Over this weekend, the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority (BMA) are organizing the “Sam Praeng – The Colours of Yesterday Festival”. The event is taking place in the communities of Phraeng Phuthon, Phraeng Nara and Phraeng Sapsaat. There are cultural events, exhibitions and lots of delicious Thai food.
Praeng in Thai means “junction”. This area was formerly the palace of King rama IV’s son. Later on, a road called Praeng Nara was built through the grounds of the old palace. A row of houses of European style, which was popular at that time, were constructed along both sides of the road. Many of them can still be seen today and are in good condition.
The festival starts at about 4 p.m. though it is best to go a bit later as it doesn’t really start to kick off until dusk. There are about three different roads in this area where the festival is taking place and each road has one or two stages set up for shows. This is the long drum parade through the streets.
The highlight for me was the food of course. Many of the shophouses had set up tables in front of their premises and were selling a variety of food as well as other items. Instead of eating one big meal I just walked around snacking on a variety of different food. This is a famous khanom buang shop. Their recipe is slightly different to ones I have tasted before.
The festival continues until about 10 p.m. Each stage has different shows that vary from singing to ballroom dancing. At this stage I watched the long drum dancing which is from the Northeast of Thailand. This show also included sword fighting and flame throwing. I also watched a ten year old kid play a Thai xylophone.
This isn’t one of those big festivals. It is something organized by the local community. But, it is worth taking the time to explore the area as there is a lot of history here and the old architecture is something you don’t often see in a modern Bangkok. It is not too far from the Grand Palace and Sanam Luang.
Map showing the location of Sam Praeng:
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