Ratchawong Road ( th, ถนนราชวงศ์, ; lit: ''dynasty road'') is a road in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

, Thailand. It is located in the area of

Bangkok's Chinatown Bangkok's Chinatown is one of the largest Chinatowns in the world. It was founded in 1782 when the city was established as the capital of the Rattanakosin Kingdom, and served as the home of the mainly Teochew immigrant Chinese population, who ...

, or popularly known in Thai as Yaowarat.

History

The road was constructed by King Chulalongkorn (Rama V). It links Charoen Krung Road (New Road) at the connecting with Suea Pa Road runs passing

Yaowarat Road Yaowarat Road ( th, ถนนเยาวราช, ; ) in Samphanthawong District is the main artery of Bangkok's Chinatown. Modern Chinatown now covers a large area around Yaowarat and Charoen Krung Road. It has been the main centre for trading ...

at the point which officially known as Ratchawong Intersection. Then aims to

Ratchawong Pier Ratchawong Pier ( th, ท่าราชวงศ์, ท่าน้ำราชวงศ์, ท่าเรือราชวงศ์; sometimes spelled: Rachawongse; designated pier code N5) is a pier on Chao Phraya River in Bangkok. Descr ...

on the bank of Chao Phraya River, total length is about 700 m (229 ft). The pier was a main port for passengers and cargo ships sailing between Bangkok and other provinces. The building along the road were owned by foreign companies (Chinese, Indian, and European) who were running wholesale businesses. The area near Yaowarat Road were once situated shopping centres and restaurants with popular menu of boil rice, ice cream, people of nobel family loved to come for dinner. One of these restaurants was used as a planning facility for a group of naval officers involved in the 1932 revolution. Presently, the old shops of the glorious days can still be seen at the beginning phase of the road while the ending phase near the pier owned by companies and commercial banks. In 1944, the time before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

would soon come to an end, this point used to be the first location of

Bangkok Bank Bangkok Bank Public Company Limited ( th, ธนาคารกรุงเทพ, RTGS: Thanakhan Krung Thep) is one of the largest commercial banks in Thailand. Its branch network includes over 1,165 branches, As of September 2018 within Thail ...

, founded and operated by Chin Sophonpanich. It has become Bangkok Bank, Ratchawong Branch today. At that time, Ratchawong Road could be considered as the real

commercial district A commercial district or commercial zone is any part of a city or town in which the primary land use is commercial activities ( shops, offices, theaters, restaurants and so on), as opposed to a residential neighbourhood, an industrial zone, or ...

of Bangkok. It was the location where many commercial banks are stood, and has expanded to the neighbouring such as Suea Pa, Suan Mali, or even distant places like

Si Lom Si Lom Road (also written as Silom, th, สีลม, ) is a major street in the Thai capital Bangkok, best known for its commercial neighbourhood, which, along with the nearby and roughly parallel Sathon Road, forms one of the city's main bu ...

Sathon Sathon or Sathorn ( th, สาทร, ) is one of the 50 districts (''khet'') of Bangkok, Thailand. The district is bounded by six other districts (from north clockwise): Bang Rak, Pathum Wan, Khlong Toei, Yan Nawa, Bang Kho Laem, and Khlon ...

since both Si Lom and Sathon are not as prosperous districts as in the present. In addition, the end of the road is also the terminal of BMA's

bus line A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

204 (Huai Kwang-Ratchawong Pier). In early 2016, Ratchawong Road ranked as the best

pedestrian street Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town reserved for pedestrian-only use and in whi ...

of Bangkok from Urban Design and Development Center (UddC) due to the two sides surrounded by shaded trees, full of lively stalls and active shophouses.

References

category:Streets in Bangkok {{coord, 13, 44, 32.49, N, 100, 30, 25.13, E, type:adm3rd_region:TH-10, display=title Samphanthawong district category:Road junctions in Bangkok category:Neighbourhoods of Bangkok