Strolling on the ground floor and learn about the early Chinese immigrants’ journeys to Thailand the growth of Chinatown in Bangkok
Bangkok is densely populated with Chinese-descent first, second, and third generations (me being one of the third-gen myself), it is only fair to learn a little bit about the heritage, history, and the journey the Chinese immigrants took to come to Thailand.
The Yaowarat Chinatown Heritage Center, Bangkok
Yaowarat Heritage Center is a small but very engaging little museum. It depicts the history of Bangkok’s famous Chinatown or Yaowarat Road and its residents through the use of various multimedia exhibits. The theme of the museum elaborates on the Chinese immigrating to Thailand and how today’s Chinatown came to be.
Stepping inside the heritage center
The first room contains a small theater where there’s a life-sized set of a living room in a (probably) typical Chinese home. The movie is projected onto the physical setting for a theatrical effect.
The rounds and languages of the video are posted at the beginning of the tour. Arriving late for the audiovisual round, we decided to go ahead and walk through the museum and come back later for the video.
The video shown is a conversation between a grandfather and his grandson about the life of Chinese immigrants and how things were on Yaowarat Road in the 1940s.
The pair also talked about when King Rama VIII and his camera-toting brother, the now late King Rama IX, visited Chinatown to meet with the people in the neighborhood.
The next exhibit … the journey by boat
Going deeper into the museum exhibits show the life of the Chinese immigrants in the old days from a simulation of the treacherous journey through the sea to Bangkok.
This exhibit then follows by the people’s lifestyles, the homes, the street vendors and how the shops used to look like and what they used to sell right in front of the shophouses.
The lifestyle, how people were dressed and possibly interacted is depicted using wax mannequins. To be honest, these … creeped me out just a bit.
Next room was large, lining the walls are scenes of many Chinatown lifestyle encased in plexiglass model-sized showcases.
In the middle of the room is the model of the whole Chinatown neighborhood with the Yaowarat Road as the main street.
You will see the Yaowarat Road with smaller roads and streets and alleys branching out.
The model even depicted the old trams (which I never get to see because I was born too late), the buildings, and shophouses as they were in the 1940s.
The amazing thing is that some of these buildings are still standing even today.
One room in the Yaowarat Heritage Center was dedicated solely for the late King Rama IX with a big bodhi leaf hovering over everyone stepping into this room. The big bodhi leaf is prominent on the ceiling and His Majesty the King Rama IX’s picture stood on the tree trunk as a centerpiece while many more lined the walls of the oval-shaped room.
The Yaowarat Heritage Center is worth a visit for those who are interested in learning more about the history of different cultures in Bangkok, Thailand.
How to get there
Take the MRT Hua Lamphong station, take Exit 1 and walk along the Rama IV Road, turn left onto the Mittaphap Thai-China Road and keep walking to Wat Traimit.
Yaowarat Heritage Center
661 Charoen Krung Rd, Talat Noi, Samphanthawong, Bangkok 10100
T. 089 002 2700
Opens from Tuesdays to Sundays from 8 am to 5 pm, closes Mondays.
