Chinatown once more

Another early morning walk.

By Grant Cameron

September 7^th, 2020

WHAT AN ICON

. . to start our morning walk round Chinatown, and an icon it was, the famous IconSiam luxury shopping mall. Having parked the car at the Royal Orchid Sheraton the idea was for a slow walk towards and through Chinatown, but as the sun had not risen we were presented with an opportunity to photograph this edifice from across the river - having first dealt with a pesky security guard who was uncomfortable to let us near the riverside.

HOLY ROSARY CHURCH

From there our path took us past Bangkok's Holy Rosary Church. The current building was commenced in 1891 and took 6 years to complete, but the church's history on this site dates back to 1767 and Portuguese settlers.

CHINATOWN GATE

Next up was the Chinatown Gate on the Odeon traffic circle. Many imagine the gateway to be a hundred or more years old, but it is in fact just over 20 years old, and built to commemorate King Bhumibol's 72nd Birthday in 1999.

Of course, no early morning walk would be complete without meeting at least one monk on his alms round, and luckily the gateway provided the backdrop to my morning's monk.

The elderly nurse on the left was taking temperatures of visitors to this small shrine, but I hadn't expected she'd soon after give me a wai (possibly praying that I'd give up my bad habits, whatever they may be)!

Bric a brac a . . ?

There's always one! On almost every block there seems to be that neighbour who can't get rid of his collection of junk. Perhaps giving proof to the old English idiom, "where there's muck, there's brass"!

SHANGHAI

No, not China, in Thailand, in the form of the luxury boutique Shanghai Mansion hotel, replicating the opulence of 1930's Shanghai with an air of mystery and seduction.

A Kuan Im shrine in someone's back garden!

RIVER VIEW RESIDENCE

So why another Chinatown walk? Well, I caught up with an old buddy of almost 40 years and with whom wed both been promising of going on some, and photo walk, and on this first one he wanted to go walkabout in Chinatown. It was hot and humid work, and when we got a bit thirsty and hungry we stopped at the almost hidden away River View Residence for a spot of breakfast.

There are a couple of great things about this place; the friendly staff, represented here by Khun Chompoo and Khun Mon, and the stunning river views (as well as the occasional pretty guest).

As we relaxed in these settings, luxuriating in these views, our breakfast consisted of the "all-day", with toast and coffee. But we couldn't tear ourselves away, so we subsequently had darker "coffee" in the form of several ice-cold Beer Lao "dark", a lovely 6.5% dark brew perfectly timed for 9:30am (especially when our start had been 5am).

Views from here include the distant Mahanakorn building, all 320 metres of it, and Wat Arun, though it is quite far - these images were shot at 340mm (FF equivalent).

On the way back home, we pass another of Bangkok's icons, the infamous rusty Fiat 600 banger of yesteryear, and luckily for me this time of photographing it, a young model was there waiting to enhance my image.

Our walk took us past another heritage building, the So Heng Tai mansion, a 19th-century building featuring traditional Hokkien architecture & a courtyard with a pool, and now a cafe. Once more my luck held and this time two pretty models to pose for me.

JOURNEY OVER

And it was time to walk back and collect our cars (with a cup of coffee in the hotel to get our car park stickers stamped). I hope my photog buddy enjoyed his first photo walk, and will be inclined to go out for more.