Vacation Thailand - China Town ... by ash-hotel.com

Saampheng is known to Bangkokians as an old part of town with a distinctive character all its own. It is a Chinese district that is the birthplace of some of the city's largest and oldest businesses. The unusual nature of Saampheng (the usual pronunciation, "Sampheng", with a shortened first vowel, is incorrect) extends to its very name, for which no meaning apparent in either Thai or Chinese.

Although its origin is obscure, the name has found its way into a number of idioms. Some are negative, like "as noisy as a Saampheng fire", for example, and the unflattering "ee Saampheng", used to describe a woman who behaves like a prostitute. On the other hand, some evoke more positive connotations. To say that someone "yuu Saampheng" - is or lives at Saampheng - means that he or she is rich. It is a name that has acquired many meanings through its use in such expressions, many of which are still heard today.

For many, the first impression of Saampheng is of crowdedness and activity. It has been that way since the Rattanakosin period during the late 19th century. It is said that a chicken flying over the roofs of Saampheng will never get a chance to fall to the ground.

But it's not just chickens for whom the ground is off limits; not even sunlight gets as far as the ground here. Saampheng was Thailand's first commercial district, and the street is still a business centre today. All that has changed is the type of goods traded. But even if the merchandise on display reflects its era, there are many features of the district that connect its present-day appearance with its past.

The old social system still survives, based on mutual assistance between fellow Chinese who had come from various regions to form a community here, and who lived in the district together with Indians and Thais from the Northeast. Traditional beliefs based on reverence for temples and shrines still retain their old force.

Old - fashioned chinese foods, prepared with almost anachronistic artistry, are still made and sold around Saampheng, too - a trip here is an excursion into an area where history lives and moves, a business district filled with culture.

When exploring Saampheng the place to atart is at Phahurat, where you can get a perspective on the area similar to that of the early days of Bangkok's history, when it was confined primarily to Rattanakosin Island. At theat time, going to Saampheng meant leaving the city proper.

The style and decor of the shop is so perfect that it is unlikely that it has an equal anywhere else in Thailand. Its owner takes great pleasure in his shop and is proud of it, but has refused prizes that preservationists have tried to present to him, saying he is indifferent to such honours.

Continuing on a little further is a stand that sells a very good version of the Thai sweet called salim, thin and beautifully coloured strands served in fresh, sweet, and fragrant coconut cream. It's take-away only, though, as there are no tables provided.

After crossing  the bridge near the small alley on the right, there are shops that make "Bangkok-style" tobacco. A century ago, this was a common term that meant the tobacco had been cut into shreds and wrapped in young banana or nipa palm leaves. Originally, about 30 of these tobacco factories were clustered into a 300-metre-long row of shophouses.

The tobacco that they all used came from Nakhon Sawan, Pichit, and Phitsanulok. It arrived in raw form, and was cut and rolled for smoking in Saampheng. Thirty years ago many of these factories were still in business,but today only two or three of them remain.

One of them is presided over by an elderly Chinese woman, and the items she sells are still of the same kind that filled these shops in the past - but don't expect her to  answer any questions about them unless you make a purchase!

Continuing along, you'll,encounter many of Saampheng's cloth shops,  most of them Chinese-owned, although some belong to Indian families. One group that has yet to number among the shopowners is the Isan population. The many Northeasterners in the district work primarily as sales clerks and labourers, .transporting merchandise to and from the shops.

On Chinese New Year everything in the area is closed, including establishments owned by Indians. In front of one Indian shop I once saw a sign that said, "With the blessings of Phra Isuan, we are closing this shop for the Chinese New Year." I still wonder what Shiva has to do with the Chinese New Year.

Passing beyond this point, you will have to cross Chakkrawat Road, where most of the shops still belong to cloth merchants. If you'te lucky you'll meet a merchant carrying foods suspended from a pole balanced on one shoulder. The load will be so big you may find yourself doubting that the vendor will be able to go very far with it.

In the baskets at the ends of the pole are desserts: Khanom Khee nuu and sweet corn tossed with shredded coconut and white sugar, both delicious. Although this particular vendor is rather large, she likes to dress in tank tops of the kind worn by teenagers at Centre Point in Siam Square.

Continue walking for about 150 metres until you reach an intersection with a narrow alley, then turn right and walk for another 100metres or so. You'll be near the entrance of Wat Chakkrawat, popularly known as Wat Saam Pluem. This is a very important temple, as it was restored by Phra Yabdin Decha, a general during the reign of King Rama III.The King regarded this military commander so highly that he always called him "Phii Sing",or "Older Brother Sing",a form of address that implies friendly respect for an older person.

It was King Rama III's Phii Sing who attacked the Cambodians and the Laos.A Laotian prince knocked him from his horse with a spear, but he survived. He was a fierce fighter who cold-bloodely cut the throats of opponents in battle. In  his old age he was hard of hearing and once, when he was up on the roof of the ubosot of Wat Chakkrawat observing the repair work, the king sent a royal page to summon him to the palace, but Phra Yabdin didn't hear him. Then the pageclimbed up onto the roof, shouting that the king wanted to see him. When the general spotted him, he shouted, "What?"so loudly that the startled page fell to the ground and broke his leg.

When Phra Yabdin's end finally came it was from cholera, not from losing on the battle-field. King Rama III wore white mournig clothes and walked from the Royal Palace to cremate his friend personally at Wat Saket.

Wat Chakkrawat contains some very interesting architecture, but exploring it would take too much time from the tour of Saampheng. More important  for our present purposes is something that can be seen  diagonally across from the rear entrance of the temple: a small alley just wide enough for a motorcycle to pass through. It deals in  to the vegetarian Phrarachathan Boon Samakhom Shirne. Everybody in the area knows where it is.

The shrine is beautifully painted, more so than any other shrine in the New Road/Yaowarat area. It got its name, which identifies it as being royally bestowed, from the fact that King Rama V built it, and there is stir a drawing of him hanging there. The shrike is probably more than 100 years old.

After passing the shirne, continue walking until you come out onto Ratchawong Road. Cross it, and then continue on into Saampheng. At the Ratchawong Road entrance to it, in front of a Kikuya cloth shop, is a vender who sells grilled cassava with sweetend coconut cream. You can't find it done this way anywhere else. Another vendor working from the same stall sells the cold Chinese Sweet black jelly called Chaokuay. Both of these vendors have been part of the scene for so long that they already belong to the district's history.

Continuing along Saampheng after it crosses Ratchawong Road, you 're flirting with both pleasure and pain, the latter a constant threat from the squadrons of motorcycles ferrying goods around. There seem to be as there are people, and all are driven by men whose eyesights is rather different from your and mine. They can distinguish colours, but are blind to the hordes of pedestrians trying to make their way through the narrow alley. They drive as if they had it all to themselves, so everyone on foot has to dive into a doorway every 15 seconds or so to clear the way.

Customers of the shops in this part of Saampheng are generally merchants, who takes goods they buy here and sell them elsewhere. Merchandise is sold only in lots of a dozen or more, and there are so many things available that it's difficult to keep track of them all.

About 50 metres further on, Saampheng crosses Mangkon Road at a point locally knowns as the Tang To Kang Intersection. It got its name from a very old and famous gold shop lacated on the southeast corner. It occupies the ground floor of a beautiful sixstorey building, and has been authorised to display the royal symbol of the garuda over its entrance.

The shop diagonally across the intersection from it, which sells plastic utensils, was afraid that the power of  this garuda would hurts sales, and decided to counter the spell feng shui style by placing a statue of  a giant holding a spear over their own entrance, directly facing the garuda. It's hard to say which of the figures won or lost; nusiness is good in both stores.

Walk on along Saampheng past  the intersection for another 20 metres and you'll come  to an intersection with another road, officially knowns as Itsaraphap Road. To the left you'll see Tallad Kao - "The Old Market" - which operates in the morning. If you go there while it is still dark you'll find it very active and a lot of fun.

The original name of the street was Thanon Rong Khome ("Chinese Lantern Road") because in the old days this is the area where   lanterns were made and sold. Chinese Lantherns have a round bamboo framework with paper wrapped around it. In the past, candles were placed  inside to provide the light. If the lantern was to be used for a festival occasion - Chinese New Year, for example, or a birthday - red paper was used, but it is was for a funeral, it was wrapped with dark blue paper.

Today, only one chinese lantern shop is left. It is located on the right-hand side of the  road and is called to Thong Heng. The original owner was the present one's great-great-grandfather.

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