This walk will lead us through the original Chinatown thoroughfare of Sampeng Lane, once a hotbed of gambling, opium dens and brothels, ending at a temple with a murky past.
Duration: 2 hours
Although Yaowarat is the main thoroughfare of Chinatown, and the name that all taxi drivers will recognise (many are bewildered if you ask for “Chinatown”), anyone wanting to seek out the origins and authentic atmosphere of this district should head for Sampeng Lane.
When Rama I moved the settlement of Chinese merchants and workers from the land he needed to build the new capital, he offered them land further to the southeast, beyond the second moat and the new city wall, and stretching between two existing temples, Wat Sampluem and Wat Sampeng. There was a canal next to Wat Sampluem, and this became part of the second moat. Siam had not yet reopened to the Western nations, and China was essentially the only trading partner. The Chinese junk trade grew very quickly after Bangkok was founded, the ships mooring along the middle of the river and small boats transporting goods to and from the warehouses on shore. Sampeng Lane therefore grew as a thoroughfare parallel to the river, with narrow lanes running down to the water’s edge on one side, and out to the muddy limits of the settlement on the other, beyond which was a waterlogged area that marked the beginning of the Sea of Mud, a large stretch of estuary country that formed an effective eastern defence for the city. Although the Siamese were used to aquatic living, and happy enough to set up home on boats and stilt houses, the Chinese were a land-based people, and Sampeng quickly came to resemble a typical southern Chinese settlement.
To help build the palaces and temples of Bangkok and to dig the canals, thousands more Chinese were imported as labour, and to the
Merchant class were added craftsmen: blacksmiths, goldsmiths and silversmiths, carpenters, brickmakers and builders. Along with the Chinese came opium and the secret societies. There came also the world’s oldest profession: prostitutes, mainly from southern China. Sampeng Lane became Bangkok’s first red-light area, although the brothels that were opened along the narrow lanes off Sampeng were identifiable by a green light above their doors. These were legal, and they were not all simple bawdy houses: many vied with each other in the quality of their decor and the sophistication of their girls. The brothel owners prospered: one madame, a Mrs Faeng, famously built a temple from her earnings. But a slang phrase for a woman of loose morals entered the Thai language at this time: ae Sampeng. Sampeng Lane also has the reputation of being the starting point for big-time gambling. The Chinese brought with them their fondness for gambling, one of most popular games being huey, which involves betting on a letter of the alphabet. In the early 1830s, in the reign of Rama III, Bangkok and its environs suffered bad flooding. The market gardens and rice fields were wiped out, and the king was forced to buy rice from overseas. The amount of money in circulation dropped, and the people suffered great hardship. An influential Chinese named Chao Sua Hong managed to persuade the king that a form of lottery, based on huey, would release more money into circulation and raise tax revenue. The office, Rong Huey, was set up near Sampeng Lane in 1835, next to the bridge over the canal. Chao issued one letter of the alphabet for betting every morning, plucked at random from a large bag. He quickly prospered. A nobleman named Phra Sri Viroj thought this was such a good idea that he also opened a Rong Huey, issuing a letter of the alphabet every evening. Other huay offices followed. Gambling fever took hold of the capital, and quickly became a serious problem. Despite the efforts of the next two monarchs it remained so for many years. A survey of 1888 found that there were 403 registered gambling houses in Bangkok, and it wasn’t until 1916 that Rama VI managed to abolish them. This he achieved only by
Establishing a government lottery.
It was the Bowring Treaty of 1855 that changed the direction of Siam’s trading towards the West, for other treaties quickly followed and the Siamese enthusiastically embraced European produce and ideas. Goods from British India began to arrive in Bangkok, and a large community of Indians evolved. The Chinese of Sampeng Lane, however, readily adapted: they became merchants dealing with the Europeans.
A visitor to Sampeng Lane today may be surprised at how narrow it is, but it was built (or, rather, evolved) long before there were any roads in Bangkok. The entrance is at Saphan Han, the bridge that was originally a turntable structure to allow vessels to pass up the newly built canal. Han means “to turn”, and the bridge had revolved around a spigot. This was replaced in the reign of Rama III by a structure that had roofed shops built upon it, but this again was replaced and the current bridge is a prosaic enough crossing, almost invisible amongst the cluster of vendors. Narrow though it is, both sides of the lane are lined with shops, with their goods displayed out front. There is room enough for probably only three people abreast, but the thoroughfare has become more comfortable in recent years, with the addition for part of the way of a plastic roof, the air-conditioning inside the shops keeping the interior reasonably cool, or at least not as stiflingly hot as it used to be.
Anyone confronted by Sampeng Lane for the first time will see only a long, long line of shops, but as is so often the case in Bangkok, the lane falls naturally into a number of sections selling similar goods. From Saphan Han to Chakrawat Road are outlets for fabrics, household decorations and jewellery. From Chakrawat to Ratchawong Road are traditional medicine shops, and leatherwear and fabric shops and wholesalers. Ratchawong to Trok Issaranuphap is for wholesalers and retailers of gifts and stationary, while the final stretch is for garments, hats, shoes, bags and luggage, and umbrellas.
Around the middle of the stretch is the fresh market of Talat Kao (Old Market), occupying the lanes to the left, while on the right is Talat Mai (New Market), which is actually the oldest market in Chinatown and sells dry foods. At the junction of Sampeng and Mangkon Road are two ornate commercial buildings dating from the early years of the twentieth century, their facades being European in style, although Shanghainese craftsmen fitted out their interiors. Bangkok Bank is on one side of the way, while Tang To Kang gold shop, on the other, is reputed to be the oldest gold trader in the city. Both businesses have their origins in Chinatown, although they didn’t start out in these premises. The alleys leading off Sampeng often have names that indicate their original purpose: Trok Khao San was where rice milling companies had their offices; Trok Rang Katha was where metal pans were made; Trok Tao was where the stove makers had their workshops; Trok Rong Khom was where paper lanterns were made and where calligraphers and artists worked; and Trok Vet had the unhappy distinction of leading down to an area of the riverbank that was used as a public latrine.
Wat Sampluem still stands at the entrance to Sampeng Lane, although it was renamed Wat Chakrawat in the reign of Rama iii. Chao Phraya Bodindecha had led a military campaign against Laos, and returned with the Phra Bang Buddha image that he installed in the temple. Phra Bang (literally “Delicate Buddha”) is a cast-bronze, gold-covered standing Buddha, 83 centimetres (32.6 in) in height, its hands facing forwards, and was, along with the Emerald Buddha, considered to be an exceptionally powerful talisman. The image, which is believed to have originated in Sri Lanka, had arrived in Laos in 1353 from Angkor, the Khmer deploying it in an attempt to spread Buddhism in the new kingdom of Lan Xang and to give legitimacy to the first king, Fa Ngum, who was the son-in-law of the Khmer king. In 1545 it was taken to Vientiane, which was being prepared as the kingdom’s next capital. When the Siamese under King Taksin invaded Laos in 1778, Chao Phraya Chakri took both the Emerald Buddha and Phra Bang back to Thonburi, thereby relieving Laos of its spiritual protection and its sovereign independence. However, political problems that arose in Siam were attributed to the image and in 1782 it was returned to the Laotians. In 1828 the Siamese captured Phra Bang again when Vientiane was sacked, and General Bodindecha renovated Wat Sampluem to house the image, as it was thought to be inauspicious to have both the Phra Bang Buddha and the Emerald Buddha both within the confines of the old city.
The ubosot, rather than facing east, as is traditional, actually faces west, to align the Phra Bang image with that of the Emerald Buddha, in Wat Phra Kaew. Nonetheless, the image once more seemed to bring political misfortune and Rama IV returned it to Laos in 1867. Since that time it has been kept in Luang Prabang, the town that takes its name from the image. A Buddha image named Phra Nak was moved from a shrine in the Grand Palace as a replacement. Today, Wat Chakrawat is probably best known for its crocodiles. General Bodindecha had cut a small waterway from the river to create a pond in the temple grounds, and the practice of keeping the reptiles here began about half a century ago when one was found in the river outside the temple. The original was stuffed and is displayed in a glass case beside the pond, where a couple of live ones are kept. To the right of the compound, just inside the gate, is a small wiharn with an outer wall decorated in a very unusual black-and-gold pattern, the kind of styling more commonly found on interior walls or roofs. Next to the black wiharn is a larger wiharn in a more traditional style. On the left of the entrance is a stairway leading to a platform containing a mondop topped with a rather understated prang, its plainness drawing emphasis to the standing Buddha images facing out from the four sides of the prang. The temple’s large, all-white ubosot is located opposite. A grotto in the grounds has a black shape referred to as the Buddha’s shadow, possibly a reference to the departed Phra Bang, and worshippers place gold leaf offerings on the shape. In a neighbouring niche is a small image of a fat monk, commemorating the legend of the monk who was so handsome that the girls wouldn’t leave him alone, and in order to discourage them he ate himself spherical.
Chinese door guards at Wat Sampeng, site of a royal execution.
At the end of Sampeng Lane is the temple that originally gave the thoroughfare its name. Wat Pathum Khong was originally known as Wat Sampeng, and dates back to the Ayutthaya era, although no one knows when it was originally built. There is a melancholy history attached to this temple. Kroma Luang Rak Ronnaret, the fifteenth son of Rama I, had risen to a very high position in the court of Rama iii. He is said to have been a forceful man, highly versed in Buddhism, and when he was appointed supreme judge over the priesthood he exerted a corrupting influence. The prince had been a close friend of Rama iii before the king had ascended the throne, and when he did so, the king gave him great powers that in some areas almost equalled his own. These he abused with dangerous enthusiasm. A lengthy account published in the Singapore Free Press & Mercantile Advertiser at the time of the prince’s downfall records that he was the prime mover in establishing the legalised gambling establishments “which have caused so much misery in Siam”, recommending gambling to the king as a proper business to be licensed for the purpose of collecting revenue. He organised for himself a concession for the sale of strong spirits. He imposed double labour and taxes on the Mons, and when they complained to the king, the prince sent enforcers into the Mon villages. The king had at first treated Rak Ronnaret with indulgence, but gradually the prince became a grave liability, the great power he wielded at court putting him beyond mere dismissal. Serious irregularities in the royal accounts appear to have been the final impetus for the king to take action, and in November of 1848 a detachment of the royal guard was sent to the prince’s palace to arrest him. Investigations appeared to reveal that the prince was plotting to dethrone the king. There could only be one course of action in the light of those findings, whether they were true or not, and on the morning of 12th December the prince was taken to Wat Sampeng, a royal temple conveniently outside the city walls. There a velvet sack was placed over his head, his head was laid upon the execution stone and he was beaten to death with a sandalwood club. His body, the Singapore Free Press reports, was thrown into the river. The Thaen Hin Paraharn Kabot, the Rebel’s Execution Stone, can today be found behind the wiharn of this riverside temple.
World History
