B A N G K O K C L E A N S E (三)

It's almost like a must-do when travelling different countries to visit their respective Chinatown, especially when I'm on a family holiday. My parents love it. Bangkok's Chinatown was a mixture of warm-coloured neon Chinese and Thai signboards, all stacked on top or behind each other. It was filled with overpowering stimuli, just like anywhere else in Bangkok, really. (Seems as though that's mainly the way I describe Bangkok to be: stimulus stimulus stimulus) It's just hard to take in that much sensory exposure in such a short amount of time, immersing in the atmosphere may be a little too intense to really comprehend everything. The only thing I knew that I was immersing in was the freaking 35 degree heat in Chinatown.

To fully experience the liveliness when in Chinatown, night time is generally the best time to be there. The streets are extra crowded, with stall vendors shouting out their menus, streets flooded with foldable tables and chairs occupying almost every lane off the main road. We went there once in the evening and decided on going back there again to see what Chinatown was like in the day. 

There were many overrated touristy temples around Chinatown, with tour buses lined up alongside the road, street vendors and tuk tuk drivers crowded at the entrance of the temple, trying to rip off a few extra Bahts from unknowing tourists. The temples were intricately designed, filled with vibrancy and a mish mash of warm colours, but we weren't drawn to visiting them only because we knew how much they exploited tourists. 

The buildings in Chinatown were mainly very run down and old, painted with old-fashioned colours with obvious cracks and mould showing. It may be a bit startling at first, but I think it just adds onto the whole heritage feel that Chinatown seems to embody. 

When visiting Chinatown, expect loads of medical halls and restaurants proudly displaying shark fins. During the night, plenty of street stalls also sell sharks fin soup. Unfortunately, it is difficult to eradicate finning, due to the projection of wealth and status that is still deeply rooted with the delicacy itself. Personally I found it heartbreaking to see that many fins displayed like prizes along the streets of Chinatown, with each fin representing one shark and there were so many sharks that died just to have these dried up fins displayed like this. It has been about 5 years since I've made a conscious decision to stop eating sharks fin, after watching documentaries and reading up about the issue. If you have just 45 minutes to spare, watch Gordon Ramsey explore how sharks are being hunted down for their fins in Costa Rica here. 

I know just one person not taking sharks fin doesn't really make a huge difference to the whole cause, but I believe that by just standing up for the cause and talking about it to people around you, helps to increase awareness and at least make people think twice when placing an order for the sharks fin soup. It's all about making people more conscious about their decisions and realising the repercussions that these choices may lead to. 

"There are a lot of other ways of selective fishing, but I think a big reason why this still goes on is because we don't see it."

One of the many beauties of travelling is that you can have the first-hand experience of observing different people's way of life. You observe, subconsciously (or consciously) compare, and then resonate. When walking around Bangkok, and Chinatown in this instance, there were so many different people on the go - selling products, packing products, beauty services etc. They were all trying to earn their keep in such a simple and honest way. It may seem a bit behind or inefficient in the eyes of many Singaporeans, because what we've been brought up with always told us to be fast, number 1, efficient, rich, cash cash cash moneymoneymoney. To have this opportunity to observe and be in the midst of such a different lifestyle pace really grounded me again, reminding me to be thankful for the smaller things in life and appreciate everything that is being placed in front of me.

We had dim sum at this random Chinese restaurant for lunch and got out of Chinatown after that due to the intense heat. We actually wanted to continue walking around because there really was quite a bit to see, but the ground felt like it was on fire and the heat was truly unbearable. So we got a cab back and decided to walk around Siam Paragon instead. Ha.

Despite the temple tourist traps, I definitely recommend Chinatown for people that are down to walk a lot, and those that enjoy soaking up culturally enriching things of a country. Chinatown is bursting with a good mix of Chinese-Thai culture that is unique, and I got to see a lot of old architecture and observed how people there went about their lives, which is fulfilling for me.

So that concludes the end of my short trip to Bangkok with my family. I feel like Bangkok is somewhere that is family friendly and also friend friendly (haha). Will certainly return back to the beautiful city to explore more! There's still so much more to see and explore, 3 days is really not enough to cover sufficient grounds in Bangkok.

I will be back, Thailand. You were absolutely beautiful and travelling will always, always be one of the greatest things that I enjoy.