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Saturday, November 28, 2015

Return to 'Vietnam Town' [Baan Yuan]

Previous link : Blog page (July 2015)
Stilt houses on the river
November 18, 2015 - Last time when I visited the Samsen Road area near the Chao Phraya River, I was exploring this Catholic section of Bangkok to prepare for Huy Trang Bui's visit. Trang is a Vietnamese photographer, who lives in Paris. He is currently rounding up an album on the Vietnamese worldwide.
Wat Khon Sep Chan
Trang recently visited this area for one week as previously planned. So, I came back to this section of town to meet him and help him explore the area more thoroughly.
Previously, I had mostly explored the area between Ratchawithi Rd. & Samsen Rd. around St.Francis Xavier Church. This time, we also walked through the narrow alleys that lead to another church : the Immaculate Conception Church. The Thais have renamed it Wat Khon Sep Chan. It is considered as the oldest catholic church in Bangkok. It was originally built for the Catholic refugees, who were persecuted in Vietnam and who were granted refuge in this area known as 'Baan Yuan' (Vietnam Town). It is a very beautiful, white church built by the river. This old section has kept some of its old wooden houses. It is very quiet and has a countryside atmosphere. It is still mostly a catholic area. The people, who live here are the descendants of the historic Vietnamese community. But they have now mostly assimilated the Thai culture. Very few of them still speak Vietnamese.

Conception Church from the rear

Bell tower facing the river
Wooden house
Bird cages














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