A feed-stray-cat walk has ended with the discovery of an old quarter and an alley with derelict buildings worth exploring and not once. Preparing to re-visit the place!

Prawet - River City Bangkok

That was the beginning:

Love these buses!

They have old wooden floors, though reinforced with metal here and there.

Wood makes the vehicle cozier but, if you drop a coin, it has a chance to fall through a crack right onto the street.

The windows are always open (except when it downpours) - this is the only way to air-condition the vehicle. The wind blowing through the bus makes the trip more amusing.

The ticket costs only 10 Thai baht (0.3$), no matter how long your trip is.

Don't think that is only what Bangkok has. There are better buses on the route, with AC, for 14 baht. There are modern AC buses for 25 baht... But I prefer oldies.

Arrived and headed to the riverfront of River City Bangkok Center. This is the Chao Phraya, if you don't know, the river with the huge basin that has been home to Thai civilization all the time:

A restaurant with the Riviera vibes.

Breathing air, planning plans. Stretching the legs after the trip and posing in front of the camera:

We were thinking about visiting IconSiam again, but then changed out minds and set out to Memorial Bridge.

On the way, I noticed two guys with T-shirts, the prints on which strangely echoed - an angel and a bird... What could this mean, I thought?

I was not alone wondering. Two other young men found these T-shirts curious and started to take images of them brom behind, being between us and the angel-and-bird guys. I liked the idea to include all of them in the frame:

Talat Noi

I already posted about Talad Noi's workshops. So, this time, I decided to focus on other things, like:

A sick car... Such an energetic model, with a Mustang as a logo, but the scarf makes her look suffering and comical. A car with migraine. 🙂

Another detail:

Closeup of an old wooden townhouse exterior.

Those famous wires that entwine Bangkok and the whole country:

Cats

But cats were our main mission. Because searching for them in alleys and feeding them is recreational and photogenic. For that reason, I had cat food in my backpack.

There are mostly two-floor buildings in Talat Noi so many cats with homes have an opportunity to take a promenade in lanes.

This graceful tabby cat had a collar and, despite a greedy Gollum-like pose, was eating our gift lazily.

And this guy, although chubby, finished the food with great pleasure:

It could be he tried seafood cat food for the first time. 😀 He was chewing with that funny facial expression, and it was drooling from his mouth.

But some of Talat Noi's cats are truly stray:

These ones had no collars and ate rice people shared with them (on the yellow mat). So, you can call them stray although they can actually have other statuses. Some might have bad owners who don't give them enough food, some of the felines might be only affiliated with some human who occasionally feeds them.

And that one was my favorite:

While other cars were eating, this young man was trying to hypnotize me. He was impressed with my generosity and probably wanted to have me as a friend or even owner. I felt the same about him.

Along Song Wat Road to Ratchawong Road

Meanwhile, we left Talat Noi and were strolling along Song Wat Road with all those old houses.

The intersection with Ratchawong Road, an amazing historic building:

(Alas, no info on Google.maps but I'll keep researching.)

Once this area was the downtown, occupied by premium shops, banks, and restaurants. First paves streets of Bangkok were constructed there, many rich foreigners used to reside and do business in this part of the city.

Another artifact of the past on Ratchawong Road:

Something completely abandoned in an adjacent alley:

This corner of Bangkok is centrally located but big money is no longer there - it has gone to modern areas, made of concrete and glass, with huge shopping malls and skyscrapers. That’s why, probably, poor people often live in formerly expensive buildings with a lifestyle like this:

But! After all, this is what I love! Rough walls, houses in disrepair, abandoned buildings. Gorgeous for photos! I'll be back for more detailed exploration and photography.

Alley of Dereliction

And yet I don’t understand how a place like this, where a square meter is probably super expensive, can be derelict. The building on the right is empty and falling apart. The building on the opposite side looks not better:

Another building was occupied by a banyan (sacred bodhi tree!), tearing the house apart:

I will return with a wide-angle lens to show that marvelous "sacred" destruction...

Back to the River

Finally, we left the dark alleys and came out to the river and bridges.

Much space, much light, and a feeling that the walk ended...

More images and stories from Southeast Asia are ahead! Check out the previous ones on my personal Pinmapple map.

I took these images with a Nikkor 50mm on a Nikon D750 on January 21, 2024, in Bangkok, Thailand