Glimpse into the city’s Teochew Chinese heritage and traditional community life at Chak Ngaew Ancient Chinese Market. Located in Huai Yai, Bang Lamung, the settlement is more than a century old and was established by Teochew Chinese immigrants from Guangdong. Unlike a typical tourist night market, Chak Ngaew remains a living residential community, with its heritage expressed through its old houses, local traditions, cuisine and religious practices. The Saturday walking street was developed with the community to revive and preserve this heritage, with local residents themselves operating the stalls and sharing recipes and traditions passed down through generations.

Visitors can wander along the narrow streets lined with more than 300 traditional wooden shophouses, many decorated with red lanterns and Chinese signage. Among the highlights are the Chak Ngaew Rama cinema, an old wooden cinema dating back more than 50 years, the former opium-related buildings, the ancient community pond and the Chao Mae Tubtim Shrine (Ama Chak Ngaew Shrine). The shrine is particularly significant to the community: Chao Mae Tubtim is revered as a Chinese goddess associated with protecting sailors and travellers and is regarded as an important spiritual anchor for local residents. The community also has a small lifestyle museum displaying old household objects, photographs and other reminders of everyday life in Chak Ngaew.

​

The market is especially rewarding for visitors interested in traditional Thai-Chinese cuisine. Local vendors prepare dishes using recipes inherited from previous generations, and the community has deliberately retained locally made food and products rather than turning the market into a conventional commercial bazaar. Specialties include hoi jo (deep-fried crab-meat rolls), fish-maw soup, fish noodles, crispy rice vermicelli, braised pork, chicken and duck cooked with Chinese five-spice, ba chang (glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves), Chinese chive dumplings, Vietnamese-style crepes and traditional Chinese pastries. For something sweet, look for galorgee, a pan-fried glutinous rice cake topped with sugar, peanuts and sesame, as well as traditional glutinous-rice dumplings.