Afternoon walk in Chinatown for my exercise and discovering traditional Chinese sweets.

Being back in the city, the city atmosphere and surrounding vibes could slowly dull my mind and weaken my vitality as my feet weren’t grounded on the living soil of the earth. After a few days of rushing around trying to get various things done, I would find myself lacking in vibrant life force. It was as if the concrete surroundings could sap one’s energy quietly and steadily. So, I had to get near either the river or walking in areas where energy laylines passed through.

I knew a long time ago that Chinese Feng Shui master had indicated to many wealthy Chinese merchants that Chinatown was full of strong and auspicious energy lines. So, I should visit Chinatown for my afternoon walking exercise. It’s about time I did some survey of how things have improved after more tourists have arrived in Bangkok.

My favourite mode of transport was the orange hot-bus with crazy driver, probably on speed pill. This gave me a big wake up call to be alert and mindful of my safety precautions. The bus would gallop very fast and suddenly came to a halt when the driver noticed a passenger by the bus stop. The bus wasn’t crowded as the weather has become gray and cloudy. Warnings of severe rainstorm have spread around all social media causing unnecessary alarms. Perhaps they ran out of nasty numbers of people with new variants of coronavirus! News reporters had to earn their keep too.

The flood of Chinese tourists (on organised tours) have not yet arrived in Bangkok. So, Chinatown and all famous sightseeing spots have been rather quiet with slow relaxing atmosphere. Visitors could still take selfies and photos without hundreds of guided tourists in the background. But it would be nice to have at least fifty percent of previous tourists numbers here as they would bring smiles to local vendors’ faces. However, rainy season has been quite a hit with Middle Eastern tourists as they loved to watch all the dark clouds and rainstorms from high rise buildings.

I tried to take photos of old buildings and landmarks along the bus route. These would be records of my life in the city for years to come. Often I regretted not taking photos of familiar surroundings which I had taken for granted that they would stay the same till infinity. But one day, out of the blue, these old buildings and shops with charming surroundings were gone under a new construction project. So, I tried to remind myself not to take all simple old things for granted. I ought to have some records of my memories of good old days.

Late afternoon was when street food vendors would arrive at Chinatown main road (Yaowarad road) with their trucks and vans. They would have a few hours to set up their food stalls for the busy evening. Tourists would usually arrive after 7pm to walk around and then have their meals. The whole road would be lit up when all the restaurants and food stalls were ready for hungry customers. The whole place would become crowded and lively till late at night.

I took a short cut through a side alley which led me to the back of Chinatown where I could walk along New Road (or Charoen Krung Road) to find a bus stop. The old two floors buildings along New Road were over a hundred years old. Some of them has been demolished and turned into new shopping mall and townhouses.

Some old buildings had illegally added more floors to increase living space. Sixty years ago, the scenery of New Road would have looked very elegant with two floors buildings all looking harmonious along both sides of this road.

I was struck by some tall trees which seemed to be leaning against some shophouses. In the old days, the names of a company would be in Thai and Chinese letters. Nowadays most new companies would be written in Thai and English. Though in some areas of Bangkok, we could see companies’ names in only Chinese, Burmese, Korean or Arabic language. Immigrants from the same cultural regions tended to flock together in the same area for the sense of security and cultural identity.

I found two shophouses which indicated their businesses were established in 1945, after WW II. It’s amazing to see old Chinese family businesses which survived upto three generations. These days things are quite tough and difficult as drastic technological advancement and changes in international politics could appear to be overwhelming for some medium and small business’ owners. I had known second generation Chinese businessmen who did have been educated in America; they became wealthy during the prime of their careers.

Unfortunately they weren’t well read and couldn’t keep up with relevant new developments in key factors which would affect the survival of their businesses in the medium term. I felt quite sorry for them as they had invested their money and life in keeping their ancestors’ business for the next generation. Successful businessmen would find it very difficult to be opened to very different opinions and outlandish viewpoints. I found most professional people and businessmen have stopped reading or doing research after they became successful. They forgot the law of impermanence in Buddhism.

To my delight, I stumbled on a traditional Chinese sweet shop. In the past, I had found places where I could taste all traditional Thai sweets and Indian sweets. This was the first time I was very excited and very nostalgic at the same time. This Chinese sweet shop was originally established in 1945. The old shop was closed and moved to a better location here in New Road two years ago. I thought that the owners have been expecting lots of tourists as this shop is very near the underground station and the famous Chinese temple.

I almost cried as these sweets reminded me of my Chinese grandmother. She used to bring me bags of Chinese sweets when I was a small kid. In those days, only the wealthy people could afford to buy imported chocolates and expensive cakes at five star hotels and in foreign bakeries. Over the years, I hardly saw anyone with traditional Chinese sweets so I thought they had gone out of fashion altogether. My grandmother would have a shock seeing so many new adaptations of the old Chinese sweets today.

There were more than ten new fillings which were created by the sweet makers in this shop. Some fillings sounded very strange to me as they included pork and savory fillings. I saw the coconut pie which was my favourite sweet as a child. But I couldn’t see pineapple filling which I would love to have one. After looking around the sweet trays and taken some photos, I had to buy some sweets. The lady staff was waiting for me to order some sweets. Some passersby were struck by the sweet shop, so I had to let them place their orders first.

One family with two kids were very excited by the cube sweet beans and they bought one box fulled. The other two youngsters were equally happy to see these sweets, they bought quite a few too. But I was on a limited budget so I decided to get a few of my old favourites to try out first. I bought only four pieces, so the lady staff pput them in a plastic bag instead of a nice little box for me. She wasn’t happy with my small order. I did tell her that I would be back again to get some modernised sweets with strange fillings.

I took the ‘hot bus’ back mom to Robinson shopping mall where I parked my favourite old car. The bus journey cost me about twenty cents which was much cheaper than taking a taxi. I knew I couldn’t overcome my curiosity about the taste of these sweets. I intended to have only one piece with my tea and coffee break. Then I wouldn’t appear to be so greedy and too indulgent.

I did want to taste the coconut pie for ages so I went straight to make some Chinese tea to go with Chinese pie. It was quite a disappointment as it couldn’t compare with the delicious memory of my past experience. The pie was too dry and hard; it wasn’t very fresh; there were only a few pieces left on the tray. So, they must have baked them in the morning and been selling them throughout the day. I should have asked the staff for freshly made sweets.

So, I had the excuse to console myself by granting myself a second piece. This was also quite hard without any moisture and taste. The flour was too hard and flaky while the filling was not very tasty; the black sesame filling seemed too dry. More Chinese tea came to the rescue and I consoled myself with the third piece hoping to be satisfied at long last. This time I was quite mad with the lady vendor who chose all the non-fresh sweets for me. She could have picked the ones which were made in the afternoon instead of giving me all the pieces made early in the morning.

Once and for all I had to know whether I had been cheated of fulfilling my childhood nostalgia. I decided I had to taste the last piece! This would tell me whether I should buy any sweets from this shop ever again. I thought I would definitely be let down for the fourth time. But to my surprise, this one was just perfect and very satisfying. The flour was soft and flaky, I could bite through the sweet bean filling easily. The filling was still very moist and aromatic as it should always be. So, I was brought back to happy moments of my childhood having a relaxing time munching those sweets my grandmother had bought for me.

I was so glad I didn’t have to habour negative feelings towards the vendor or the sweet shop. I just had to know the right time they finished baking these sweets or I had to enquire about the latest batch of baked sweets. The shop owners must have their own business problems as sale seemed rather slow. Sweets are not essential items for daily survival; people would buy sweets to pamper themselves or for a celebration of some kind or for enhancing good moods. I hope to boost my survival motivation by getting some freshly made Chinese sweets in the near future.

Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.

#wednesdaywalk created by @tattoodjay