A Yaowarat Evening

A Yaowarat Evening

Yaowarat, also spelled Yaowaraj, is Bangkok's Chinatown.  As a sometime resident and regular visitor to the City of Angels, I've long considered it one of the most intriguing quarters of Thailand's capital.  In this post, I'm going to share how I spend an evening in Yaowarat.  

When I lived in Bangkok from 1999 to 2001, I rarely went to Yaowarat.  Later, as a visitor, I was given a tip to check out a restaurant there.  There is a cluster of Thai-Chinese seafood places around the intersection of Yaowarat Road and 'Soi Texas.'  I've forgotten the name of the restaurant that I got the tip for, but I do remember that it was in a small sub-soi up 'Soi Texas.' The food was good, but I really fell in love with the street vibe in Chinatown.  

Like in any Chinatown anywhere, the main drag is bustling in the daytime, and equally bustling at night time, but lit with spectacular neon signage in Chinese characters, nearly all of it on a red background.  At street level after dark, every storefront has portable tables and chairs set up where the night hawkers dish up all kinds of tasty eats.  

Having been to the 'Soi Texas' place several times over several years, I eventually became keen to branch out.  Some time around 2007, I think it was, the Bangkok Post gave a glowing review to a long-running Yaowarat eatery called Hua Seng Hong, so I decided to check it out. The sign in the picture below is a new one.  What hasn't changed is that you walk past the kitchen, which is located at the entrance as you see, to get to the dining rooms.

The specialty of the house is the roast duck.  I like it, but my friends and I also usually order a steamed fish, crab fried rice, and a couple of vegetable dishes.  When the dim sum comes around on a cart, we help ourselves to several kinds. The service here is brisk, which it needs to be -- the place is usually packed.  If you want to check it out yourself, note the web address on the sign in the picture above.

After that first visit, dinner at Hua Seng Hong became a ritual on my final night in Bangkok.  Over the following years, the ritual became more elaborate.  I'm not wild about Chinese desserts, so my friends and I would waddle out of Hua Seng Hong into the street in search of something sweet.  It didn't take us long to find a vendor selling various interesting flavours of ice cream from a cart on Yaowarat Road.  The cart has changed hands, but the ice cream is still there.  Just wander down the opposite side of the road from Hua Seng Hong towards the Chinatown Hotel and you'll pass it.  My favourite flavour is coconut.  

A third element was added to the ritual after the Shanghai Mansion, first called the Shanghai Inn, opened opposite the above-mentioned Chinatown Hotel.  I reviewed this retro-styled boutique hotel in the previous post.  In the early days, its jazz bar, Cotton, which is now on the ground floor and open to the street, was on the 2nd (1st if you're European) floor. Up there, the room was lush and quiet, the cocktails were swish, the cheongsam were elegant, and the jazz was smooth. Now that it's downstairs and open to the street, I confess I'm less fond of it.  At any rate, my friends would retreat to Cotton for an hour of music and cocktails after we'd had our dinner and ice cream.  At least the sign is still there!

The final element of the ritual came about quite naturally.  After all that eating and drinking, a stroll to aid digestion seemed the thing to do.  Since we would eventually have to make our way to Hualomphong Station to catch the MRT, it made sense to keep walking down Yaowarat Road towards Odeon Circle, which is where Yaowarat meets Charoen Krung Road, AKA New Road.  My favourite stop on this stretch of the road is the Kwan Yim Shrine.  As you can guess from the spelling, it's dedicated to Guan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, who is in fact the Bodhisattva of Compassion.  Unlike many other temples in the area, it's spectacularly lit at night. 

I just like to sit for a while and take in the sights and sounds.  Thai friends in our group, whether they're of Chinese ancestry or not, usually make an offering and say a prayer.  I don't know if the shrine stays open all night, but it's certainly open quite late.  The photo above was taken around 11pm.  

From there, it's an easy walk through Odeon Circle, where you can also admire the Yaowarat Gate, erected for for the late King Bhumiphol Adulyadej's golden jubilee, I believe.  It would ordinarily be dark as I pass by, but the only clear shot I have of it is in daylight.

As you pass the gate, bear left to continue to Hualomphong Station.  The extension of the MRT Blue Line into Chinatown was supposed to start service in late 2016, but I'm told it didn't happen.  When I was last there, in February, 2016, the new station in front of Wat Mangkon Kamalawat, which is on a street parallel to Yaowarat Road, appeared to be still under construction. When the extension does finally open, the evening itinerary I've just described will be very convenient. Wat Mangkon Kamalawat is only a 5-minute walk from Hua Seng Hong.

The next post will be about the time I finally stayed in Yaowarat, which was for the Lunar New Year of 2016.  Please check back in a couple of days to read that post in time for the Lunar New Year of 2017!

Posted on 25/01/2017 by David Gemeinhardt Travel 0

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