Chinatown of Bangkok was former called "Sampeng", started when the Chinese merchants moved in 1780s after vacating the land where the Grand Palace now stands.

In 1863, King Mongkut commanded the construction of New Road (Charoen Krung Road) which runs over six kilometers from the Royal Palace till it drops straight into the Chao Phraya River, just south of Krung Thep Bridge now. The Chinatown expanded along Charoen Krung, Krung Kasem and the third road, the Yaowarat Road which was built between Charoen Krung and Sampeng.

Though other attractions as such are thin on the ground, Chinatown is an interesting place to just wander around. A couple of Chinatown's most interesting roads are Yaowarat road, leading westwards from near Wat Traimit, and Sampeng Lane, running parallel south of Yaowarat.

Busy Yaowarat road is Chinatown's main street, and has surely one of greatest concentrations of gold shops anywhere, reflecting the love of gold the Thai-Chinese are often thought to have. There's dozens of them, all dazzlingly brightly colored, and with mainly very good prices. There's also plenty of restaurants round here also, where you can get birds-nest soup, dim sum, shark fin soup and other traditional Chinese delicacies.