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South China Morning Post

Inside Bangkok's Chinatown revival led by chefs, artists and entrepreneurs

Nobody knows the exact date the Assakul family built a row of five modest shophouses in Bangkok's Santiphap Road, but their migration was followed by many other Chinese leaving the struggling Qing dynasty to seek their fortunes abroad, settling what would become one of the world's largest Chinatowns in the late 19th and early 20th century. Advertisement Although the area was outside Bangkok's walls at the time of the city's founding in 1782, it was in the 1890s, when King Rama V ordered the construction of major arteries Song Wat Road and Yaowarat Road, that the neighbourhood became rooted in geography and identity. Exterior of the revamped Baan Trok Tua Ngork, a five-storey building made up of five original shophouses in Bangkok, Thailand. Photo: Natthawut Taeja The Assakuls were a Teochew-speaking family, entrepreneurs who adopted a Thai last name and tried their hand at various trades. When the shophouses first appeared in records, in the 1920s, they were listed as gold sellers and pawn shop proprietors. The youngest generation's grandmother sold a popular brand of nam prik pao, a distinctly sweet and pungent chilli oil that she cooked behind the shophouses. Family lore says she would fire up her wok, brimming with aromatics, at the foot of the stairs in what was then an open-air courtyard. The Assakul siblings revitalised their family's old shophouses in Bangkok's Chinatown, creating Baan Trok Tua Ngork. Photo: Natthawut Taeja By the time the latest generation of Assakuls reached their 20s, the family had long since decamped to the more genteel areas of the Thai capital. Their corner of Chinatown had gained an unsavory reputation, with much nocturnal trade being plied by dealers of illicit products and services after the regular shops had closed. The 1920s shophouses stood abandoned, the Assakuls visiting their ancestral shrine within the complex only for festivals and anniversaries. A few years ago, however, Win, the eldest, now 34 and an architect, along with his younger siblings Sun, Sandy and Sea, started to contemplate the buildings' potential. The structures were always a bit quirky, with balconies on the facade and interior balustrades with neoclassical columns that set the shops apart from others in the area. They thought about doing a big renovation and opening a hotel but lacked the expertise, not to mention customers, thanks to Covid-19. It took some time, but from restaurant pop-ups to concept stores, art exhibitions to workshops, by trial and error, they found their way. An interior shot of Baan Trok Tua Ngork. Photo: Natthawut Taeja Win and his siblings renamed their property Baan Trok Tua Ngork, or Beansprout Alley House, after the vegetable merchants who used to operate nearby. When the renovations were completed in 2022, the result was not exactly a restoration but more of a reimagining of the original shophouses as a single structure, joined behind the facade. Wooden doors have been preserved but the courtyard, once open to the elements, has been covered with a glass roof. Instead of replicating the original walls, surfaces are covered in tinted mirrors to reflect natural light. Colourful tiles, wooden doors and window shutters were repaired and repurposed as interior entrances or wall coverings.