Kudi Chin: Bangkok's Portuguese quarter on the Thonburi bank

Kudi Chin is a few lanes on the Thonburi bank where Portuguese-descended Catholics have lived since King Taksin granted the land in the 1760s. It is a small place, a pink church, some wooden houses, a family museum and a handful of bakeries, and you can walk every lane in half an hour. That is the appeal. Along with the Chinese shrine, the Thai temples and the mosque within a few hundred metres, Kudi Chin is the clearest surviving picture of the mixed riverside Bangkok of two centuries ago.

Santa Cruz Church

Santa Cruz Church is the landmark: a pink-and-cream Catholic church with a domed tower, rebuilt in 1916 on the site of the original Portuguese chapel. Its riverfront square is open to the public and the church itself is usually open around services; be quiet and dress modestly inside. From the square there is a clean view across to the old town and down to Wat Arun's prang, and the community hosts a small festival at Christmas.

Kudi Chin's lanes and the Baan Kudichin Museum

Behind the church, the lanes narrow between old wooden houses and newer concrete ones. The Baan Kudichin Museum is a family-run house museum on three floors telling the story of the Portuguese in Siam and the community's food and customs, with a cafe on the ground floor; it is free to enter and the family is usually around to talk. Nearby is the Kuan An Keng Shrine, a small Chinese Hokkien temple on the riverbank that pre-dates the church.

Khanom farang and what to eat

The quarter's signature is khanom farang kudi chin, a plain sponge cake of flour, eggs and sugar baked in a charcoal oven and topped with raisins, persimmon and sugar, a recipe that is Portuguese in origin and has been made by the same few families for generations. Two or three bakeries still make it in the lanes, usually in the morning; buy a bag warm. Beyond the cake, Kudi Chin has little in the way of restaurants, so eat on the way or walk ten minutes north to the stalls around Wat Arun, which is covered in the Thonburi riverside guide.

Wat Kalayanamit and Wat Prayoon

Two large temples bracket the quarter. Wat Kalayanamit, at the mouth of Khlong Bangkok Yai on the north side, holds a seated Buddha the height of a building and the biggest bronze bell in Thailand. Wat Prayoon, on the south side next to Memorial Bridge, has a white chedi that was restored with a UNESCO award and a strange artificial mountain in its grounds covered in miniature shrines and home to hundreds of turtles. Between the two, Bang Luang Mosque sits on the canal, built in Thai temple style for the Muslim community that settled alongside.

The walk from Wat Kalayanamit through Kudi Chin to Wat Prayoon and over Memorial Bridge to the flower market at Pak Khlong Talat is one of the best short walks in the city, and it drops you at Little India.

Getting there

• MRT Blue Line Sanam Chai or Sam Yot, then walk across Memorial Bridge (Saphan Phut) to Wat Prayoon, about fifteen minutes.
• MRT Itsaraphap is on the Thonburi side, a ten-minute walk through the sois.
• A cross-river ferry runs from the Pak Khlong Talat side (Yodpiman pier area) to Wat Kalayanamit; check it is operating on the day.
• The lanes are pedestrian-only; leave the taxi at the temple gates. Wear shoes that come off easily for the shrines and the museum.