Walking around Chinatown in Bangkok.

A few weeks ago, I took an old friend to walk around Chinatown. My old house wasn’t far from Chinatown so I am quite good at walking through the shortcuts and narrow alleys around there. I was glad to see the main road, Yaowarad road, quite busy and lively. This meant that people have started to go shopping as usual.

This is part of the oldest Chinese market in Bangkok. This was where the Chinese immigrants started their new life in Siam, where they could find work and sell vegetables or all necessities to make a living. Nowadays, the old market is still busy with strange and rare Chinese dried fish, imported tea and pickled vegetables. I could not identify lots of things there as my Chinese grandmother was no longer there to explain things to me.

Walking around Chinatown always brings back my nostalgic memories about my childhood. My grandmother took me to Chinatown when I was three years old. She took me to the Chinese theater to see Chinese opera which I could never understand. But I did enjoy seeing actors dressing in fabulous costumes with long black beard carrying large swords. They all had very tall and colourful hats with long tails! I always come for a short walk In this market whenever I wanted to go back to the past childhood.

My mother always came to shop here before important Chinese religious days. There were certain things to be cooked and presented at the ceremony. I remembered carrying several heavy shopping bags while trying to catch up with her pace. It was quite stressful for a small kid with the fear of getting lost in a crowded market. Now I am missing the good old days of my childhood.

I hope you’ll have the chance to visit Chinatown in Bangkok one day!

Have a nice day!

See you.