Bangkok Chinatown: a guide to Yaowarat

Bangkok Chinatown is one of the oldest and largest Chinatowns anywhere, settled in the 1780s when the Chinese community was moved here to make room for the Grand Palace. Yaowarat Road is its main artery, a curving street of gold shops, shark-fin restaurants and neon signs in Chinese characters. By day it is a trading district; after dark the pavements fill with food stalls and the road becomes one of the best places to eat in the city.

Yaowarat Road at night

The stalls set up along Yaowarat Road and its side lanes in the early evening and the crowds arrive soon after. Walking the road from the Chinatown Gate at Odeon Circle to the Ratchawong end takes you past most of the famous ones. Expect to queue at the best-known stalls and to eat standing or at shared tables on the pavement. Monday is a quiet night, when many stalls take the week off; check before making a special trip.

Things to eat on Yaowarat:

• Guay jub, peppery rolled rice noodles with crispy pork, from the long-running stalls near Soi Texas.
• Grilled seafood from the open-air restaurants at Soi Texas (Phadungdao), the two rival operations in green and red shirts.
• Dim sum, roast duck and goose from the sit-down restaurants.
• Toasted buns with sweet fillings, chestnuts roasted in the street, and bird's nest or ginkgo desserts.
• Fresh fruit, durian in season, and iced Chinese herbal drinks.

The street food neighbourhoods post sets this against the city's other food streets.

Temples and shrines

[Wat Traimit](/?q=Wat Traimit), at the Hua Lamphong end near the Chinatown Gate, holds the Golden Buddha, a solid gold statue weighing over five tonnes that was hidden under plaster for centuries and revealed by accident in the 1950s. [Wat Mangkon Kamalawat](/?q=Wat Mangkon), on Charoen Krung Road, is the largest Chinese Buddhist temple in the city and is busy with incense and offerings all day; it gives its name to the MRT station. Smaller shrines are tucked into almost every lane. Chinese New Year and the Vegetarian Festival in the ninth lunar month (usually October) are the two big events, when the whole district turns out; the festivals calendar has the dates.

Sampeng Lane and the markets

Sampeng Lane, officially Soi Wanit 1, is a narrow covered lane running parallel to Yaowarat and packed with wholesale stalls: fabric, buttons, toys, stationery, hair accessories, phone cases, all sold by the dozen. It is crowded, slow and worth it. Soi Itsaranuphap, which cuts across Yaowarat, is a wet market lane with dried goods, fresh produce and Chinese pastries. The lanes continue west into Phahurat, the Indian district covered in the Phahurat and Little India guide.

Soi Nana and the bars

Not to be confused with the Sukhumvit Soi Nana, [Soi Nana](/?q=Soi Nana) in Chinatown is a short street of old shophouses near the Chinatown Gate that has become the district's bar quarter. The bars are small, often in restored buildings, and serve cocktails made with Thai spirits and herbs alongside Chinese-influenced food. The surrounding lanes have galleries, cafes and a few more bars. It is the obvious place to end a Yaowarat evening.

Beyond Yaowarat

The riverside lanes of Talat Noi are a short walk south-east and much quieter. Charoen Krung continues south into the Creative District; see the Charoen Krung guide. Hua Lamphong, the old railway station, is five minutes east.

Getting there

[MRT Wat Mangkon](/?q=Wat Mangkon) on the Blue Line opens straight onto Charoen Krung in the heart of the district and is the easiest way in. MRT Hua Lamphong is one stop east, closer to Wat Traimit and the Chinatown Gate. From the river, Ratchawong pier on the Chao Phraya Express Boat is at the western end of Yaowarat, a short walk up Ratchawong Road. Taxis struggle in the evening when the road fills with stalls and tour groups; arrive by train and leave on foot to the MRT or a taxi rank on the edge of the district.