Bangkok - Asiatique

For just over six months, Bangkok has had a new "trendy" shopping destination, Asiatique the Riverfront. The plan is to develop it into the largest riverfront shopping venue in Asia. It is located on Charoen Krung Road and has a 300-meter stretch along the bank of the Chao Phraya River. The development probably has had an eye on similar venues in Shanghai.

At present, there is a total of 80,000 square meters, but the developer TCC Land (owned by the Beer Chang mogul) has big plans for the area, including two hotels and a fun/theme park.

100+ years ago, the river banks of Charoen Krung were Bangkok's main international port and this particular plot of land belonged to a Danish company called The East Asiatic Company Ltd. 

TCC Land has tried to maintain the historic atmosphere of the site while turning it into a twenty-first century mall, a "festival market and living museum" concept. The idea behind the bazaar is to bring back the exotic mood of the old days by blending the old customs and history with modern-day recreation. 

It is of course mostly fake and the shops are aimed at tourists longing for useless trinkets at inflated prices. As the food options are not attractive to the local palate, young middle-class Bangkokians flock to Asiatique on weekends for the "cute" photo opportunities the place offers.  Due to that there is only one access road, the traffic jams are horrendous. 

For tourists, easiest way is probably taking a free shuttle boat from the Sheraton Pier near BTS Saphan Taksin. It starts running from about 5 p.m. There is also a Chao Phraya River Express that calls a pier at the temple next door.