Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
WALK 15
CHINATOWN 3
Along the Dragon's
Back
Our walk through the newer part of Chinatown takes us from the temple that houses the
world's largest solid gold Buddha, to a temple built by a famous brothel owner, and finish-
ing at the smallest temple in the district.
Duration: 2 hours
While Sampeng Lane represents the origins of Chinatown, and Songwat Road rep-
resents a more picturesque version, Yaowarat Road really is the artery. But it is not
a pretty street, its fascination lying in the sheer vitality and industry of the Chinese, the
teeming life in the side streets and the markets, the enormous vertical sign-boards, the re-
gional foods in the restaurants and noodle shops, and the endless, endless goldshops that
line both sides of the way—representative not just of the Chinese cultural affinity with gold
but a legacy of the time when few Chinese were allowed to buy property and so gold be-
came the secure investment. Rama
V
built Yaowarat in 1892, after a fire had devastated the
shantytown that lay to the north of Sampeng. The Department of Public Works announced
on 30
th
January of that year that His Majesty had commanded the building of a new road
between Charoen Krung Road and Sampeng Lane, to run from Mahachai Fort in a south-
east direction and join Charoen Krung Road at Wat Samcheen Bridge. “This road is to be
1,430 metres long and 21 metres wide, with a 14-metre roadway and with a 3-metre pave-
