Bangkok by Night & Street Food Experience: Diethelm Standard

By visiting Bangkok's Chinatown at dusk you'll experience a unique facet of Bangkok's melting pot. Running along Yaowarat Road from Odeon Circle, the huge unmistakable and striking ceremonial Chinese gate marks the entrance. Dispersing off the main roads is a series of smaller roads, narrow alleys and backstreets. Each of these offer great insight into how the Chinese community have preserved their cultural traditions, celebrations and identities for over two centuries. The area was once renowned for being home to a dense warren of opium dens, gambling joints, brothels and pawnshops. Today it is the great food, fabric and gold that lures people to this area.

Tonight you will taste at least 7 different local dishes, varied from different street food vendors. Examples of the kind of food you will eat include Satay, Sala Pow (steamed bread-like buns with delicious meat or vegetable stuffed centers), Thai-style sukiyaki (wok-fried glass noodles, egg and meats or seafood with a chili sauce) and of course the famous Pad Thai. You will aslo sample some sweet deserts like Bua Loy Nam Khing (rice dough balls filled with sesame paste in hot ginger juice). Local soft drinks and up to 2 beers are also included.

We then head to Pak Klong Talad Market, best visited at night when it has fresh deliveries of flowers, fruit, vegetables and spices. From 20:00 onwards the area emerges as a kaleidoscope of bright, blooming color as vendors and consumers take to the floor to trade in Jasmine, lotus and roses - amongst other things.

Before returning to your hotel, we pass many magnificent temples including the Grand Palace and Wat Pho, beautifully lit up at night.