CNY in BKK

CNY in BKK

I'd always wanted to celebrate the Chinese New Year in Yaowarat, Bangkok's Chinatown.  

Over the years, I'd made a habit of dining in Yaowarat at least once on every visit to Bangkok, sometimes also at the new year, but I'd never actually stayed in the thick of the action.  Since I knew that the Year of the Monkey (2016) would be my last in Asia for a while -- I returned to my home country, Canada, in the spring of 2016 -- I resolved to book myself into the Shanghai Mansion, which is right on the main drag, for the duration of the main festivities.  (See my review of the Shanghai Mansion here: http://lotusandpersimmon.com/lpshop/blog/55_shanghai-mansion-bangkok-review.html)

My friends and I checked in on New Year's Eve, having flown in from Melbourne and Seoul.  Two of us were staying for 4 days, and the third decided to push the boat out and stay for 10!

The Shanghai Mansion is on Yaowarat Road, Chinatown's main thoroughfare, opposite the venerable Chinatown Hotel. When I say it was in the heart of the action, I'm not kidding.  Here's a street view from the terrace of Shanghai Mansion on New Year's Eve.

Note the red banners strung over the street.  They ran the whole length of Yaowarat Road.  The tables of the next-door restaurant are not normally out on the sidewalk, I think.  See the white-topped kiosks?  Those were temporary.  Street vendors along Yaowarat Road usually just have regular carts.  There were still vehicles clogging the road on New Year's Eve, but starting from the next morning, Yaowarat Road was a pedestrian zone for 3 days.  

Here's a daytime shot of the street, I think from the last day of my stay, just for comparison.

 

By the last day, the crowds had thinned out considerably.  On the first couple of days, though, the street was packed, especially after dark, for reasons we'll get to shortly. 

From what I experienced and observed, the main Chinese New Year activities in Yaowarat are 3: visiting temples and shrines, eating, and watching the dragon dancing.  Of course, if you understand Thai, there are also live performances of singing, dancing, and comedy.  I'd thought there might be some Chinese opera, but I didn't see any.  

There are numerous Chinese temples and shrines in Yaowarat, but the oldest and largest, I'm told, is Wat Mangkon Kamalawat.  Mangkon means dragon.  My friends and I headed there on the morning of New Year's Day on the advice of a fellow guest at Shanghai Mansion, a Polish woman who said she came to Yaowarat for Tuk Jeen (Thai for Chinese New Year) annually.  

This temple is on a street parallel to Yaowarat Road.  The forecourt was already packed when we arrived.

We eventually passed through the gate at the far end to have a look at the main sanctuary.  As expected, it contained a Buddha triad.

Incidentally, I noticed that the station for the MRT extension was being built right outside the temple.  That should make visiting Yaowarat, which is infamously congested, much easier in future.  

At night, the dragons are out in full force. We were eating dinner at Hua Seng Hong the next night when a dragon burst in to bring good fortune to the place and everyone in it.

 

They make a point of going into every establishment.  The idea is that you feed them by handing a small bill to the adolescent animating the dragon's head.  

The next night, we actually got stuck in a dragon traffic jam in Soi Texas, AKA Phadung Dao Road, which joins Yaowarat Road and the street that Wat Mangkon is on.  Soi Texas is rather narrow and 3 large dragons had converged on it at the same time.  It was a good half hour until the traffic cleared, mainly because one dragon decided to take a break by the roadside.  

I would say this a medium-sized dragon.  There are larger and longer ones, some of which even have glowing eyes.  Like this one that I tried to photograph further up the soi.  I think this is the one that was mainly responsible for the traffic jam. Apologies for blurriness -- I'm an inept night photographer.

The street food is worth coming to Yaowarat for at any time of year, but the number of vendors multiplies at Tuk Jeen, as does their creativity.  I photographed these melons in holiday dress in another side street.

 

Presumably, these are meant for gift-giving.  Speaking of gifts, you can stock up on all manner of holiday paraphernalia.  I wish I'd bought a couple of the lanterns behind me in the picture below.

I hope you've enjoyed this post about spending the Chinese New Year in Yaowarat.  If you have any questions or comments, please share them below, on the Lotus & Persimmon Facebook page, or in our gallery on Instagram (@lotusandpersimmon).  

Posted on 08/02/2017 by David Gemeinhardt Travel, Countries, Thailand 0

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