This is my entry for #marketfriday hosted by the forever generous and kind @dswigle. This is the second part of my Chinatown walking tour just before the lockdown was lifted for all restaurants. The atmosphere was getting more lively and busy as vendors were preparing to cook for customers who would start coming around seven o’ clock in the evening. The sun was just beginning to set so I still had the time to take photos of some old buildings along Yaowarad Road or Chinatown.
All these Chinese and Thai signs would become lit up at night giving a surreal feeling of reality. During daytime, these signs seemed like crazy vendors competing for customers’ attention. Sometimes I wonder why the authority did not have some kind of rules to regulate the design,size and location of these signs. On the other hand, without these signs Chinatown would become unrecognisable to tourists. Would Chinatown look much nicer with beautifully restored old buildings without any big glaring signs jutting out haphazardly?
This old pawn shop must have been here more than eighty years, being the last resort for emergency cash. I liked the old alphabetical designs of the name of this pawn shop. We could not find these designs nowadays. This whole plague could be sold as an antique piece in the antique market.
Walking slowly, my eyes were working quite assiduously to identify old architectural design that had survived the wave of modernisation in the eighties.
This road was constructed about a hundred years ago during the reign of King RamaV. I could imagine the puzzled faces among most of his courtiers and Siamese people of the size of this road. In those days, people were still using boats for traveling to places; the rich people would have horse drawn carriages. Bangkok was known as ‘Venice of the East’ in those days. Nowadays, Yaowarad road seems too narrow for the rush hour traffic!
This old building must have looked very grand thirty years go. Nowadays its facade has been boarded up and all the old glass panels were gone. It was quite a shame to see these old buildings become dilapidated and abandoned through time.
This old building was the original famous gold shop; the style of this building was very popular during the 1960s as imported glass blocks were something quite new in those days. The logo of this shop is a golden crown which you could see a big crown on top of the building.
The original Italian fresco decoration could be seen on this old house. Most original blocks of houses were of two levels while the more upscale or expensive blocks would be three or four levels high.
I stopped by a very old Chinese shrine but found it was closed under the ongoing lockdown. This old shrine belongs to the Chinese god called Guan-Yu; Chinese people would come to this shrine to ask him to protect them against enemies in the work place. The big bronze pot for putting the incense is over 130 years old, but I could not take the photo that day.
ช่วงก่อนเปิดให้ร้านอาหารขายได้ตามปกติ เราไปเดินเล่นที่ถนนเยาวราช เพื่อดูบรรยากาศว่าช่วงล็อกดาวน์เป็นอย่างไรบ้าง เราก็ค่อนข้างแปลกใจที่บรรยากาศค่อนข้างดี คนขายต่างยุ่งกับการเตรียมร้านเพื่อต้อนรับลูกค้าในตอนเย็น เราก็พอมีเวลาเดินถ่ายรูปบรรยากาศตามถนน และเก็บภาพของตึกเก่าแก่ที่สร้างมาพร้อมๆกับถนนเยาวราช เราดีใจที่ยังมีตึกเก่าที่มีร่องรอยของสถาปัตยกรรมดั้งเดิม การออกแบบเป็นการผสมระหว่างการออกแบบจากอิตาลีและนีโอโคโลนีของฝรั่งเศส ส่วนอาคารหลายชั้นขนาดใหญ่ จะเป็นอาคารพาณิชย์ของห้างขายทองคำที่มีชื่อเสียงเก่าแก่ และเป็นที่รู้จักของชาวไทยมานาน เราอยากจะไปไหว้ศาลเจ้าพ่อกวนอู แต่เขาปิดศาลเจ้าเร็วมากในช่วงนี้ เลยได้แต่ถ่ายรูปที่หน้าประตูมาแทน ดูตึกเก่าแก่ในสภาพแย่มาก และเสื่อมโทรมแล้ว ทำให้นึกเสียดายมากที่เจ้าของไม่ได้ทำการบูรณะซ่อมแซมมาเป็นเวลานานมาก
This is a good example of what the old buildings should look like after renovations. This building is the Siam Commercial Bank, so it has the resources for renovation and maintenance.
Opposite this banking building is the oldest gold merchant in Siam. The unruly telephone and internet lines made it impossible to take a nice photo of this grand old building.
เราตามหาตึกเก่าแก่ที่มีอายุถึงร้อยปี ที่อยู่ในสภาพที่ดีมาก และได้รับการบำรุงรักษาอย่างดี ตึกหนึ่งเป็นสำนักงานของธนาคารไทยพาณิชย์ ส่วนตึกตรงข้ามเป็นของห้างทองตั้งโต๊ะกัง ทั้งสองตึกนี้มีสถาปัตยกรรมสวยงามมาก ทำให้เราอยากเห็นตึกเก่าๆในเยาวราชมีการบำรุงรักษา ให้มีความสวยงามอย่างสมัยก่อน
These old buildings reflect the wealth of the owners and their social status in the old days. Things changed according to time; fortune came and went. I wonder what the future will bring.
The other side of Chinatown is less glamorous and full of shop-houses, small local shops and local street food stalls. Unfortunately, it was getting too dark to take photos with my iPhone.
The simple shop-houses’ owners are mostly descendants of the first generation of
Chinese immigrants who arrived here just over a hundred years ago.
The oldest Chinese shrine was closed by the time I got there. When the lockdown has ended, I promised myself a visit to the shrine for evening chanting.
Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.
Stay strong and healthy.
Cheers.
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Thank you very much for your kind support,
Have a nice day,
Cheers.
The photos are beautiful!
Thanks you very much, so glad you like them! It’s getting cooler now in Bangkok.
⋆ ᴀ ʜɪᴠᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ ғᴏʀ sᴏᴜᴛʜᴇᴀsᴛ ᴀsɪᴀɴ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ
⋆ ғᴏᴏᴅ, ᴛʀᴀᴠᴇʟ, ᴘʜᴏᴛᴏɢʀᴀᴘʜʏ, ᴘᴏʟɪᴛɪᴄs, ᴀʀᴛ, ᴍᴏᴠɪᴇ ʀᴇᴠɪᴇᴡs & ᴍᴏʀᴇ
⋆ sᴜʙsᴄʀɪʙᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴀsᴇᴀɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ ʜᴇʀᴇ
⋆ ғᴏʟʟᴏᴡ ᴏᴜʀ ᴀsᴇᴀɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ ᴠᴏᴛɪɴɢ ᴛʀᴀɪʟ
always interesting to visit all the chinatowns in the world
Thank you very much. I hope you’ll visit Thailand one day in a few years!
Nice to see it's all coming back to life again people need to eat good street food am happy to see the vendors back out there hopefully there is no second wave 🙏
It is beyond amazing to see some of these grand places. I cannot for the life of me imagine the grand scale in which that town lived. Everything was opulent and commanded attention.
I am so sorry to be running so late, I have read your post over at least four or five times. I have never been there and your pictures every week draw me closer and closer to getting there.
I loved the cat scaling the rooftop! :)
You write with such imagination and knowledge. I love getting your posts. Always interesting, and always awesome. You have covered this area so well, I cannot believe there are things we haven't seen. And yet, you find them every week! Thank you! I hope they restore all of it to its former glory. Thank you so much. You are such a wonderful human being.
Thanks for joining!
Fridays are all about the #MarketFriday Challenge! Looking to take part in it? Here is how:
How to Participate:
Go to the market! Any market will do! Food, clothing, plant, or animal, if you wish. You can go to the zoo, an art auction, and restaurants. Anywhere or anything that you pay money for any kind of service.
Take pictures! Be creative! It’s fun!
Tell us a little bit about the market, what brought you here?
Post the picture.(s)
Don’t forget to use the MarketFriday Community #196308 to post from or hashtag it! #MarketFriday by @dswigle If you hashtag it, drop the link to your post here so I can easily find them.
As always, please remember! #MarketFriday loves you!
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!tip .20
Thank you so much for spending time reading all the posts and commenting to everyone’s post with so much time and energy. This seems quite a big task akin to two full time jobs to me!
Thank you very much for your support and encouragement. There is still so much for me to find out about my own culture and history. I began to appreciate local culture when I went around talking to old Chinese people and learning about their stories. Somehow all these historical places help me to connect with the past and my ancestors.
I don’t think long distance travel is viable for the next two years. There’s so much uncertainty in the air and on all continents. We are being made to go through a harsh transition which will affect us all. Digital currency and cryptocurrency are coming in full force with social crediting system like in China! Hope for the best in the near future.
Stay strong and healthy.
Thank you so much and yes! I agree. I do not plan any travel for the next year or so. Probably close to two after everything has settled down.
I admire you for taking the time to get in touch with your culture, it is so important to me. So many no longer care where they came from or the ways of their ancestors. That is a wonderful mystery that I have spent years and years on. The more I find out, the more I want to learn.
Digital currency is here to stay. For sure.
I am doing my best and I wish you well also! Have a great day!
Thank you for you moral support. We will have to get our immune system in good condition for the winter. Hold on tight! The world is spinning faster!
All the best.
Oh, yes! I'm keeping mine up so that I will be good going into Fall this year!!! xoxo
Keep Safe!
🌸🌷💐🌹😻
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Thank you very much for the tip.