I saw this in my feed online and thought it might be interesting to go to the Bangkok Chinatown for Chinese New Year. I had never been to Chinatown on Chinese New Years in all my years in Bangkok . . . plus, the Bangkok Chinatown is the largest Chinatown outside of China. I took the Bangkok underground and popped out . . .
[This trip was also an opportunity to test my new camera, the Fuji X-T5, in a variety of challenging lighting conditions: bright sunlight, deep shadow, and night street photography. The X-T5 takes 40mp photos, but are posted here in only 850px on the long edge. You be the judge . . . but I am very happy with the results!]
. . . I popped out a few blocks from the center of Chinatown . . . in the middle of a huge crowd. It seems that I was not the only one with the idea.
Part of the crowd was congregating around this Chinese Temple. We found out that one of the Thai Royal Family was due to arrive there soon to pay respects. It was a big day in the Bangkok Chinatown.
I was hot and thirsty so I bought a pomegranate juice and was happy.
We cut through an alley to get to the center of the action. The whole highly decorated area was a crush of people, many of whom were foreign tourists.
The many small Chinese temples were busy with devotees leaving alms and donations and being blessed by the monks.
Every imaginable kind of 'altar toy' was for sale in gold and red. Fantastic!
This good natured monk seemed to enjoy giving water blessings to whomever stopped and donated.
We explpored deep down the beautifully decorated side streets of Bangkok's Chinatown.
Chinese New Year is a traditional time for fruit purchasing, apparently.
These ice blocks sitting in an alley looked inviting . . . as a shortcut over to the next street . . . and as a way of avoiding the crushing crowds.
Chinatown alleys always offer up surprise images, like this very old small industry.
Spotted amid the complex patterns of the alley was some kind of temple . . . let's explore . . .
Looking inside, we found this marvelous Chinese Buddhist Temple. Serendipity!
The temple inner altar was fantastically decorated.
The inner temple altar in all its phantasmagoria!
Incense pot . . .
The main altar displayed the pantheon of Chinese spiritual deities and revered monks behind glass.
The opportunities for amazing photos were endless here . . . I took many more excellent photos in there than I have posted here . . . perhaps I need an entry just for this marvelous place.
These were very low light (and smoky) conditions for photography . . . such beauty everywhere!
There were several small "side altars" around the inner chamber.
We spent quite a abit of time inside the Chinese Temple . . . and could have spent a whole day documenting this old, photogenic, spiritual space . . . but we left for the alley again and onward to the New Year celebrations about to happen.
Back out in the small alley . . . it is fun to explore for images here.
Many visual wonders to see along the alley walls . . .
We popped out on the very crowded main street leading to the performance stage . . .
Moments before the street was finally closed to auto traffic . . . and vendors and 'selfie' takers took over.
Four local ladies all dressed up for a night of celebration.
Plenty of goodies to eat . . . healthy and otherwise!
As evening approached the crowd migrated toward a "main stage" for the nighttime events.
It became almost impossible to get to the intersection where the stage was set . . . but we somehow pushed our way through.
Revellers found time to pose with traditionally dressed street photo hawkers.
We finally made it to an area behind the stage where the handlers of the dragon were waiting to do their dragon dance down the crowded avenue.
The dragon head . . . staged and ready.
We roamed the side streets looking for interesting images to capture with our cameras. We are never disappointed in Bangkok Chinatown for photogenic scenes.
A beautiful Chinatown scene . . .
These small side street restaurants would become full after the street celebrations later in the evening.
The crows were becoming a crush on the main avenue . . .
The anticipation was just killing him!!!!
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Night Arrives!
Night arrived at last . . . and we wriggled our way through this crowd to an area behind the stage where the performers were getting ready for the show.
Fantastic costumes everywhere back stage. . . .
A photographer's dream!
A wonderful array of traditional costumes.
The backstage area almost warranted its own blog entry.
New Years' revellers taking a load off their tired feet . . . and checking their phones for vital communication.
The backstage entrance light tunnel was popular.
There was no way to get close to the Dragon when it made its way out into the crowd . . . too many iPhone photographers!!!
I did manage this shot of the departing Dragon by holding my camera over my head. Amazing.
After the dragon departed we decided it was time to beat the crowds back to the underground station, and headed out . . . but still with camera in hand for the fantastic night images.
Yes, we "fought" our way back through this crowd . . . but people were good and generous with our passage.
A beautiful array of lighting above . . .
The street food vendors were doing a brisk business after dark. Here rice-cooked-in-bamboo . . . delicious!
People were out for a nice meal on the Chinatown streets tonight.
Long lines at this stall . . . it must have been good and tasty.
Preparing Northern Thailand spicy sausage . . . yum-yum!
We left the crowded main celebration avenue and walked along a parallel street . . . there was no shortage of photographically interesting things along this route.
A Thai Buddhist temple (Wat) lit up.
"Why not keep the shop open a little later tonight . . . maybe make some extra sales, what with the big crowds and all."
Why not set up a couple of card tables for those treasures you have for sale?
A real jumble sale. This one was very sad to see . . . someone was very poor. I looked for the seller, but could find nobody. I left 100 baht (US$3.oo) on the table as a donation.
This night busker had it all . . . even his own light show!
This Buddhist votive statuary shopkeeper had a brilliant way of lureing customers into their shop . . . and it worked:
I bought the Ji Gong effigy (far right, top, third from right) for my collection.
At last, a shortcut back to the MRT underground station.
Then onto a crowded MRT underground train home. [This is the ONLY person on the train NOT wearing a mask . . . an American, of course!]
I have so many wonderful memories from that evening spent among the thousands celebrating Chinese New Year in Bangkok's Chinatown. It was a visual extravaganza . . . and a photographers dream!
