I've mentioned Chinatown here many a time, but still feel its worth touching on again. It used to be a nightmare to get to this part of town, but with the MRT terminating at Hua Lamphong now, it's a simple ten minute walk from the station. As I've said before, the food down here is great, and the atmosphere is really fun as well, with both locals and tourists.
The food more or less starts at the corner of Thanon Phadung Dao and Thanon Yaowarat. This corner is dominated street stalls that sell overpriced seafood to Asian tourists:
They really are quite fun though, and have a great selection:
The most popular of these is probably T & K, which has a virtual army of young employees from upcountry:
On a slightly smaller scale, farther down Thanong Phadung Dao, I came across one tiny stall that sold different steamed shellfish:
She sold cockles and mussels, which are served with the Thai seafood dipping sauce:
Getting back to Thanon Yaowarat, I crossed the road and stopped by the mangkorn khaao, 'white dragon' noodle shop:
This stall does the best bamii, Chinese-style wheat noodles, and wontons I've had in Bangkok. The wontons in particular:
are immense, and are filled with a mixture of a shrimp and ground pork ground up with black pepper, coriander roots and garlic. And the barbecued pork here is a world away from the red-painted meat you'll find all over Bangkok.
If this isn't enough (it wasn't), across the way is a popular stall that sells satay, skewers of grilled pork:
Continuing along Thanon Yaowarat, the next side street is Thanon Plaeng Naam, where this guy does stir-fries over amazingly hot charcoal stoves:
And at the end of the street are two shops that sell a huge variety of pre-cooked Chinese-style dishes:
Getting back to Thanon Yaowarat:
I stopped for a dish of mii phat hong kong, 'Hong Kong-style fried noodles':
A simple, but delicious dish of wheat noodles, shrimp, crab meat, dried mushrooms and sliced cabbage, that I've only really ever seen in Chinatown.
Along Thanon Yaowarat another common sight is guys roasting chestnuts in large woks filled with sand:
The end of the line, and probably the busiest spot is where Thanon Yaowarat intersects with the market known as talaat mai, at Charoen Krung 16. There's tons of food and people here, but much of the fuss is centered around one stall that sells kuay jap (a kind thick noodle soup):
This place is mad popular and has a constant line of people.
All over Chinatown you'll find kids selling garlands Burmese-style, from trays balanced on their heads:
Wandering to the end of the street, I discovered that someone was showing a movie:
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