On the way to meet Patcha, I had a little bit of extra time, so I decided to take a look around Wat Mangkon. Normally I’ve been here during the day time for some of the famous Chinese street food. A bustling, sweaty mix of locals and foreigners, Bangkok’s China Town is incredibly grimy, steamy and filled with a million flavours and senses. However after dark, it takes on a different vibe. The vibrant colours are gone, replaced by harsh neon lights which flicker and dark shadows that seem to hide something sinister. I enjoyed walking around it slowly, letting the sounds, smells and sights seep into my thoughts.
Side streets and hidden doors stand as portals to a world so foreign to anything else in Bangkok. Who are the people who make their homes in these dark passageways? Who deal with the constant noise during the day and the incredible heat all through the night. Where do their children go to school? Where do they play? These are the real life stories so foreign to me which make me curious. I feel like an intruder peeking into windows I shouldn’t, and yet, it’s too hard to turn away.
A family eats dinner while everything closes down
These side streets are my favourite dark portals to unknown places
Straw cats who look a little worse for wear and battle hardened roam the floor searching for the large rats which seem to always be one step ahead. While stray cats are normal all around Bangkok, all of these had a particular ferocity and grace to them. They moved quicker, more agile and lethal than most cats I’d seen.
As I walked, if I stood still for a few minutes, I’d catch glimpses of naked white tails darting between boxes and holes in the walls, and the quick and nimble paws of the cats passing from shadow to shadow.
Quick paws
As fast as the cats are, the rats are faster
What I loved most was the empty boxes everywhere from where the local merchants sold their wares. Normally these boxes were covered in spices, vegetables, meats, local products and tea. The side streets are teeming with life during the day as tourists squeeze into the narrow walkways and brush past foods and items they’ll never use but rather just come to gawk at. At night, it takes on a more sinister atmosphere. Scurrying, loud clangs from pots being washed in half closed doorways and the odd motorbike snaking its way through all make you the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and you’re ever more aware that something unseen might jump out at any second.
Behind the Wat Mangkon station, this apartment building hides a million stories
Bangkok at night opens a whole world of new stories that sunlight never seems to touch. Thai people are incredibly superstitious and believe in the hidden side of things. When I take the time to walk along its edges and let it seep into me, I get chills thinking of what might be just behind the veil. It’s easy to live in a city and only experience one half of it, what we see in our normal routines, going back and forth from work. But beyond that there is always more to discover. Hidden gems or things best left in the past, it’s interesting to see what you might discover. I hope to explore more and more of this incredibly interesting city.