As a Thai American, who isn't fluent in Thai or learnt much about Thai history in an International School in Bangkok, these videos are so educational and interesting. I'm binge watching your videos, learning about places that I've lived so close to, yet knew nothing about the history, or even whats happening in those places presently. Sharing on my facebook as well so my friends can learn too :) Thank you for coming up with such great content, and beyond that the editing and knowledge you provide is immaculate.
This channel is criminally underrated. why it doesnt have more than a million subscribers defies belief. Ive been binge watching ever since i saw the episode on the story of rice and the things i learn socio cultural and history wise even my thai friends have never heard. keep up the good work.
Chinese Cooking Demystified is one of my goto channels to learn new recipes...I've been watching them for years. Recently the algorithm suggested your channel, I think it was the Pad Kaprao and I immediately thought you were the same people 😂... I love the stories and history you integrate into your videos. Your content is top notch, packed with so much information and also entertaining. As a content creator myself, I know how much work you're putting into each video...keep it up, the algorithm will bless you soon ;)
Thanks a lot. And yeah, I can’t say enough good things about Chris and Steph. They deserve all of their success and then some. Glad you follow their channel and appreciate you finding this one
I'm pretty sure mala flavor in some form is going to get integrated into Thai cuisine. After it got onto Thai radar it spread super fast and gained a lot of popularity. For Thai palate it's easy to understand and like
Look- you're talking to somebody who thinks literally everything can be improved with ma la. There's absolutely nothing I won't add sichuan pepper and chili to...so I might be biased. But yes, I agree and fervently hope you're right
I'm Thai-Chinese and also live really close to Huay Khwang! I had to pass by on my way to the MRT every single day back when I was in our equivalent of high school, but I personally never thought much of it. I definitely appreciate it more now, though. Btw, it's 'yao-wa-raht' เยาว (yao-wa) = youth; borrowed from Pali ราช (raht) = king, ruler, or to rule; borrowed from Khmer and Sanskrit Thanks for the coverage, man. Keep it up, proud of you! 🙏
Just found your channel and found them so informative with history lessons on the origins of the thai dishes that i love like pad krapao , everything is nicer with moo krob , and the latest is this episode on Huai kwang !! I also lived in shenzhen since 2015 till covid hit and i couldn't handle the lockdowns ,thus moving out . I will definitely be visiting Huai Kwang to fulfill my china foods cravings like Lanzhou lamein , malatangs ,hotpots and of course the quintessential shao khao which like you decribed it ,some random local street corners will have one and be a staple place of nightly gatherings on blue or plastic tables and chairs and if you visit them often ,the owners will also join you for drinks and chats till the wee morning or until the wife rages to end the night ! I also miss BBQ garlic oysters with bbq eggplants the most and especially the oysters from Shajing Sz ! Thanks for the videos and memories !
I am Thai, my family goes sightseeing in China 2 times a year before Covid. I am delighted to be able to have these foods in Bangkok. Same as Na Na area, middle eastern people gather in that are, they bring also their foods.
This was an amazingly fun, well put together, and informative video that I've found at the perfect time! I loved the content, collaboration with another WONDERFUL channel, editing, and history, but most importantly your love of food like many others around the world. My Chinese s.o. and I will be visiting Thailand in a month and this video will help greatly!
This can be quite challenging for Thais and newcomers because Thailand has its own way of blending different cultures into their own, (especially in terms of cuisine 😂). In the coming decades, will these newcomers continue to maintain their original cultural identity, or will they blend in like the Chinese pioneers did?
Fantastic video. Subscribed! Are most of the Chinese residents of Huai Khwang expats who will eventually return to China and are just working or doing business in Bangkok, or are they immigrants who will set down roots for generations? There is a big difference in the footprint a more transient community will have on Bangkok cuisine and culture versus that of the Teo Chew, Hokkien, and other Chinese communities of past eras.
In this day and age, countries in Asia don't really... accept... new immigrants, for whatever reason. So it's definitely more of an expatriate community. Given that reality though, things can also end up getting quite blurry - there's this whole continuum in between "dude that was sent here to work for six months" and "someone that's been living here for 25 years, has a Thai wife, and their children have Thai citizenship". Both ends exist in Huai Khwang, together with everything in between (like they do with farang communities around Sukhumvit, to be fair). What's quite interesting though, to me, is just how integrated and intertwined the latter group end up being with the northern Thai/northern Thai-Chinese (e.g. folks from Mae Sai, Mae Salong, etc) - like, there's a "Taiwan-Yunnan" Shaokao joint that's one of mine and Steph's favorite places to eat in the neighborhood (name is "金坊丽轩云傣风情烧烤店"). Owner is a long time expat from Taiwan that runs it together with his wife who's from the border of Northern Thailand (and I *believe* is Haw). On a plurality of nights, the owner sits there together with his two friends - one of which is a Dongbei dude that's been here a similar length of time, and the other is a Thai guy from Chiang Mai. They'll chat in Mandarin, but are equally comfortable swapping into Thai. Are they immigrants? Expatriates? It becomes difficult to categorize in 2023. In any event, it's definitely an interesting neighborhood as you begin to scratch under the surface :)
@@ChineseCookingDemystified Even at the Malatang place where we filmed that segment- the two co-owners we spoke with represent both sides of that equation. The woman we interviewed had been in Bangkok for exactly three weeks. She moved here for the opportunity to set up this business with her old friend- the other owner- who has lived here for 18 years and has a Thai spouse.
The mainlanders are expats and are not part of our Thai-Chinese community. The Thai Chinese community only includes the southern Chinese of past eras who sailed down up to the KMT descendants from yunnan. There is a distinction between Thai Chinese community with roots in Southeast Asia and post cultural revolution mainland Chinese who moved here for business.
I hope that algorithm will catch your channel soon, because your scripts and production quality are really top notch. BTW, both you and Chris has very particular way of articulating words while speaking English. Is it an consequence of speaking Chinese for a long time?
Thanks so much! And....hah...my girlfriend is constantly telling me how much me and Chris sound alike. I think it’s two things- 1) we come from the same general part of the US, and 2) we’ve spent so much time together over the years that certain mannerisms and expressions have definitely rubbed off. I know there are words we pronounce the same. But yeah generally, it’s the accent of our home area.
So glad your videos started showing up on my feed Adam. I moved out of Huai Khwang about 8 years ago to a suburb in Bangkok. That time Pracharat Bamphen was full of shops selling Chinese souvenirs and especially foam/latex pillows. No one buys that crap but I think it was just a temp business to place hold for what you see now, tons and tons of Chinese hotpot restaurants. Even though I don't live there anymore I'm still always around Huai Khwang area because my wife has a nail salon opposite from Lanzhou Noodles. The way this area has changed is just incredible.
No way! I would have walked right past it today. Went there for lunch this afternoon. The funny thing about what you wrote is that Steph actually mentioned (didn't end up putting it in the final cut) that Huai Khwang is famous among Chinese who visit Bangkok as a place to buy souvenirs to take home- alligator skin handbags and wood carvings and most of all for some reason none of us can understand- foam pillows. There's still a couple of those shops around there as I'm sure you've seen!
@@OTRontheroad lol by the way your rusty Mandarin is better than my non existent Mandarin. Keep up the terrific work bro, looking forward to your videos 👍
Frigging awesome, I miss malatang and chongqing noodles, beijing duck and oh my how I miss yunnan food.......this brought back some serious memories........another amazing video from the OTR gang
Thanks! Keep your eye out, you might see them a few more times in our past videos. The Sriracha one in particular was a huge contribution from Steph. (The harder challenge would be to spot me in a Chinese Cooking Demystified video. I was a guest cook in two. Bonus points if you can name them both- you'll need to go back a long way.)
Welcome all Chinese and other culture and thank you make Thailand a center of the world peace and harmony. Forget about a world super power, warmongers on the media. Food, culture, people, and clean environment that all we want.
Fascinating. I lived in Huay Kwang for around 10 years, right where you shot most of this video. This has really taught me a lot about the area. Thanks again for the fantastic content.
Interesting. Several years ago I stayed at a hotel very close to the Huay Khwang MRT station. I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary about the area, but then again I think it was only my second time in Bangkok. The Malatang and pulled noodle restaurants have been popping up here, all over the place. There's one Malatang restaurant I know of that's halal (most aren't), but pretty much all the pulled noodle places are. My favorite thing to eat at the pulled noodle restaurants are the stuffed dumplings.
Wow your videos are so awesome. You explain everything so good and you know so much. I’m so excited and learning a lot from your videos. Thanks for sharing!
Really interesting video! I've never lived in Bangkok, but I've spent quite a bit of time there, and I had no idea about this neighborhood, or about enclaves of Chinese speaking minorities. Thank you! I want to try that Wa food now.
subed, as a Chinese living in Istanbul with a Thai elite Visa, I am so surprised by your Chinese and the fact that you lived in China for 12 years. China is no longer the fun and open China. It's getting dictatorial by day. I can't return to that country either. Great content and great Channel, I am enjoying it thoroughly. Keep up the good work.
A good friend once said something about China changing so fast (always) that you can't view the country geographically, you have to look at it chronologically. Like I can't say "I love Beijing" because I have no idea what that city looks like now. All my favorite bars are gone, neighborhoods bulldozed, the whole character is different, etc. But I can definitely say that I adore the 2014 version of Beijing, and the 2010 Shenzhen, and 2012 Yunnan, and a million other places-and-times. It's a complicated country but I'm really glad for my time there. Also thrilled to be in Thailand today.
@@XJLCA I don't feel like not going back to China is my loss. I spent 12 years there. I think China's loss is the hundreds of thousands of people (including myself...and both foreigners and Chinese) driven out in recent years who no longer feel safe, welcomed, or at home there.
We have a neighborhood that use to cattle ranches. It became barracks for airmen and their families during WW2. After WW2, Black Americans, then Hispanic, then Vietnamese, then in the 90's, it was Russians and Ukrainians. The last wave of immigrants are Afghanis. Like you said, as they climb the ladder of progress, they all eventually move to outer parts of town.
When my dad came to the US from Belgium, he first lived in Washington Heights (New York City). I ended up cutting it for time, but I did have a section written for this video about the progression of that neighborhood since the late 1800s, not that different from what you described. I'm sure there are a lot of places where you can track the changes through the years. Thanks for sharing
I have lived there.. we called it the new china town at Huay Khwang... i think new chinese immigrant choose to live there.. i think it is also due to the location of their embassy as well.. China Embassy is on the same road...
Yaowarat is kind of 'Old Chinatown' of Teochew Chinese people who arrived generations ago and pretty much accommodated into Thai culture. Huai Khwang is the 'New Chinatown' of recent arrivals from Mainland China.
Actually almost all urban districts in Thailand are China Town. Chinese immigrants spread out and mix with Thais to a degree that There is no more "Chinese" but "Thai-Chinese" and eventually Thai. Most of this generation do not speak or write Cninese anymore.
Yes correct. Im Coming from a thai/chinese family , we are partly thai+chinese mixed and some are just thai , only one (a cousin of mine) is full chinese. None of us is able to speak chinese tho.. also many ,who are in thailand in many cases actually identify as thai only ( my only full chinese left cousin identifies as thai too , her parents still spoke a westchinese dialect with her but she never cared to learn it as all kids spoke thai only, so she cared to only know thai ) , not as chinese or thai-chinese (thats more the case for bangkoks and north thailands thai-chinese mixed or full ethnic chinese ppl). Most have been here for a long timevalready and with some ( like my fam.) the only thing chinese or part chinese that is left , is us being mixed with chinese , but culturally at least my fam. Except chinese new year we dont celebrate anything from china. … especially our younger thai-chinese mix relatives are only familar with that and partly the food ( since chinese food is already common in thai food anyways already + also the ch8nese that is still the same as it is in parts of china)…
Hello @OTRontheroad the banquet style Yunnan feast looks delicious at 20:25 - what’s the name of the Yunnan restaurant or please drop the pin? Love the video and have been to Lanzhou Noodle many times. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers Dan! Here is the restaurant, but note that for the banquet that we had, you have to call a day early to reserve it. goo.gl/maps/P4vb3Adr9CHT3x6V7
Have you heard, that at least 12 chinese restaurants on Pracharat Bamphen Road in Huai Khwang had to shut their doors mid march 2024? The typically vibrant atmosphere of the street should be gone.
I'm Thai and live in this area but only real-Chinese restaurant I had was Hotpot because it easy to order other Chinese restaurant is hard for local to try with only-Chinese menu, Maybe why there so many Hotpot popup in the area
I love the video thanks for showing this wonderful area of Bangkok. Can you please share the name of the restaurant which serves traditional Wa food at the end? It would be helpful if some of the names and locations were shared as many people would love to try the food thanks very much.
YeahHuay Kwang the authentic Chinese food. I have tried already with friends, different from old China town which is more likely Thai-Chinese. But I’m more familiar with Thai-Chinese taste more.
As good as it may seems, this area is quite infamous for having New Chinese capitalists and entepreneurs coming and killing local businesses because they can't compete with rent skyrocketed, I'm a local there and every now and then I visited there's a new chinese store replacing local stores. There are also a lot of sketchy shops, some without any thai in the name or menu (illegal), some only have chinese workers (illegal), and some even accept payment with only chinese apps. This really hurts the local economy and Thai gov'n at loss, but the police and the politicians have been turning a blind eyes on this because there's corruption and they received money from those new chinese. As much as i love the food here, i don't want to support foreign business hurting local business. I hope the new gov'n from this election will fix these lasting problems and get rid of the malpracticed stores. (Sorry for my english i'm not a native speaker)
sort of random off topic question: my local pan-asian market has those colorful fish cakes seen briefly at 2:38. how are these normally cooked? i thought they were for tempura but interesting to see them in thai chinese restaurants. are they boiled? fried? for soup? steamed? also, how do they make those colors? and do they indicate anything about flavor or anything like that? thanks, and love the videos!
Thanks very much! I'm sure Chris & Steph could speak to what gives them their color (if anything other than artificial coloring) but in China, I've typically seen those only in the context of hot pot and malatang- in both cases, they'd be cooked by boiling. Although they're likely pre-cooked, so with that texture I'd guess they were factory-steamed and then flash-frozen. The fish cakes used for tempura are going to be a much lighter texture- these are quite springy (I wanted to write "rubbery" but that might be a bit too harsh)...total guess as I'm not super familiar with the Chinese ones (not my personal favorite) but the flavor is most likely shrimp.
@@OTRontheroad thank you for the quick and in-depth response!! Much love and thanks again for the thorough and fascinating videos, God bless & keep doing what you're doing!
No way! Would love to know the name of the place. Crazy how hard it is to find good Sichuan (emphasis on "good") outside mainland China, not including snack shops like in Huay Khwang. I've found one place that's passable in Bangkok- this is it if you're interested. goo.gl/maps/axaJy11xVNFrNL2YA
Cool, I never knew this! But I've been here quite lot with my ex Thai gf. She liked to go here for shopping & having her hair done at the night market, (I think they closed like 5 AM). Then I know the area is notorious for their soapy massage ....
Yeah so that’s what I first knew about Huay Khwang, too. It’s a really famous (and MASSIVE) night market and there’s a lot of cool stuff around there. It turns out though that whole side of the highway isn’t Huay Khwang (despite the market’s name). That’s Din Daeng. If you can picture where the Hindu temple is at the main intersection at the entrance to the night market- the opposite side of the highway is the Chinatown side
It’s funny when I first heard your voice on a video suggested to me I thought you were the guy from Chinese Cooking Demystified. Now I’m really confused.
watch the video all the way through! Steph is a guest in this one and then the last few min is all about my long friendship with Chris. They're great friends and if you watch a lot of our content, you'll see both of them popping up from time to time.
Great job, I really enjoyed this. I noticed a couple of times when referring to the local language barrier you grouped Thai and English together when talking about mandarin speakers not knowing the local language. Is English fairly prevalent in Bangkok?
Good question. Yes, that's what I was implying...in general it's a fairly easy city to get around entirely in English...definitely related to the tourism industry being so dominant here, but also the level of English education even in public schools seems to be quite high.
Wa is not Chinese more related to Mon or Khmer. Their food is southeast asian type use a lot of fresh herbs and vegetable banana parts bamboo fermented things less oil more like Shan or northern Thai.
...most ethnic groups have population clusters in multiple countries- borders were established long after populations established home areas. This is a Yunnan Wa family. Their food is Wa- not Southeast Asian. I'm assuming you've never been to Xishuangbanna region of Yunnan- this is most definitely endemic to that region. It's not right at all to say something isn't "Chinese" because it doesn't match what is commonly served in Chinese restaurants. This is definitely Chinese in that they come from China- in fact that's where approximately 35% of all Wa people on Earth reside. 800,000 in Myanmar, 400,000 in China, 10,000 in Thailand.
Yep. It's a bad habit. I think I got it right in the newest video we just released, which also touches on the topic. But yeah one of those things I just always say incorrectly off the air, and became a bad habit in recording.
King Taak~sin(an extra 'a' helps with pronunciation of ตาก, instead of Tak~sin which pronounced as ทักสิน/ทักษิณ), a king and not emperor. Where did you get that info that he was the first Siamese Emperor? There has never been one in the history of Siam. And at least, you mispronounced เยาวราช as เยารวาด twice. It is Yao~wa~raad. with all due respect.
@@OTRontheroad Good very early morning (if you were in BKK)from CA. Please double check minute 6:13. Khaao(ข้าว = rice) Chare (แช่ = soaked) chae is more like เช่ no meaning and khao is more like เข้า = to enter The restaurant staff at the palm orchard uses ปลาอินทรีย์, pla Inn see, which is king mackerel. Clown featherback is ปลากราย, pla graai. I am watching as we chat haha Like your pieces and just wanna contribute so yours will be one of the best!
Bangkok's real China town ? lol just 40 years ago Huay Knwang was just developed from a slum town district when a lot of flats were built and people moved up from slum homes to them. Been watching you channel for a while, I like them but still not a fan of content crafting, man.
I really don't like it when people comment before watching the videos, it comes across badly. This video explains that Huay Khwang is only 40 years old. And the entire point of the video is WHY that's important and how it's actually a real mainland Chinese community. I'll take criticism when it's based on literally anything valid- but this is a pretty weak comment.
@@OTRontheroad OK I'm now really enough of your "my view is always a universal fact" and bunch of history craftings here and there video by video. "Huay Khwang is only 40 years old" lol it's there with Bangkok even before Bangkok become capital. Oh of course, it's your channel, any comment against you is always "weak", oh omnipotent, omniscience one. Well Good bye and good luck with your void ego.
All the food is mixed now but there is one thing very symptomatic - the beverages are not changing. Everyone is drinking either pepsi or coke , some drink manao soda but there isn't strictly Chinese soda or Thai soda that became more popular than American drinks. Tbh , I am usually getting manao soda but not from the can , not schweppes , the classic Thai limeade is 10x better , made in the restaurants. Somehow Pepsi and Coke are the rulers of soft drinks there..
