Bang Yi Khan

About 30 photographers joined us at Sirindhorn MRT station at 3:30 pm on Sunday 13th July 2025. The unusually
late meeting time was selected because we wanted to try to reach the Rama VIII Bridge late in the day, when the
dying light would make moody silhouettes of the cable-stayed crossing. Our third attempt at catching 'golden
hour' resulted in our third consecutive failure caused by poor weather. We were also responding to requests
from a few members for some more afternoon walks as Sunday mornings can be a little inconvenient for some.
Veteran BPG member Ketsada IJNS acted as our guest walk leader, having found the route for us while Mark
was away in the US. He took us through the back roads and alleyways of the Bang Yi Khan subdistrict of the
Bang Phlat district. We stopped first at Wat Sing, then followed Khlong Bang Chak to Wat Paorohit, then Wat
Thong, past Wat Bowon Mongkhon Rachaworawiharn, then through the Ban Pune community to the bridge
and the old walls that may have belonged to a palace built for Chao Anouvong, one of the princes of Lao
royalty held hostage in Bangkok following the capture of Vientiane by the Thonburi Kingdom in 1779. From
there, the walk slightly backtracked to Rama 8 Café, an especially picturesque finish point with the namesake
bridge in the background.
Bang Yi Khan gets its name from the canal that forms the southern edge of the neighbourhood, separating
it from the Arun Amarin subdistrict of the Bangkok Noi district. While the area is certainly noteworthy for its
temples, including two that date back to the Ayutthaya Kingdom period from 1351 to 1767 (neither of which
were visited on our walk), Bang Yi Khan is historically best known for its liquor factory. Said to have been
established during the reign of Rama l, the byproducts released into the Chao Phraya River from this factory
supposedly encouraged toli shad (also known as Chinese herring) to leave their natural saltwater environment
to feast on the yeast. The factory was demolished long ago and the site is now the location of the Rama VIII
Memorial Park.
From the 30 photographers who joined the walk (as well as Ben, who sent in photos from the test walk he
joined a couple of months ago), we received 23 submissions with plenty of variety and talent on display. There
were only a couple of subjects that recurred a notable number of times, both Thai women in wide-brimmed
palm frond hats. You can see how different photographers shot these two ladies on the spread on page 52.
We hope that you enjoy them and all of the photographs in this issue of Bangkok Photo Walks and that they will
encourage you to join us on our next walk in August.