Old European Quarter – Bangkok, Thailand

Old European Quarter – Bangkok, Thailand

Hey guys today we’re in the old European quarter of Bangkok and uh we’re outside the Old Post Office of Bangkok which you can see has a kind of a 1930s aesthetic we’re going to have a look around and check it all out there’s a lot of cool stuff in this episode so

Stay tuned let’s get into it let’s Go Well let’s see if we can actually get a peek in here before they close up for the day so it’s a real classic uh kind of 1930 Style building okay I was told to not film in there it didn’t really matter we got the job done Anyway so uh basically the reason that this post office has this 1930s type architecture uh I would assume that it’s uh probably from the time when the military controlled the country in the 30s and of course in the 30s it was basically communism democracy or kind of nationalism fascism

Type stuff and in that time Thailand took the Third Way and so you see a bit of architecture along those lines similar to what you might see in some parts of Europe still it’s very interesting as an architectural style no doubt about it back there you might have

Seen a sign it said Bang Rock Pier so I guess there’s a pier back in behind there okay let’s head along the side here and uh it’s actually a temple entrance way here let’s head in so we just uh came out of the front there of the post office onto Chon Kung

Road and back in the day I think it was called new road because I believe if I remember correctly that was the first road that was built out of the Old Town of Bangkok and I think it was in response to the Europeans who uh had this quarter as

Their trading Hub at the time I think that was in response to them uh saying that it wasn’t really possible or not easy at least to uh prominade to walk around of course back in those days the city was focused on the waterways so the river was by far easier to use

For getting around and the canals back in the days when Bangkok was called the Venice of the East Believe It or Not hello who’s that weird guy yeah so apparently the uh government at the time built that road and uh it became a bit of an entertainment strip along there there were a bunch of bars at least back in the 1950s probably before that I’m sure jubis type bars which means fun

Right so we’re coming into a little Muslim quarter here this is actually a Muslim graveyard on the right very cool Area and as you can hear there’s a mosque up here it’s a cute one Al in All right so the Haron mosque I would have gone in there and had a bit of a closer look it’s it’s worth a peak but uh they’re doing their thing at the moment so I think let’s leave them to it And here’s the ambassad embassy I would say yeah embassy of France let’s head along this way B of French inspired artwork on the side there of the French Embassy is the embassy of France yes some of it’s a bit odd but never mind makes it interesting right okay so this place on the left is a very old department store very interesting right in the middle of the

European part of town or the former European quarter I should say it’s not anymore but there are a number of hotels around here that are quite popular I do think almost all uh foreigners or I can say Europeans who uh come to stay in hotels in the

Area I I think pretty much 99.9% of of them have no idea that this was the old European quarter which is a real shame there’s a lot of history here little Europa some College one of the better ones in Thailand and the Fantastic building on the left I’ve been told was the old

Customs building so of course the European sailing ships used to M up along the side of the the river which is just at down the other end of the down the end of this street here where the building ends there and there was a lot of trading going on along here Europeans

Trading that’s why it was the European Quarter so we’re in the Oriental Hotel one of the oldest hotels in Bangkok with the famous bamboo bar not sure if we can get a look in There so the Oriental is a landmark of Bangkok pretty much the first very nice hotel in Bangkok has a fantastic riverv View icon CM the most popular Shopping Center in Bangkok just across the river there which actually has a free ferry boat service which crosses from that

Mall down to sapan Tux in the bridge up there it stops just under there it’s excellent in the evening when all the lights are lit up all around the River and here’s the original old part of the Hotel let’s see if we can get a look inside of the old part of the hotel there’s a miniature model of the giant swing which is in sa Ching cha the old part of Bangkok where they make stuff for temples if you haven’t seen my sa Ching

Cha video I definitely recommend it it’s a really good one so it’s a great place for afternoon Teas some interesting old photography along the walls inside Here bit of high-end shopping So if you want to treat yourself to something a bit high-end with a lot of history and tradition then uh this is definitely a good place to stay for at least T night just to experience it let’s head up through the lobby and we’ll finish filming in here in the

Lobby because I didn’t actually ask anyone if I could do this that’s why I started around by the bar area nice Lobby cool place the Mandarin Oriental Oriental Hotel let’s head back down onto the street there Okay we’ll just head a little bit further inside here not too far so even though we didn’t ask anyone if it’s okay to film a bunch of workers went past look quite they look quite okay with it and it’s good to show people and definitely I want to recommend the

Place there a back way into Assumption College there and looks like a boat station at the end so we’ll think we’ll uh head back up this way now cuz we’ve seen the riverv viw from the hotel right there I indicators are a thing it’s good to use them not at the very last second as well it’s not a habit a lot of drivers in Thailand seem to have but uh yeah anyway so I do like to uh use 71s and uh also hotel lobbies sorry also

Hotel lobbies um just to get a bit of air con get a break sometimes so it’s not unusual for me just to stroll into hotels where I’m not staying and have a look around also because I like to know about places to recommend them to family and friends when they pass through the

Neighbor uh through the through this part of the world I should Say and sometimes I need hotels of course for my own travels obviously but uh I tend to pick the budget ones except for special occasions all right so back out on CH ran Kung Road let’s do it Tha Style walk out on the road Assumption College here he got his own

Church in the back there another example of European architecture which shows you it’s quite Old A And we’re at the end of Cam Road but we’re going to talk about that in the future but not today let’s head down this back way for now wait Wa so the back way the front way whatever we got to seek the right way and sometimes it’s not the obvious way but this is a cool little Back Lane here a nice little shortcut to get away from the traffic noise Temple Gate there why because of

Course of the temple back in there we’ll uh Wander along through this way here and we’ll see that Temple from the side quite soon all right let’s head in here and you see a massage shop a tailor shop next to each other what does that tell you it’s a tourist neighborhood

So the bit we’ve just walked through is the uh old European quarter and like I said I would say 99.9% of tourists don’t know the history behind it but uh most of the local uh Foreigner action in this part of the city is uh based in the streets that we’re going

To look at right now so right next to the old European quarter you can say I would say it’s kind of the same area though um as the as that part kind of got older people opened up more modern places next to those ones and then

Uh the hotels over here or just next to the old ones kind of uh became an extended European quarter and and uh basically this the gravity the center hello hey the kind of Center or the gravity kind of shifted over to here hotels like the shangrala for

Example which is uh getting a bit older now I must say it’s a very nice and a very interesting Hotel also River Front View yeah so unsurprisingly more people stay over this way now just because the hotels are newer and so you see a lot of stuff over here for Foreigners and as I mentioned earlier just when you go to the left through the small streets there the street where we’re just on a few minutes ago Chon K uh that was bit of a nighlife street oh probably even into the probably mid 1960s at least until the nighlife scene

Moved further down cam road to the pat pong area and as the road the roads were developed in the city of course other hotels opened in different areas and uh everything kind of spread out so then it became more of a thing where uh there were different areas that foreigners

Like to gravitate towards depending on their budget and so on what type of traveler they were it’s a very cute little mosque here it shows you that uh this area has some old Roots and what those roots are about at least for this part of town going back quite a ways well this is a bit of a shame looks like there’s a bit of renovation going on I guess it’s not really a shame it’ be good when it’s finished but you see

The sign says food center there were are many many many Thai food stalls outside this building wrapping around it and it was a really cool place if you’re in the area to get something to eat there’s a few on the side there still by the looks of it

Gives you some idea about it it says Bang Rock Bazaar see it was a area that uh Foreigner could pick up some cool items to take back home and There also a bit of shopping here and there’s this excellent Chinese style Shrine here on the left so this is actually the other side of the shanga hotel of course they have their own Boutique shopping and we’re coming up on sapan taxin one of the main bridges in Bangkok and this this is a bit of a transport Hub along here obviously a bunch of Tuk Tes but uh up here there’s a BTS Sky Train Station BTS sapan taxin which is a very handy one and uh we’re actually right on the riverfront here it’s a bunch of these pickup trucks

Which are used for local trans Port like in the way uh van or Mini Bus might be used they’re called song tows so a bunch of song tows good way to get around if you can figure out where they go and how to use Them if you know a bit of tie it can help or if you know a local who can help you figure them out otherwise keep your eyes open see where they go or just jump on one and have a Magical Mystery Tour is a good idea and it’s a great boat station here

This is actually the last station or first station depending on your perspective for boats that go all the way up the River from here all the way up to nonori and uh on occasion I think there’s the odd boat that goes slightly further up to P cret

Island but they don’t seem to run regularly or at least I think not at the moment or they might have maybe they are at the moment I’m not sure seems to be an on again off again Thing but let’s head up on to sapan taxin there’s the BTS station just back there so we’re getting later into the day oh some dragon flies don’t know if you can see them swarm of dragon flies I love those creatures so much ever since I was a kid it’s a magnificent view up

Here as the sun sets over Bangkok the ghost Tower in the distance there saton road going down this way we’ll talk about saton Road and the area around it in the future all right guys let’s finish up with the million dooll view the classic Bangkok River View here over the chiao

Prior River with all the big buildings around here here very cool place all right I really hope you guys enjoyed that walk through uh bit of the history of Bangkok and um see you guys in the next one and please remember click subscribe like and hit that Bell button so you get a

Notification for the upcoming videos all right bless you all and wish you all the best see you in the next one bye n

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