Kudee Jin: Bangkok's Little-Known Sino-Portuguese Neighborhood

Kudee Jin, pronounced Koudi Tchinne in good French (also spelled Kudi Jin, Kudee Chin or Kudi Jeen), is a community located on the right bank of the Chao Phraya, in the Bangkok district called Thonburi.

This kind of article wants to illustrate that outside of the main sites of no-to-be-missed visits, there is a lot to learn about the history of the city and the different communities that make it up, and that, for those who don't like big cities, Bangkok is not just big stores, traffic jams and noise.

The word Jin being a Thai pronunciation which designates the Chinese, the name of this community would be a reference to the Portuguese church built by the Chinese in this district bordering the Chao Phraya, Thonburi side, according to the versions, this name would also simply come from the presence of a Chinese community which had settled in this part of the city.

Welcome to Kudee Jin!

Kudee Jin is the prospect of a beautiful walk that is possible in this little corner of Bangkok, very very little visited, because you have to be a minimum connoisseur and curious, few people venturing to the Thonburi side in general, and yet, there is certainly not only Wat Arun, a temple that needs no introduction and which is also on this side of the river (I will not fail to do a summary on Thonburi one of these days).

A quick overview of this vestige of an ancient kingdom!

A multi-ethnic and religious community, living in harmony

Ancient kingdom? Yes, because before settling on the part now known as Rattanakosin Island, including all the main sites like the Grand Palace and Wat Pho, Thonburi was just before the capital of an ephemeral kingdom, the Kingdom of Thonburi; under the reign of the general who became king, Taksin the Great (who has nothing to do with the politician with the similar name, at the origin of the political unrest in recent years...)

At that time, the Burmese had just sacked Ayutthaya (in 1767), destroying and burning everything to the point that the city had become a field of ruins, too complicated to rebuild.

The little Thai touch is there too!

After finally repelling these invaders barely a year later, thanks in part to the help of the Portuguese, already present in Ayutthaya and having a trade agreement including the supply of European arms and munitions, Taksin founded his new capital 60 km further south, on the banks of the Chao Phraya, on the west side.

He granted land at the southern mouth of the Bangkok Yai Canal (which was once the natural watercourse of the river) to people who took part in the war effort.

Among them were Lao, Khmer, Chinese and Portuguese. This mishmash of multi-ethnic religions and cultures formed the basis of the distinctive character of this riverside community, today known as Kudee Jin.

And this community is a very good example of how to live together, since they have lived in peace for centuries.

By the end of the Thonburi Kingdom (after only 15 years), this part of the city had become a residential area of ​​high-ranking people and bureaucrats, mainly Chinese and especially Portuguese.

Points of interest in Kudee Jin

The small streets of Kudee Jin

Its charm lies in its set of alleys, lined with old wooden houses, some of which are a rare heritage of that time, most old buildings tend to disappear in Bangkok… The one below is the house of Louis Windsor, and, as a person of the wealthy class, had built this beautiful residence on the banks of the Chao Phraya, in a style appreciated at the time, called 'gingerbread house', popularized by the tales of the Brothers Grimm. In its time, this house was known as the "blue house", needless to say that it has lost its splendor, due to lack of maintenance.

Louis Windsor's house. An old shack like you don't see much of in Bangkok anymore...

There we discover a calm place, a clever mix of Chinese and Portuguese traditions, crossing here and there door fronts to the glory of Jesus and, further on, a Chinese sanctuary.

A few street art pieces also decorate sections of the wall. The whole thing gives an impression of being somewhere else, of a place a little out of time and outside of Bangkok itself.

Kian An Keng Shrine

One explanation for the origin of the name would come, as I said above, from the fact that a majority of its inhabitants during the Thonburi period were Hokkiens (Chinese from the Fujian province).

So there is a Chinese shrine there, which is run by a family, generation after generation. There were said to have been 2 shrines originally, Cho Sue Kong and Kuan U, built by the Chinese traders who followed the new King Taksin to Thonburi.

During the reign of King Rama I, at the very beginning of the Rattanakosin era, most of the residents moved to the new Chinatown, located around Soi Sampheng. The two shrines were then left abandoned, until another group of Hokkien Chinese decided to demolish and merge the two sites into one place of worship.

An image of the goddess of mercy, Kuan Im was installed inside in place of the old statues and the site was later renamed Kian An Keng Shrine (also spelled Kian Un Keng).

The Portuguese Church of Santa Cruz

By the fall of Ayutthaya, the Portuguese from the old capital had settled near King Taksin's new palace (located next to the present-day Wat Arun, which was then the royal temple). In recognition of their services, King Taksin granted the Portuguese a plot of land to build a church.

A decree was made official on September 14, 1769, during his royal visit to this village. Because this date coincided with the Catholic feast of the Triumph of the Holy Cross, the church was named Santa Cruz (Holy Cross).

The current version of the Santa Cruz church.

The first version was an all-wooden structure, completed on May 25, 1770, making it one of the oldest religious buildings in Bangkok still in use!! By comparison, Wat Phra Kaew, within the Grand Palace, dates "only" from 1782!

Despite its continued activity, the wooden church gradually fell into disrepair. In 1835, a second church was built to replace the original. It was at this time, due to the Chinese architectural influence of the renovated church, and the workforce, mainly from the neighboring Chinese community, that people nicknamed it Kudee Jin or "Chinese Church".

On the path along the river and leading to the church courtyard.

This is why the church of Santa Cruz is also sometimes called Wat Kudi Jeen. In the meantime, 2 Catholic schools have appeared around the religious building.

By 1913, the second version was already in poor condition, the third and current version of the Santa Cruz Church was then built during the reign of King Rama VI (1910-1925) and completed in 1916.

This version was designed by the two famous Italian architects Annibale Rigotti and Mario Tamagno. These two architects were then under contract with the Siamese government and are at the origin of several famous buildings in the capital, to name just a few, the Hua Lamphong station, the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall, the government hotel (equivalent of Matignon in France).

It was in this corner that I met an artist slumped on his deck chair, calmly painting a portrait of the Virgin Mary; he is a descendant of these Portuguese immigrants and a fervent Catholic.

The name of Kudee Jin

The apt name for this dessert, based on a Portuguese recipe, literally means Kudee Jin foreign dessert.

In the area around the church of Santa Cruz, as mentioned above, many Portuguese immigrants shared these lands with the Chinese in particular, although today most have been assimilated with the local population, this culinary habit has remained, in particular their taste for cakes and pastries.

This "habit", transferred to the local Asian populations, benefited from their little touch, thus creating the dessert farang kudee jin.

The basic recipe is simple and contains eggs, sugar and wheat flour. On top of the cake are added raisins, but it is also found with melon, jujube (a type of Chinese date) or apple.

In this area, you can find several shops that still make and sell this pastry, the secret of which is jealously guarded. I was kindly asked not to take photos of the inside of one of them, even though I was cordially invited to come and taste it next door.

A culinary secret is hidden behind…

What Kalayanamitr

This large second-rank royal temple was built around 1825, after a piece of land bordering the river was donated by the son of a nobleman, a close friend of King Rama III. This nobleman, a descendant of the family whose name was precisely Kalayanamitr (this word meaning "good friend"), wanted to dedicate this land to the construction of a temple, to the glory of Rama III, who named it Wat Kalayanamitr, in gratitude for his friend's devotion.

The proximity to the Chinese community present in Kudee Jin has influenced the architecture of the temple. Although the temple's main wiharn (prayer area housing the main Buddha image) is built in a traditional Thai style, the surrounding buildings such as the ubosot (ordination hall for new monks), are typically Chinese-influenced in terms of architecture and decoration.

Here and there, we find direct references, such as the incense used, the statues of Chinese warriors, and even the statue of Buddha located in these places. The statue in question, present in the upper wiharn, measures 15 m high by 12 m wide and is all covered in gold leaf.

The Thais know this statue as Luang Pho To, called Sam Po Kong by the Chinese, the latter respect this image very much, the belief being that by worshipping it, one can attract good company and travel safely.

The Buddha is imposing by its size (see the lady at the bottom left).

One can also see murals depicting the life of Lord Buddha (Gautama Sidartha) and the ways people lived during the reign of King Rama III.

It also houses the largest bell in Thailand and the temple is home to one of the largest Buddhist bookstores in the city.

In short, like its almost neighbouring temple Wat Arun, this one has an undeniable cachet, but without the world and with this sort of zenitude which reigns around it.

Wat Prayoon

Also known as Wat Rua Lek, Wat Prayoon (officially called Prayurawongsawas Waraviharn, proof that it is not easy to find your way around with place names in Thailand…) is also worth a look if you are walking towards Kudee Jin. The temple is located on the southern part of the community, next to the Saphan Phut (Memorial Bridge), the first road bridge crossing the Chao Phraya River between Bangkok and Thonburi (in 1932).

Also built during the reign of Rama III, this temple, in addition to its large white chedi, has its own little "touch", a small "mountain" of turtles, at the foot of which is a pond where visitors can feed these charming little creatures.

How to get to Kudee Jin

The best way to get there is by boat across the Chao Phraya, the shortest way, from the quay behind the Pak Klong Talat flower market (fresh vegetable and flower market), at the end of the otherwise pleasant Yopdiman Walk, a renovated old dock with restaurants, cafes, etc.

From the pier of Wat Kalayanamit, Kudee Jin is just next door, starting with the nearby Chinese shrine. The church of Santa Cruz is less than 300 m away.

The space separating Wat Kalayanamitr from Kudee Jin (before the new construction, there is now a school on the left and access can no longer be made as such from the temple).

It is also possible to reach Wat Kalayanamit from Wat Arun, you will then have about 1 km of walking. From the flower market, you can cross the Memorial Bridge on foot which crosses the Chao Phraya and joins the southern part of Kudee Jin at Wat Prayoon.

View of the memorial bridge.

Kudee Jin, references and points of interest on a map

What helped me

Because we must give Caesar what belongs to Caesar, here are my (English-language) sources that I used to write this article:

On Santa Cruz Church and Kudee Jin:

• http://www.tour-bangkok-legacies.com/santa-cruz-church.html
• https://www.travelfish.org/sight_profile/thailand/bangkok_and_surrounds/bangkok/bangkok/1783

On pastries:

• http://dimchalkos75.blogspot.com/2015/03/430-kanom-farang-kudee-jin.html

On the Wat Kalayanamit temple:

• https://www.travelfish.org/sight_profile/thailand/bangkok_and_surrounds/bangkok/bangkok/1800
• http://templesinbangkok.com/wat-kanlayanamit

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