth starting your explorations at the eastern edge of Chinatown, just west of Hualamphong train and subway stations, with the triangle of land occupied by Wat Traimit (daily 9am-5pm;B20). Cross the khlong beside the station and walk 200m down (signed) Thanon Tri Mit to enter the temple compound. Outwardly unprepossessing, the temple boasts a quite stunning interior feature: the world’s largest solid-gold Buddha is housed here, fitting for a community so closely linked with the gold trade, even if the image has nothing to do with China’s spiritual heritage. Over 3m tall and weighing five and half tons, the Golden Buddha gleams as if coated in liquid meta, seated amidst candles and surrounded with offerings of lotus buds and incense. A fine example of the curvaceous grace of Sukhothai art, the beautifully proportioned figure is best appreciated by comparing it with the cruder Sukhothai Buddha in the next-door bot, to the east.

Cast in the thirteenth century, the image was brought to Bangkok by Rama III, completely encased in stucco – a common ruse to conceal valuable statues from would-be thieves. The disguise was so good that no one guessed what was underneath until 1955, when the image was accidentally knocked in process of being moved to Wat Traimit, and the stucco cracked to reveal a patch of gold. The discovery launched a country-wide craze for tapping away at plaster Buddhas in search of hidden precious metals, but Wat Tramit’s is still the most valuable – it’s valued, by weight alone, at over US $19 million. Sections of the stucco casing are now on display alongside the Golden Buddha.

Sampeng Lane, Soi Issaranuphap and Wat Mangkon Kamalawat

Leaving Wat Traimit by the Charoen Krung/Yao Warat exit (at the back of the temple compound), walk northwest along Thanon Yaowarat, and make a left turn onto Thanon Songsawat, to reach Sampeng Lane (also signposted at Soi Wanit 1), an area that used to thrive on opium dens, gambling house and brothels, but now sticks to a more reputable (if tacky) commercial trade. Stretching southeast-northwest for about 1km, Sampeng Lane is a fun place to browse and shows unfurling itself like a ramshackle department store selling everything from Chinese silk pajama pants to computer games at bargain-basement rates, Like goods are more or less gathered in sections, so at the eastern end you’ll find mostly cheap jewelry and hair accessories, for example, before passing through stalls specializing in ceramics, Chinese lanterns and shoes, followed by clothes (west of Thanon Rajawong), sarongs and haberdashery.

If Soi Issaranuphap epitomizes traditional Chinatown commerce, then Wat Mangkon Kamalawat (also known as Wat Leng Nee Yee or in English “Dragon Flower Temple”) stands as a superb example of the community’s spiritual practices. Best approached via its dramatic multi-tiered gateway 10m up Thanon receives a constant stream of devotees, who come to leave offerings at one or more of the same altars inside this important Mahayana Buddhist temple. As with the Theravada Buddhism espoused b the Thais, Mahayana Buddhism (see “Religion: Thai Buddhism” in Contexts) fuse with other ancient religious beliefs, notably Confucianism and Taoism, and the statues and shrines within Wat Mangkon cover the whole spectrum. Passing through the secondary gateway, under the glazed ceramic gables topped with undulating Chinese dragons, you’re greeted by a set of four outsize statues of bearded and rather forbidding sages, each clasping a symbolic object: a parasol, a pagoda, a snake’s head and a mandolin. Beyond them, series of Buddha images swathed in saffron netting occupies the next chamber, a lovely open-sided room of gold paintwork, red-lacquered wood, lattice lanterns and pictorial wall panels inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Elsewhere in the compound are little booths selling devotional paraphernalia, Chinese medicine stall and a fortune-teller.

Wat Ga Buang King

Less than 100m up Thanon Charoen Krung (New Road) from Wat Mangkon, a left turn into Thanon Rajawong, followed by a right turn into Thanon Anawong and a further right turn into the narrow, two-pronged Soi Krai brings you to the typical neighborhood temple of Wat Ga Buang Kin. Here, as at Thai temples upcountry, local residents socialize in the shade of the tiny, enclosed courtyard and the occasional worshipper drops by to pay homage at the altar. This particular wat is remarkable for its exquisitely ornamented “vegetarian hall”, a one-room shrine with altar centerpiece framed by intricately carved wooden tableaux – gold-painted miniatures arranged as if in sequence, with recognizable characters reappearing in new positions and in different moods. The hall’s outer wall is adorned with small tableaux, too, the area around the doorway at the top of the stairs peopled with finely crafted ceramic figurines drawn from Chinese opera stories. The other building in the wat compound is a stage used for Chinese opera performances.

Pak Khlong Talat

A browse through the 24-hour flower and vegetable market, Pak Khlong Talat, is a fine and fitting way to round off a day in Chinatown, through if you’re an early riser I’s also a great place to come before dawn, when market gardeners from Thonburi boat and truck their freshly picked produce across the Chao Phraya ready for sale to the shopkeepers, restaurateurs and hoteliers. Occupying an ideal position close to the river, the market has been operating from covered hall between the southern ends of Khlong Lod, Thanon Banjo, Thanon Chakraphen and the river bank since the nineteenth century and is the biggest wholesale market in the capital. The flower stalls, selling twenty different varieties of cut orchids and myriad other tropical blooms, spill onto the streets along the riverfront as well and , though prices are lowest in the early morning, you can still get some good bargains here in the afternoon, The riverside end of nearby Thanon Triphet and the area around the base of Memorial Bridge (Saphan Phut) hosts a huge night bazaar (nightly 8pm-midnight) that’s dominated by cheap and idiosyncratic fashions – and by throngs of teenage fashion victims.

The Chao Phraya express boat service stops just a few meters from the market at Than Saphan Phut (N6). Numerous city buses stop in front of the market and pier, including the northbound non-air-conditioned #3 and air-conditioned #512, with booth run to Banglamphu.