Chinatown Street Art

Chinatown has joined much of the rest of the city by welcoming colorful street art. Years ago, Bangkok was a pretty grey and artless capital, but the BUKRUK Urban Arts Festival in 2016 brought global artists to Bangkok in an attempt to enhance it as an Asian art capital. You'll have a lot of fun wandering some of Chinatown's small alleys checking out some of these colorful gems, and they seem to enhance the already atmospheric surroundings. In Trok San Chao Rong Kueak off of Soi Wanit 1 Road near the river, you'll find lifelike wall paintings blending in to the neighborhood. Windows, door, and bicycles painted onto the walls are actually hard to distinguish from the real ones, and this quiet lane is extremely photogenic. Head over to Charoenkrung from here, just on the edge of Chinatown, where you will find large murals on both Charoenkrung Soi 28, 30, and 32, which all dead end down at the river. Korean artist Daehyun Kim has a beautifully detailed black and white traditional East Oriental scene from his Moonassi series, and there are two im-mense murals by Romanian illustrator and muralist Saddo and Thai artist Bon, who painted his iconic bird Pukruk rid-ing a unicycle. There are also some large murals on Songwat Road further back towards the center of Yaowarat. The artwork enhances what is already one of Bangkok's most pleasant walking areas, just make sure to bring your camera and of course your appetite, as there are plenty of street eats as well as great Thai-Chinese restaurants to call into after your tour.