Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Songwat Road is a place of traders, unchanged since the late nineteenth century.
Chinese opinion in Bangkok began to change in support of Sun, and in 1908 he stood
on the balcony of a building in Chinatown and gave a final impassioned speech. From
that time onwards Siam's Chinese community became an important component of Over-
seas Chinese support for Sun's revolution, raising immense amounts of money, not just
through individual donations, but with merchants and even rice mills putting up collater-
al to raise loans through the banks. A photograph exists of Sun addressing the crowds in
Chinatown. The location is at the junction of Soi Phalittaphon and Mangkon Road, and
Sun is standing on the third-floor balcony of one of the corner buildings, which still ex-
ists. In 2004, Soi Phalittaphon was renamed Soi Sun Yat-sen during a ceremony that was
celebrating Chinatown's 222
nd
anniversary and which was attended by Queen Sirikit and
Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, and the archway was placed over the entrance to the
lane.
Turning right into Songwat Road just after leaving Ratchawong Pier takes us through
a part of Chinatown that is possibly more how we feel Chinatown should look, rather
than the cramped alley of Sampeng or the honking, fume-laden Yaowarat Road. Here are
shophouses functioning in exactly the same way they did when they were first built, with
trading companies stacking the ground-floor of the premises with goods, and using the
upper storey for either offices or living accommodation. The architecture, other than oc-
casional infill where buildings were damaged during World War
II
., is original. The traffic
in this narrow street is almost entirely pickup trucks. Songwat shophouses follow a style
that had been influenced by the Straits Settlements and are frequently ornate, with decor-
ative stucco, scrollwork on windows and ventilation grilles, and painted floral mouldings.
A short way along the street, on the left, is an elaborate Chinese archway, and in the court-
yard beyond is a Chinese temple; behind this can be seen, intriguingly, what appears to be
a European mansion. This is Peiing School, built in 1920 by the Chinese community, and
initially providing tuition only in the Teochew dialect. The school's architecture was influ-
enced by the neo-Renaissance style then in vogue, and the building has been beautifully
preserved. A few paces further down from the school is a narrow little alley that opens
