Sidestory: The Thailand Temple Trip ~ Chinatown Festival

15-Oct-2026

Thanks to Chella and her friends, I know that there's a festival in Bangkok's Chinatown right now, and today there's supposedly also going to be a small parade. So that's gonna be our main event for today.

But first: Breakfast. Today, Chella makes me some scrambled eggs with bread.

And then we're off! First stop is the nearby Opposite Soi Sun Wichai (ตรงข้ามซอยศูนย์วิจัย) bus stop (yes, in Thailand bus stops are named based on which side of the road they are on). But before that, we have to wait for a train to pass. Unlike in Germany, there is an attendant at the level crossing who opens the barrier the moment the train has passed. 

The bus stop this time is a bit more primitive than the one from two days ago, even though we're on the same road. I guess this is just a minor stop.

We have to wait about 15 minutes for the bus, and when it arrives, it's pretty full. The fare today is 20฿ per nose.

This bus doesn't have any fancy displays, apart from one that shows the inside temperature, time and current speed. It's amazing how blissfully cool a dry 24°C can feel when it's over 30°C and humid outside!

The ride into the city takes about half an hour, and takes us along this route:

Eventually, the bus empties out a bit, so Chella and I can sit down.

Along the ride, there are many sights, such as a shop that sells shrines.

As well as a many more shrines and temples of varying sizes. Taking pictures of them all while riding the bus is hard though, so here's only two that I could get a clear shot of.

  

 

Bangkok also has an elevated tram line. Here's one of the stations:

 

Motorcyclists sure like living on the edge in Bangkok traffic.

 And here's assorted other sights along the way.

Anyway, after half an hour, we arrive at Hua Lamphong (หัวลำโพง), which is most notable for being the location of Bangkok's central train station.

And from there our stray around Bangkok's Chinatown begins. Incidentally, this is not so far away from Wat Pho, where we were a few days ago.

Anyway, we start by crossing one of the many channels of the city. This one also has a water taxis stop right here.

 

We get only a short distance of walking done...

 ...before running into the biggest temple of the day: The Wat Trai Mit Witthayaram Worawihan (วัดไตรมิตรวิทยารามวรวิหาร). Since this is not our main focus for today though we don't actually go in.

And then here we are! The Jay Vegetarian Festival (เทศกาลกินเจ) of Chinatown, which runs from 10th to 18th of October (at least this year). Look at all the yellow flags!

Right near the beginning, we run into the Kuan Yim Shrine (โรงพยาบาลเทียนฟ้ามูลนิธิ), which maybe is Buddhist? I'm not sure.

 

At this moment, we're at what feels like the public front of the festival, which features lots of stalls with tasty-looking food.

One nice attraction is the live preparation of Khanom Tup Tap (ขนมตุ๊บตั๊บ), which involves lots of hammertime. This is a snack made of roasted peanuts are mixed with hot sugar syrup. The mixture is then hammered flat by two strong men with wooden mallets. Once it's flat, a third person folds it up again, and then it gets hammered once more. The whole process is repeated a few times, and then the resulting dough is rolled up, cut into slices, wrapped up and sold as a tasty festival snack.
 

After that, we walk down Yaowarat Road (ถนนเยาวราช), which is the main street of Bangkok's Chinatown, and features lots of red and yellow.

Eventually, we turn into a Chinese restaurant. Yes, I know we're at a food festival, but we still want to be out of the throng for a bit, and sit down in a nicely cool air conditioned restaurant. Because in case I didn't complain about this today yet, it's HOT and HUMID out there! =>,<=

There, we order some tasty soup. I get some Tom Yum Dumpling Soup, which maybe violates the spirit of the festival a little. But then again, I didn't realise that this was a vegetarian food festival until I got home, so, yeah, sorry about that. =^,~'= 

 

 

I also get a nice gourd drink to go with it. This is refreshing, and has a slightly earthy aroma.

 

Afterwards we continue walking down Yaowarat Road, and as we pass a vendor selling slippers I take the opportunity to buy Chella a pair she likes for the cheap price of only 139฿, because she's been complaining that the shoes she's wearing right now are not great for walking longer distances. And I'm grateful that she's been accompanying me on these walks anyway, so I want her to be comfortable.

Now, one thing they seem to have only here in Chinatown are colorful manhole covers with pretty designs. At least that's the first time I've seen those here in Thailand.

Eventually, we reach what feels like the end of the interesting part of Yaowarat Road, but turning to the right there and then walking into a little alley, we reach a temple hidden in the middle of a block of houses. This is Wat Kuson Samakhon (วัดกุศลสมาคร), also known as Pǔ Fú Sì (普福寺). That translates to "Universal Blessing Temple", so I guess you can go there for pretty much all occasions.

 

It's also got a small Koi pond at the back. 

On our way back we come past what we assume must be preparations for the parade.

Also, proof of other German tourists in the area marking their territory with yellow stuff.

We still have time until the parade begins, so we go exploring and walk into this block of houses, which may or may not be accommodations for a nearby temple.

And here's said temple: Wat Samphanthawongsaram Worawihan (วัดสัมพันธวงศารามวรวิหาร). The main building is undergoing renovations right now, but there's still plenty to see. Also, we may or may not have inadvertently crashed a wedding there. Whoops. =^,~'=

Moving in, we walk through some more adventurous parts of the city.

And before long, we reach the next temple: Wat Pathum Khongkha Ratchaworawihan (วัดปทุมคงคาราชวรวิหาร).

 

We head into the side roads in search of a Geocache, which leads us to... a Shinto Shrine?!?!? It's not recognisable as such to me, but at least that's what Google says. So I did some research on my own with the help of my Puky, and at least based on the name, I think this is actually a Daoist temple, which makes much more sense. It's called Li Sian Sue Biao (หลี่เซียนซือเบี้ยว) in Thai and Lǚ Xiān Shī Miào (吕仙师廟) in Chinese, which translates to "Temple of Immortal Master Lü", which probably refers to Lü Dongbin, one of the famous Eight Immortals of Chinese Daoist mythology.

A little further ahead, we reach the bank of the Chao Phraya River once again. There's a ferry here, as well as another temple on the far side, but we're not going across now since we want to be back at Yaowarat Road in time for the parade.

Still looking for that Cache, we head deeper into the busy back streets...

...where we soon come across another Buddhist temple: This one is called Samakhom Kuson Songkhro (สมาคมกุศลสงเคราะห์) in Thai and Lián Bāng Niàn Fó Shè (蓮邦念佛社) in Chinese, which translates to "Lotus Realm Buddha-Recitation Society".

It is also here that I need to go to the bathroom really badly.

• (+) There's a free-use bathroom nearby
• (-) It doesn't have any toilet paper
• (-) And to flush you need to pour water into the bowl from a bucket

This reminds me a bit too much of my experience in the Philippines to be comfortable, but I really can't hold it in anymore, so I make do with what I have.

Anyway, with this yucky experience out of the way, we reach the end of the road. There, we don't find the Geocache, but we do find lots of culture, since it seems we've unexpectedly found our way into the heart of some grand Buddhist celebration, complete with dozens of large candles. This is the Chow Sue Kong Shrine (ศาลเจ้าโจวซือกง ตลาดน้อย).

 

 

After we leave, Chella gets distracted by some fruit again...

 ...and shortly thereafter, it is my turn to get distracted by a shop selling Chinese Moon Cakes and Tup Tap. If you don't know what Moon Cakes are, go watch this episode of Fabulous Beasts now!

Now it's time to get back to the festival so we don't miss the parade. But along the way, we still come across another Daoist temple: San Chao Hok Lian Keng (ศาลเจ้าฮกเหลียนเก็ง).

On our way back to Yaowarat Road, we pass a number of repair shops.

And then we're back where we started, at the square next to Wat Trai Mit Witthayaram Worawihan.

We walk down the festival road, Chella makes some bargains for a small bottle of rice vinegar and small bag of monosodium glutamate for cooking, costing only 10฿ each. And before I know it I'm also holding two sample dishes of noodles in my hands.

Now's the time when the parade is supposed to happen, but there's no parade in sight. However, Chella notices the sound of the parade from the next street over, so we hurry there just in time to still catch the middle of the little parade. And let me tell you, it's LOUD!!!

After that, we head back to the central station. But not without running into another shrine on the way there. This one is Sun Wukong Shrine (ศาลเจ้าพ่อเห้งเจีย).

And here we are, in the heart of Bangkok once again.

It takes us a bit to find the correct bus stop, but we do eventually find it on the west side of the station. Also take note that the tracks of the central station are separated from the road by a fence, because you have to go in via the ticket gate.

 

And then we wait. For about 45 minutes. Despite this being the freaking central station, it's not a high-tech stop, and doesn't have any displays to tell when our bus will arrive. I mean, there's tons of buses coming and going, just not ours.

The long wait is not entirely unpleasant though, since I end up talking with an English-speaking Buddhist monk. He asks me if his bus has already passed through here, to which I reply that I think I've seen it about 10 minutes before. And before we know it, we're happily chatting about this and that, including my past travels. He also explains to me that the bus schedule here in Bangkok is sorta irregular, and that the line I'm waiting for has many buses in the morning and evening, but runs only hourly or so during the daytime. So that explains the long wait.

And eventually, his bus, too, arrives before ours, so I wish him a safe trip wherever his paths may take him.

Finally, after about 45 minutes of waiting, our bus arrives, and we're on our way back home again.

The ride back home is a bit more roundabout, because apparently buses don't simply go back and forth the same way around here.

It also takes about twice as long to get home, courtesy of rush hour traffic in conjunction with the large-scale construction of the MRT Orange Line Project leading to a proper nightmare congestion. Looks like I came here too early, because that line would have run right past our Airbnb, and is scheduled to open in 2028.

 

 

And by the time we get close to our stop, it also starts raining. Just our luck!

Fortunately, I brought an umbrella. But we still get pretty wet on the way back home, which means pretty much all my stuff - including my shoes, tails and snug-along - goes on the drying rack when we get back home.

After that, we don't go out again for the rest of the day. Dinner consists of the Moon Cakes, as well as one of the three Tup Tap rolls we bought. They're really tasty, but also really sweet and filling!

And that's it for today. Tomorrow, we're having another rest day, but we're still planning to do at least a little bit on that day. So until then, stay tuned, and be of great cheer! =^,^=