BAAN YUAN ('Vietnam Town')

This is the story of an unexpected encounter relayed by the Net social medias. I belong to a Bùi Huy Trang worldwide expat organization called InterNations. Since I am not really interested in mundane gatherings, I rarely attend their venues. But a few days ago, I received a message from Trang Bùi, a Franco-Vietnamese photographer, who lives near Paris and is completing a book on The Vietnamese. I answered his message immediately as I found his project quite interesting. As Trang asked me for some help, I offered to do what I could possibly arrange for him to complete his project. Trang will come to Bangkok in November for a week, in order to explore and report about the local Vietnamese community known here as 'Baan Yuan', that is 'Vietnam Town'. Then he will go on to Phnom Penh and then Vientiane to end up his southeast Asian tour on the Vietnamese before editing his book entitled 'We Vietnamese'.            Trang Bui's album

Book cover picture by Bùi Huy Rang

        Although I have lived in Bangkok for the past four years, I had never heard of Baan Yuan and its

Map area

historic community. Trang told me that it was estimated that there were about 100,000 Vietnamese in Thailand including many recent clandestine workers. However, I learnt that the community had existed since the 17^th century during the Ayutthaya Kingdom. Being Christians, they had fled persecution in their country. Year after year, it grew until they were granted two Catholic churches at Mitrakham near the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok. First, it was the Immaculate Conception Church, known as Bot Baan Yuan ('Vietnamese village church'). Then in 1851, King Rama IV gave the church a new piece of land to built St. Francis Xavier Church. This area became the center of the Vietnamese community.

             Soi Mitrakam- the Vietnamese legacy in Bangkok
                       St. Francis Xavier Church, Bangkok

Trang had also mentioned there was a weekly open market on Sundays at Soi Mitrakham between Soi Samsen 11 & 13. But it was only there from 6.00-10.00AM.

                                               A Blog about Food in Thailand & elsewhere

So, early on Sunday morning, I decided to go there with a friend, who was also interested in finding out more about this little unknown street market. It is at the other end of town but on Sunday mornings traffic is so scarce that getting there was a real piece of cake !

This area is near Krung Thon Bridge, just south of Dusit. It is an old, historic part of Bangkok with a

Mass at St.Francis's

maze of narrow alleys and some traditional wooden houses or more modern constructions. There was an ongoing Catholic mass at St. Francis's. The church was amzingly packed. The open market is just next to the church and was well frequented. People were extremely friendly there and did not mind at all to see two farangs with their cameras blipping away what they saw ! Here are the photos:

St. Francis Church

St. Francis Xavier Convent

Vegetables

Fish

Vietnamese street market

Thai monks

Market stall

Temple flower offerings

Pork meat

Ingredients for salad

Fishmonger

Fruits

Food ready to go

Chicken

Green vegetables

Pork sausage making

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Christian Sorand

Bangkok, July 2015