Halal Markets
Halal Travel Guide: Bangkok - Malay Mosque Quarters, Hotels and Markets
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Reposted from the web
Summary: Bangkok has Malay Muslim mosque quarters, halal hotels, river markets, and neighborhood food stops shaped by migration from the Malay world. This account follows the six Malay mosque areas, local markets, hotels, restaurants, and photos in the same order as the original travel note.
There are many Malay-founded mosque communities in Bangkok's city center and suburbs. They come from two main areas: the Pattani region in present-day southern Thailand (the three southern border provinces) and the Kedah region in northwestern Malaysia. I visited three Pattani Malay mosque communities and three Kedah Malay mosque communities on this trip.
Pattani Malay Mosque Communities
The Sultanate of Pattani was a Malay state founded in the 15th century, located in the southernmost part of modern-day Thailand. After the Sultanate of Malacca fell in the 16th century, the Sultanate of Pattani began to rise, becoming a center for trade and culture during that same century.
Thailand began invading the Sultanate of Pattani from the 17th century, and the war of conquest in 1688 caused chaos in the Pattani region. Long-term warfare led to many Pattani Malays being taken to Ayutthaya, the capital of Thailand at the time. In the mid-18th century, thousands of Pattani Malay captives were settled in the southern and southwestern suburbs of Ayutthaya, where they were forced to work to fill the capital's granaries. After Ayutthaya fell in 1767, some Pattani Malays managed to return home, while others stayed in Ayutthaya. A small number of Malays were invited by the Thai king to settle in the new capital, Thonburi, and were released from their status as captives.
Bang O Mosque
The Bang O mosque community is located 5 kilometers downstream from Thonburi and is one of the Pattani Malay mosque communities that relocated from Ayutthaya. During the reign of Rama I (1782-1809), the leader of the Bang O mosque community was granted the title of Director of Maritime Construction (Phraya Yotha Samut). He was responsible for supplying timber to the Thai naval base and established a sawmill. In the late 19th century, a Malay merchant from Songkhla named Mohammat Phet thongkham converted the Bang O mosque community's sawmill from manual labor to steam power and obtained a concession for inland teak. He built a thriving timber export trade in the Bang O mosque community and donated funds to rebuild the Bang O mosque in 1903. In 1924, the timber trade at the Bang O mosque community was interrupted by the construction of an upstream dam. Later, the community shifted to exporting timber and rice to the Middle East, which led to the introduction of more radical Salafi ideas from Arabia.
The main prayer hall of the Bang O mosque was built in 1918. It features a neoclassical style and a very exquisite design. Interestingly, the entrance hall faces southeast toward the banks of the Chao Phraya River, but the main hall behind it faces due west toward the Kaaba. Because of this, the entire building is not symmetrical along a single axis.
Additionally, the office of the Bang O mosque was built in 1920 using the teak gingerbread style, which is very characteristic of that era. This is a decorative style that originated in the United States in the 1860s. It involves cutting wood into small decorative pieces with very rich details. Because gingerbread houses have high ceilings and shutters on all sides to improve ventilation, they were very popular in tropical regions. During the reign of Rama V (1868-1910), many mansions belonging to Thai nobles were built in the teak gingerbread style.
Chakraphong Mosque
After Ayutthaya fell in 1767, the Sultanate of Pattani was briefly free from Thai control. However, with the establishment of the Chakri Dynasty in Thailand in 1782, the Thai government decided to restore its control over the Sultanate of Pattani. In 1786, Thailand sent an army led by the Second King Maha Sura Singhanat to launch a devastating attack on the Pattani Sultanate. To show their loyalty to Thailand, the Pattani Sultanate sent a large number of nobles and craftsmen to Bangkok as hostages. Under the supervision of the Thai Second King, these Pattani Malays were settled inside the northern city wall of Bangkok, near the mouth of the Bang Lamphu canal. Among the many mosque communities (masjid) established by Malay and Cham captives around Bangkok, the Chakraphong mosque community is the only one located inside the city walls.
The Chakraphong mosque was originally called the Bang Lamphu mosque, and it only changed to its current name after Chakraphong Road was built in 1900. Before the 1960s, many Malay residents worked as goldsmiths, setting up stalls to trade along the roads around the mosque community. Today, the Bang Lamphu mosque community is famous for its specialty snacks.
Chinese porcelain collected by the Chakraphong mosque.
The snack stalls at the entrance are very busy, with people lining up to get food to go.
The Nouvo City Hotel where we stayed is only about 200 meters from the Chakraphong mosque, and it is the most famous halal hotel in Bangkok's old town. Near the hotel are piers for two express boat lines on the Chao Phraya River and the Bang Lamphu canal, making it very convenient to reach major Bangkok attractions without getting stuck in traffic.
The hotel has a gym, two swimming pools, and a prayer room, which is very convenient.
The prayer room features Thai-style Islamic decorative art, combining local Thai patterns with Islamic calligraphy, which looks very beautiful.
The hotel's buffet breakfast is also good, offering Thai, Indian, and Western styles, with specialties like coconut milk mushrooms, spicy porridge, and brown rice.
The hotel also has another restaurant called Sara where you can order from a menu, focusing on Thai and Indian food. Before I left for the airport, I ordered a beef fried rice to go; it was inexpensive and came with a box of side dishes. Their service is also quite good.
Mahanak mosque
Not long after Thailand invaded Pattani in 1786, the Pattani Sultanate soon began to resist Thailand again. Thailand invaded the Pattani Sultanate again in 1790 and then sent a second group of Pattani Malay captives to Bangkok, where they were settled in the eastern suburbs and established the Mahanak mosque community.
With the excavation of the Padung Krung Kasem canal and the Mahanak canal, the Mahanak mosque community gradually became a floating market. After the 20th century, a large group of Indian textile merchants on the other side of the canal provided more income opportunities for the mosque community.
Kedah Malay mosque community
The Kedah Sultanate is located in the northwest of present-day Malaysia, west of the Pattani Sultanate, and is another Malay state bordering Thailand.
Al-Athik mosque
In 1803, Thailand forcibly interfered in the internal affairs of the Kedah Sultanate, forcing the Sultan to abdicate and installing a new one, which led to the Kedah Sultanate splitting into two countries in 1808.
In 1808, a group of Malay captives from the Kedah Sultanate arrived in Bangkok. To avoid interaction with previously settled Pattani Malay villages, they were placed in a remote area on the east bank, five kilometers down the Chao Phraya River. These Kedah Malays dug canals to provide irrigation for their village, gradually turning jungle swamps into farmland reaching one kilometer inland, and they established the Al-Athik mosque, which means 'Old Mosque'.
After more than fifty years of isolation, Bangkok's first southern suburban road was finally built, which greatly improved transportation for the Al-Athik mosque community. In the late 19th century, ferry terminals, rice and timber export companies, a tram terminal, a slaughterhouse, and Bangkok's first coal-fired power plant were gradually built around the mosque community.
The Al-Athik mosque community holds a halal market on the morning of the first weekend of every month, which is the best chance to experience Bangkok's halal culture; you can find it on the map by searching for Riverside Market, Charoen Krung 103.
We first bought a pastry similar to Malay steamed rice cakes (dudu kuih), made by putting palm sugar inside rice flour, pressing it into stainless steel molds, steaming it, and sprinkling it with shredded coconut.
Then we drank longan water, which can be mixed with various ingredients like pearl barley, red beans, honey dates, green jelly noodles (cendol), and grass jelly (xiancao), finally topped with palm sugar and ice for a very rich flavor.
At the Al-Athik mosque halal market, we ate the specialty folded pancake (mataba) with a beef and onion filling. Mataba comes from the Arabic word 'Murtabak', which means 'folded'. This pancake likely originated with Arabs in Yemen, was brought to India by Indian merchants along the Arabian Sea, and finally reached Southeast Asia via the Indian Ocean monsoon winds; today it is a street snack shared across the Arabian Peninsula, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, though recipes vary by region. Thailand's mataba is similar to the version in Malaysia, and both are classic street breakfasts.
During the market, the courtyard of Al-Athik mosque hosts various charity activities, including medical check-ups and haircuts, which many middle-aged and elderly people attend.
Bang Uthit Mosque
In 1841, the Siamese-Vietnamese War broke out between Thailand and Vietnam, and King Rama III developed a shipyard in the Wat Phraya Krai area on the lower Chao Phraya River to support naval operations against Vietnam. After the Siamese-Vietnamese War ended in 1845, the shipyard was renovated to support the profitable China trade. After 1885, the shipyard continued to expand and began recruiting Malays from the nearby Al-Athik mosque community. The shipyard provided new settlements for these Malay workers near the shipyard, which became Bang Uthit village.
As the Wat Phraya Krai area continued to develop, rice mills and sawmills were built near the shipyard, and more and more Malays settled in Bang Uthit village. In the early 20th century, Bang Uthit mosque was built, officially separating from the Al-Athik mosque community. When Bang Uthit mosque was built, Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II (reigned 1876-1909) sent an Ottoman shield-shaped emblem, making Bang Uthit mosque the only mosque in Thailand with an Ottoman emblem.
In 2015, the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) renovated Bang Uthit mosque, using Turkish marble to build an Ottoman-style mihrab, minbar, and pulpit, and also added a mezzanine for women. This makes Bang Uthit mosque the only Ottoman-style mosque in Bangkok.
Next to Bang Uthit Mosque, there is a row of food stalls where you can eat authentic Thai halal home-cooked meals. We ordered holy basil chicken rice (gaprao gai) and shrimp porridge. Gaprao is also called holy basil. It is native to South Asia and widely grown in the tropical regions of Southeast Asia. Stir-frying meat with holy basil leaves is a famous Thai dish that I really love. Thai people love to drink meat porridge. The Thai word 'Chok' comes from the Minnan word for 'porridge'. The condiments on the table include fish sauce. I saw people at other tables adding a lot of it to their porridge and noodles, and adding a little really brings out the fresh flavor.
Kocha Itsahak Mosque
Near Sampeng Lane in Bangkok's Chinatown stands the European-style Kocha Itsahak Mosque, built in the late 19th century by the Siamese royal translator Luang Kocha Itsahak.
Luang Kocha Itsahak was of Malay descent from Kedah. He worked in the Siamese Department of Western Trade (Krom Tha Khwa), serving as a translator for foreign ambassadors visiting the Siamese court. He was also responsible for liaising with rulers of Siamese dependencies on the Malay Peninsula and foreign merchants trading with Siam. Luang Kocha Itsahak's father was a Malay merchant from the Kedah Sultanate who moved to Bangkok for business and married a Chinese wife.
After Siam established its capital in Bangkok in 1782, an import and trade district dominated by Teochew merchants gradually formed near Sampeng Lane. Before Don Mueang Airport was built in 1914, people wanting to travel from Bangkok to India, the Middle East, or Europe had to first take a steamship from the Kongsa Pier near Sampeng Lane to Singapore or Penang, then transfer to a cruise ship to continue westward. Because of this, the 19th-century Kongsa Pier was crowded with merchants from all over the world, and many Indians and Malays worked in the nearby warehouses and trading companies.
Seeing that there was no mosque in the Sampeng Lane area, Luang Kocha Itsahak donated a piece of his own land and had his children dismantle the bricks and stones from an old house he owned across the river in the Thonburi area to build this mosque. Today, the mosque is still owned by the descendants of Kocha Itsahak and provides convenience for the friends (dosti) working in Bangkok's Sampeng Lane.
Kocha Itsahak Mosque was originally a wooden building, but it was rebuilt into the current neoclassical structure during the reign of Rama V (reigned 1868-1910). view all
Summary: Bangkok has Malay Muslim mosque quarters, halal hotels, river markets, and neighborhood food stops shaped by migration from the Malay world. This account follows the six Malay mosque areas, local markets, hotels, restaurants, and photos in the same order as the original travel note.
There are many Malay-founded mosque communities in Bangkok's city center and suburbs. They come from two main areas: the Pattani region in present-day southern Thailand (the three southern border provinces) and the Kedah region in northwestern Malaysia. I visited three Pattani Malay mosque communities and three Kedah Malay mosque communities on this trip.
Pattani Malay Mosque Communities
The Sultanate of Pattani was a Malay state founded in the 15th century, located in the southernmost part of modern-day Thailand. After the Sultanate of Malacca fell in the 16th century, the Sultanate of Pattani began to rise, becoming a center for trade and culture during that same century.
Thailand began invading the Sultanate of Pattani from the 17th century, and the war of conquest in 1688 caused chaos in the Pattani region. Long-term warfare led to many Pattani Malays being taken to Ayutthaya, the capital of Thailand at the time. In the mid-18th century, thousands of Pattani Malay captives were settled in the southern and southwestern suburbs of Ayutthaya, where they were forced to work to fill the capital's granaries. After Ayutthaya fell in 1767, some Pattani Malays managed to return home, while others stayed in Ayutthaya. A small number of Malays were invited by the Thai king to settle in the new capital, Thonburi, and were released from their status as captives.
Bang O Mosque
The Bang O mosque community is located 5 kilometers downstream from Thonburi and is one of the Pattani Malay mosque communities that relocated from Ayutthaya. During the reign of Rama I (1782-1809), the leader of the Bang O mosque community was granted the title of Director of Maritime Construction (Phraya Yotha Samut). He was responsible for supplying timber to the Thai naval base and established a sawmill. In the late 19th century, a Malay merchant from Songkhla named Mohammat Phet thongkham converted the Bang O mosque community's sawmill from manual labor to steam power and obtained a concession for inland teak. He built a thriving timber export trade in the Bang O mosque community and donated funds to rebuild the Bang O mosque in 1903. In 1924, the timber trade at the Bang O mosque community was interrupted by the construction of an upstream dam. Later, the community shifted to exporting timber and rice to the Middle East, which led to the introduction of more radical Salafi ideas from Arabia.
The main prayer hall of the Bang O mosque was built in 1918. It features a neoclassical style and a very exquisite design. Interestingly, the entrance hall faces southeast toward the banks of the Chao Phraya River, but the main hall behind it faces due west toward the Kaaba. Because of this, the entire building is not symmetrical along a single axis.
Additionally, the office of the Bang O mosque was built in 1920 using the teak gingerbread style, which is very characteristic of that era. This is a decorative style that originated in the United States in the 1860s. It involves cutting wood into small decorative pieces with very rich details. Because gingerbread houses have high ceilings and shutters on all sides to improve ventilation, they were very popular in tropical regions. During the reign of Rama V (1868-1910), many mansions belonging to Thai nobles were built in the teak gingerbread style.
Chakraphong Mosque
After Ayutthaya fell in 1767, the Sultanate of Pattani was briefly free from Thai control. However, with the establishment of the Chakri Dynasty in Thailand in 1782, the Thai government decided to restore its control over the Sultanate of Pattani. In 1786, Thailand sent an army led by the Second King Maha Sura Singhanat to launch a devastating attack on the Pattani Sultanate. To show their loyalty to Thailand, the Pattani Sultanate sent a large number of nobles and craftsmen to Bangkok as hostages. Under the supervision of the Thai Second King, these Pattani Malays were settled inside the northern city wall of Bangkok, near the mouth of the Bang Lamphu canal. Among the many mosque communities (masjid) established by Malay and Cham captives around Bangkok, the Chakraphong mosque community is the only one located inside the city walls.
The Chakraphong mosque was originally called the Bang Lamphu mosque, and it only changed to its current name after Chakraphong Road was built in 1900. Before the 1960s, many Malay residents worked as goldsmiths, setting up stalls to trade along the roads around the mosque community. Today, the Bang Lamphu mosque community is famous for its specialty snacks.
Chinese porcelain collected by the Chakraphong mosque.
The snack stalls at the entrance are very busy, with people lining up to get food to go.
The Nouvo City Hotel where we stayed is only about 200 meters from the Chakraphong mosque, and it is the most famous halal hotel in Bangkok's old town. Near the hotel are piers for two express boat lines on the Chao Phraya River and the Bang Lamphu canal, making it very convenient to reach major Bangkok attractions without getting stuck in traffic.
The hotel has a gym, two swimming pools, and a prayer room, which is very convenient.
The prayer room features Thai-style Islamic decorative art, combining local Thai patterns with Islamic calligraphy, which looks very beautiful.
The hotel's buffet breakfast is also good, offering Thai, Indian, and Western styles, with specialties like coconut milk mushrooms, spicy porridge, and brown rice.
The hotel also has another restaurant called Sara where you can order from a menu, focusing on Thai and Indian food. Before I left for the airport, I ordered a beef fried rice to go; it was inexpensive and came with a box of side dishes. Their service is also quite good.
Mahanak mosque
Not long after Thailand invaded Pattani in 1786, the Pattani Sultanate soon began to resist Thailand again. Thailand invaded the Pattani Sultanate again in 1790 and then sent a second group of Pattani Malay captives to Bangkok, where they were settled in the eastern suburbs and established the Mahanak mosque community.
With the excavation of the Padung Krung Kasem canal and the Mahanak canal, the Mahanak mosque community gradually became a floating market. After the 20th century, a large group of Indian textile merchants on the other side of the canal provided more income opportunities for the mosque community.
Kedah Malay mosque community
The Kedah Sultanate is located in the northwest of present-day Malaysia, west of the Pattani Sultanate, and is another Malay state bordering Thailand.
Al-Athik mosque
In 1803, Thailand forcibly interfered in the internal affairs of the Kedah Sultanate, forcing the Sultan to abdicate and installing a new one, which led to the Kedah Sultanate splitting into two countries in 1808.
In 1808, a group of Malay captives from the Kedah Sultanate arrived in Bangkok. To avoid interaction with previously settled Pattani Malay villages, they were placed in a remote area on the east bank, five kilometers down the Chao Phraya River. These Kedah Malays dug canals to provide irrigation for their village, gradually turning jungle swamps into farmland reaching one kilometer inland, and they established the Al-Athik mosque, which means 'Old Mosque'.
After more than fifty years of isolation, Bangkok's first southern suburban road was finally built, which greatly improved transportation for the Al-Athik mosque community. In the late 19th century, ferry terminals, rice and timber export companies, a tram terminal, a slaughterhouse, and Bangkok's first coal-fired power plant were gradually built around the mosque community.
The Al-Athik mosque community holds a halal market on the morning of the first weekend of every month, which is the best chance to experience Bangkok's halal culture; you can find it on the map by searching for Riverside Market, Charoen Krung 103.
We first bought a pastry similar to Malay steamed rice cakes (dudu kuih), made by putting palm sugar inside rice flour, pressing it into stainless steel molds, steaming it, and sprinkling it with shredded coconut.
Then we drank longan water, which can be mixed with various ingredients like pearl barley, red beans, honey dates, green jelly noodles (cendol), and grass jelly (xiancao), finally topped with palm sugar and ice for a very rich flavor.
At the Al-Athik mosque halal market, we ate the specialty folded pancake (mataba) with a beef and onion filling. Mataba comes from the Arabic word 'Murtabak', which means 'folded'. This pancake likely originated with Arabs in Yemen, was brought to India by Indian merchants along the Arabian Sea, and finally reached Southeast Asia via the Indian Ocean monsoon winds; today it is a street snack shared across the Arabian Peninsula, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, though recipes vary by region. Thailand's mataba is similar to the version in Malaysia, and both are classic street breakfasts.
During the market, the courtyard of Al-Athik mosque hosts various charity activities, including medical check-ups and haircuts, which many middle-aged and elderly people attend.
Bang Uthit Mosque
In 1841, the Siamese-Vietnamese War broke out between Thailand and Vietnam, and King Rama III developed a shipyard in the Wat Phraya Krai area on the lower Chao Phraya River to support naval operations against Vietnam. After the Siamese-Vietnamese War ended in 1845, the shipyard was renovated to support the profitable China trade. After 1885, the shipyard continued to expand and began recruiting Malays from the nearby Al-Athik mosque community. The shipyard provided new settlements for these Malay workers near the shipyard, which became Bang Uthit village.
As the Wat Phraya Krai area continued to develop, rice mills and sawmills were built near the shipyard, and more and more Malays settled in Bang Uthit village. In the early 20th century, Bang Uthit mosque was built, officially separating from the Al-Athik mosque community. When Bang Uthit mosque was built, Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II (reigned 1876-1909) sent an Ottoman shield-shaped emblem, making Bang Uthit mosque the only mosque in Thailand with an Ottoman emblem.
In 2015, the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) renovated Bang Uthit mosque, using Turkish marble to build an Ottoman-style mihrab, minbar, and pulpit, and also added a mezzanine for women. This makes Bang Uthit mosque the only Ottoman-style mosque in Bangkok.
Next to Bang Uthit Mosque, there is a row of food stalls where you can eat authentic Thai halal home-cooked meals. We ordered holy basil chicken rice (gaprao gai) and shrimp porridge. Gaprao is also called holy basil. It is native to South Asia and widely grown in the tropical regions of Southeast Asia. Stir-frying meat with holy basil leaves is a famous Thai dish that I really love. Thai people love to drink meat porridge. The Thai word 'Chok' comes from the Minnan word for 'porridge'. The condiments on the table include fish sauce. I saw people at other tables adding a lot of it to their porridge and noodles, and adding a little really brings out the fresh flavor.
Kocha Itsahak Mosque
Near Sampeng Lane in Bangkok's Chinatown stands the European-style Kocha Itsahak Mosque, built in the late 19th century by the Siamese royal translator Luang Kocha Itsahak.
Luang Kocha Itsahak was of Malay descent from Kedah. He worked in the Siamese Department of Western Trade (Krom Tha Khwa), serving as a translator for foreign ambassadors visiting the Siamese court. He was also responsible for liaising with rulers of Siamese dependencies on the Malay Peninsula and foreign merchants trading with Siam. Luang Kocha Itsahak's father was a Malay merchant from the Kedah Sultanate who moved to Bangkok for business and married a Chinese wife.
After Siam established its capital in Bangkok in 1782, an import and trade district dominated by Teochew merchants gradually formed near Sampeng Lane. Before Don Mueang Airport was built in 1914, people wanting to travel from Bangkok to India, the Middle East, or Europe had to first take a steamship from the Kongsa Pier near Sampeng Lane to Singapore or Penang, then transfer to a cruise ship to continue westward. Because of this, the 19th-century Kongsa Pier was crowded with merchants from all over the world, and many Indians and Malays worked in the nearby warehouses and trading companies.
Seeing that there was no mosque in the Sampeng Lane area, Luang Kocha Itsahak donated a piece of his own land and had his children dismantle the bricks and stones from an old house he owned across the river in the Thonburi area to build this mosque. Today, the mosque is still owned by the descendants of Kocha Itsahak and provides convenience for the friends (dosti) working in Bangkok's Sampeng Lane.
Kocha Itsahak Mosque was originally a wooden building, but it was rebuilt into the current neoclassical structure during the reign of Rama V (reigned 1868-1910). view all
Reposted from the web
Summary: Bangkok has Malay Muslim mosque quarters, halal hotels, river markets, and neighborhood food stops shaped by migration from the Malay world. This account follows the six Malay mosque areas, local markets, hotels, restaurants, and photos in the same order as the original travel note.
There are many Malay-founded mosque communities in Bangkok's city center and suburbs. They come from two main areas: the Pattani region in present-day southern Thailand (the three southern border provinces) and the Kedah region in northwestern Malaysia. I visited three Pattani Malay mosque communities and three Kedah Malay mosque communities on this trip.
Pattani Malay Mosque Communities
The Sultanate of Pattani was a Malay state founded in the 15th century, located in the southernmost part of modern-day Thailand. After the Sultanate of Malacca fell in the 16th century, the Sultanate of Pattani began to rise, becoming a center for trade and culture during that same century.
Thailand began invading the Sultanate of Pattani from the 17th century, and the war of conquest in 1688 caused chaos in the Pattani region. Long-term warfare led to many Pattani Malays being taken to Ayutthaya, the capital of Thailand at the time. In the mid-18th century, thousands of Pattani Malay captives were settled in the southern and southwestern suburbs of Ayutthaya, where they were forced to work to fill the capital's granaries. After Ayutthaya fell in 1767, some Pattani Malays managed to return home, while others stayed in Ayutthaya. A small number of Malays were invited by the Thai king to settle in the new capital, Thonburi, and were released from their status as captives.
Bang O Mosque
The Bang O mosque community is located 5 kilometers downstream from Thonburi and is one of the Pattani Malay mosque communities that relocated from Ayutthaya. During the reign of Rama I (1782-1809), the leader of the Bang O mosque community was granted the title of Director of Maritime Construction (Phraya Yotha Samut). He was responsible for supplying timber to the Thai naval base and established a sawmill. In the late 19th century, a Malay merchant from Songkhla named Mohammat Phet thongkham converted the Bang O mosque community's sawmill from manual labor to steam power and obtained a concession for inland teak. He built a thriving timber export trade in the Bang O mosque community and donated funds to rebuild the Bang O mosque in 1903. In 1924, the timber trade at the Bang O mosque community was interrupted by the construction of an upstream dam. Later, the community shifted to exporting timber and rice to the Middle East, which led to the introduction of more radical Salafi ideas from Arabia.
The main prayer hall of the Bang O mosque was built in 1918. It features a neoclassical style and a very exquisite design. Interestingly, the entrance hall faces southeast toward the banks of the Chao Phraya River, but the main hall behind it faces due west toward the Kaaba. Because of this, the entire building is not symmetrical along a single axis.
Additionally, the office of the Bang O mosque was built in 1920 using the teak gingerbread style, which is very characteristic of that era. This is a decorative style that originated in the United States in the 1860s. It involves cutting wood into small decorative pieces with very rich details. Because gingerbread houses have high ceilings and shutters on all sides to improve ventilation, they were very popular in tropical regions. During the reign of Rama V (1868-1910), many mansions belonging to Thai nobles were built in the teak gingerbread style.
Chakraphong Mosque
After Ayutthaya fell in 1767, the Sultanate of Pattani was briefly free from Thai control. However, with the establishment of the Chakri Dynasty in Thailand in 1782, the Thai government decided to restore its control over the Sultanate of Pattani. In 1786, Thailand sent an army led by the Second King Maha Sura Singhanat to launch a devastating attack on the Pattani Sultanate. To show their loyalty to Thailand, the Pattani Sultanate sent a large number of nobles and craftsmen to Bangkok as hostages. Under the supervision of the Thai Second King, these Pattani Malays were settled inside the northern city wall of Bangkok, near the mouth of the Bang Lamphu canal. Among the many mosque communities (masjid) established by Malay and Cham captives around Bangkok, the Chakraphong mosque community is the only one located inside the city walls.
The Chakraphong mosque was originally called the Bang Lamphu mosque, and it only changed to its current name after Chakraphong Road was built in 1900. Before the 1960s, many Malay residents worked as goldsmiths, setting up stalls to trade along the roads around the mosque community. Today, the Bang Lamphu mosque community is famous for its specialty snacks.
Chinese porcelain collected by the Chakraphong mosque.
The snack stalls at the entrance are very busy, with people lining up to get food to go.
The Nouvo City Hotel where we stayed is only about 200 meters from the Chakraphong mosque, and it is the most famous halal hotel in Bangkok's old town. Near the hotel are piers for two express boat lines on the Chao Phraya River and the Bang Lamphu canal, making it very convenient to reach major Bangkok attractions without getting stuck in traffic.
The hotel has a gym, two swimming pools, and a prayer room, which is very convenient.
The prayer room features Thai-style Islamic decorative art, combining local Thai patterns with Islamic calligraphy, which looks very beautiful.
The hotel's buffet breakfast is also good, offering Thai, Indian, and Western styles, with specialties like coconut milk mushrooms, spicy porridge, and brown rice.
The hotel also has another restaurant called Sara where you can order from a menu, focusing on Thai and Indian food. Before I left for the airport, I ordered a beef fried rice to go; it was inexpensive and came with a box of side dishes. Their service is also quite good.
Mahanak mosque
Not long after Thailand invaded Pattani in 1786, the Pattani Sultanate soon began to resist Thailand again. Thailand invaded the Pattani Sultanate again in 1790 and then sent a second group of Pattani Malay captives to Bangkok, where they were settled in the eastern suburbs and established the Mahanak mosque community.
With the excavation of the Padung Krung Kasem canal and the Mahanak canal, the Mahanak mosque community gradually became a floating market. After the 20th century, a large group of Indian textile merchants on the other side of the canal provided more income opportunities for the mosque community.
Kedah Malay mosque community
The Kedah Sultanate is located in the northwest of present-day Malaysia, west of the Pattani Sultanate, and is another Malay state bordering Thailand.
Al-Athik mosque
In 1803, Thailand forcibly interfered in the internal affairs of the Kedah Sultanate, forcing the Sultan to abdicate and installing a new one, which led to the Kedah Sultanate splitting into two countries in 1808.
In 1808, a group of Malay captives from the Kedah Sultanate arrived in Bangkok. To avoid interaction with previously settled Pattani Malay villages, they were placed in a remote area on the east bank, five kilometers down the Chao Phraya River. These Kedah Malays dug canals to provide irrigation for their village, gradually turning jungle swamps into farmland reaching one kilometer inland, and they established the Al-Athik mosque, which means 'Old Mosque'.
After more than fifty years of isolation, Bangkok's first southern suburban road was finally built, which greatly improved transportation for the Al-Athik mosque community. In the late 19th century, ferry terminals, rice and timber export companies, a tram terminal, a slaughterhouse, and Bangkok's first coal-fired power plant were gradually built around the mosque community.
The Al-Athik mosque community holds a halal market on the morning of the first weekend of every month, which is the best chance to experience Bangkok's halal culture; you can find it on the map by searching for Riverside Market, Charoen Krung 103.
We first bought a pastry similar to Malay steamed rice cakes (dudu kuih), made by putting palm sugar inside rice flour, pressing it into stainless steel molds, steaming it, and sprinkling it with shredded coconut.
Then we drank longan water, which can be mixed with various ingredients like pearl barley, red beans, honey dates, green jelly noodles (cendol), and grass jelly (xiancao), finally topped with palm sugar and ice for a very rich flavor.
At the Al-Athik mosque halal market, we ate the specialty folded pancake (mataba) with a beef and onion filling. Mataba comes from the Arabic word 'Murtabak', which means 'folded'. This pancake likely originated with Arabs in Yemen, was brought to India by Indian merchants along the Arabian Sea, and finally reached Southeast Asia via the Indian Ocean monsoon winds; today it is a street snack shared across the Arabian Peninsula, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, though recipes vary by region. Thailand's mataba is similar to the version in Malaysia, and both are classic street breakfasts.
During the market, the courtyard of Al-Athik mosque hosts various charity activities, including medical check-ups and haircuts, which many middle-aged and elderly people attend.
Bang Uthit Mosque
In 1841, the Siamese-Vietnamese War broke out between Thailand and Vietnam, and King Rama III developed a shipyard in the Wat Phraya Krai area on the lower Chao Phraya River to support naval operations against Vietnam. After the Siamese-Vietnamese War ended in 1845, the shipyard was renovated to support the profitable China trade. After 1885, the shipyard continued to expand and began recruiting Malays from the nearby Al-Athik mosque community. The shipyard provided new settlements for these Malay workers near the shipyard, which became Bang Uthit village.
As the Wat Phraya Krai area continued to develop, rice mills and sawmills were built near the shipyard, and more and more Malays settled in Bang Uthit village. In the early 20th century, Bang Uthit mosque was built, officially separating from the Al-Athik mosque community. When Bang Uthit mosque was built, Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II (reigned 1876-1909) sent an Ottoman shield-shaped emblem, making Bang Uthit mosque the only mosque in Thailand with an Ottoman emblem.
In 2015, the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) renovated Bang Uthit mosque, using Turkish marble to build an Ottoman-style mihrab, minbar, and pulpit, and also added a mezzanine for women. This makes Bang Uthit mosque the only Ottoman-style mosque in Bangkok.
Next to Bang Uthit Mosque, there is a row of food stalls where you can eat authentic Thai halal home-cooked meals. We ordered holy basil chicken rice (gaprao gai) and shrimp porridge. Gaprao is also called holy basil. It is native to South Asia and widely grown in the tropical regions of Southeast Asia. Stir-frying meat with holy basil leaves is a famous Thai dish that I really love. Thai people love to drink meat porridge. The Thai word 'Chok' comes from the Minnan word for 'porridge'. The condiments on the table include fish sauce. I saw people at other tables adding a lot of it to their porridge and noodles, and adding a little really brings out the fresh flavor.
Kocha Itsahak Mosque
Near Sampeng Lane in Bangkok's Chinatown stands the European-style Kocha Itsahak Mosque, built in the late 19th century by the Siamese royal translator Luang Kocha Itsahak.
Luang Kocha Itsahak was of Malay descent from Kedah. He worked in the Siamese Department of Western Trade (Krom Tha Khwa), serving as a translator for foreign ambassadors visiting the Siamese court. He was also responsible for liaising with rulers of Siamese dependencies on the Malay Peninsula and foreign merchants trading with Siam. Luang Kocha Itsahak's father was a Malay merchant from the Kedah Sultanate who moved to Bangkok for business and married a Chinese wife.
After Siam established its capital in Bangkok in 1782, an import and trade district dominated by Teochew merchants gradually formed near Sampeng Lane. Before Don Mueang Airport was built in 1914, people wanting to travel from Bangkok to India, the Middle East, or Europe had to first take a steamship from the Kongsa Pier near Sampeng Lane to Singapore or Penang, then transfer to a cruise ship to continue westward. Because of this, the 19th-century Kongsa Pier was crowded with merchants from all over the world, and many Indians and Malays worked in the nearby warehouses and trading companies.
Seeing that there was no mosque in the Sampeng Lane area, Luang Kocha Itsahak donated a piece of his own land and had his children dismantle the bricks and stones from an old house he owned across the river in the Thonburi area to build this mosque. Today, the mosque is still owned by the descendants of Kocha Itsahak and provides convenience for the friends (dosti) working in Bangkok's Sampeng Lane.
Kocha Itsahak Mosque was originally a wooden building, but it was rebuilt into the current neoclassical structure during the reign of Rama V (reigned 1868-1910).
Summary: Bangkok has Malay Muslim mosque quarters, halal hotels, river markets, and neighborhood food stops shaped by migration from the Malay world. This account follows the six Malay mosque areas, local markets, hotels, restaurants, and photos in the same order as the original travel note.
There are many Malay-founded mosque communities in Bangkok's city center and suburbs. They come from two main areas: the Pattani region in present-day southern Thailand (the three southern border provinces) and the Kedah region in northwestern Malaysia. I visited three Pattani Malay mosque communities and three Kedah Malay mosque communities on this trip.
Pattani Malay Mosque Communities
The Sultanate of Pattani was a Malay state founded in the 15th century, located in the southernmost part of modern-day Thailand. After the Sultanate of Malacca fell in the 16th century, the Sultanate of Pattani began to rise, becoming a center for trade and culture during that same century.
Thailand began invading the Sultanate of Pattani from the 17th century, and the war of conquest in 1688 caused chaos in the Pattani region. Long-term warfare led to many Pattani Malays being taken to Ayutthaya, the capital of Thailand at the time. In the mid-18th century, thousands of Pattani Malay captives were settled in the southern and southwestern suburbs of Ayutthaya, where they were forced to work to fill the capital's granaries. After Ayutthaya fell in 1767, some Pattani Malays managed to return home, while others stayed in Ayutthaya. A small number of Malays were invited by the Thai king to settle in the new capital, Thonburi, and were released from their status as captives.
Bang O Mosque
The Bang O mosque community is located 5 kilometers downstream from Thonburi and is one of the Pattani Malay mosque communities that relocated from Ayutthaya. During the reign of Rama I (1782-1809), the leader of the Bang O mosque community was granted the title of Director of Maritime Construction (Phraya Yotha Samut). He was responsible for supplying timber to the Thai naval base and established a sawmill. In the late 19th century, a Malay merchant from Songkhla named Mohammat Phet thongkham converted the Bang O mosque community's sawmill from manual labor to steam power and obtained a concession for inland teak. He built a thriving timber export trade in the Bang O mosque community and donated funds to rebuild the Bang O mosque in 1903. In 1924, the timber trade at the Bang O mosque community was interrupted by the construction of an upstream dam. Later, the community shifted to exporting timber and rice to the Middle East, which led to the introduction of more radical Salafi ideas from Arabia.
The main prayer hall of the Bang O mosque was built in 1918. It features a neoclassical style and a very exquisite design. Interestingly, the entrance hall faces southeast toward the banks of the Chao Phraya River, but the main hall behind it faces due west toward the Kaaba. Because of this, the entire building is not symmetrical along a single axis.
Additionally, the office of the Bang O mosque was built in 1920 using the teak gingerbread style, which is very characteristic of that era. This is a decorative style that originated in the United States in the 1860s. It involves cutting wood into small decorative pieces with very rich details. Because gingerbread houses have high ceilings and shutters on all sides to improve ventilation, they were very popular in tropical regions. During the reign of Rama V (1868-1910), many mansions belonging to Thai nobles were built in the teak gingerbread style.
Chakraphong Mosque
After Ayutthaya fell in 1767, the Sultanate of Pattani was briefly free from Thai control. However, with the establishment of the Chakri Dynasty in Thailand in 1782, the Thai government decided to restore its control over the Sultanate of Pattani. In 1786, Thailand sent an army led by the Second King Maha Sura Singhanat to launch a devastating attack on the Pattani Sultanate. To show their loyalty to Thailand, the Pattani Sultanate sent a large number of nobles and craftsmen to Bangkok as hostages. Under the supervision of the Thai Second King, these Pattani Malays were settled inside the northern city wall of Bangkok, near the mouth of the Bang Lamphu canal. Among the many mosque communities (masjid) established by Malay and Cham captives around Bangkok, the Chakraphong mosque community is the only one located inside the city walls.
The Chakraphong mosque was originally called the Bang Lamphu mosque, and it only changed to its current name after Chakraphong Road was built in 1900. Before the 1960s, many Malay residents worked as goldsmiths, setting up stalls to trade along the roads around the mosque community. Today, the Bang Lamphu mosque community is famous for its specialty snacks.
Chinese porcelain collected by the Chakraphong mosque.
The snack stalls at the entrance are very busy, with people lining up to get food to go.
The Nouvo City Hotel where we stayed is only about 200 meters from the Chakraphong mosque, and it is the most famous halal hotel in Bangkok's old town. Near the hotel are piers for two express boat lines on the Chao Phraya River and the Bang Lamphu canal, making it very convenient to reach major Bangkok attractions without getting stuck in traffic.
The hotel has a gym, two swimming pools, and a prayer room, which is very convenient.
The prayer room features Thai-style Islamic decorative art, combining local Thai patterns with Islamic calligraphy, which looks very beautiful.
The hotel's buffet breakfast is also good, offering Thai, Indian, and Western styles, with specialties like coconut milk mushrooms, spicy porridge, and brown rice.
The hotel also has another restaurant called Sara where you can order from a menu, focusing on Thai and Indian food. Before I left for the airport, I ordered a beef fried rice to go; it was inexpensive and came with a box of side dishes. Their service is also quite good.
Mahanak mosque
Not long after Thailand invaded Pattani in 1786, the Pattani Sultanate soon began to resist Thailand again. Thailand invaded the Pattani Sultanate again in 1790 and then sent a second group of Pattani Malay captives to Bangkok, where they were settled in the eastern suburbs and established the Mahanak mosque community.
With the excavation of the Padung Krung Kasem canal and the Mahanak canal, the Mahanak mosque community gradually became a floating market. After the 20th century, a large group of Indian textile merchants on the other side of the canal provided more income opportunities for the mosque community.
Kedah Malay mosque community
The Kedah Sultanate is located in the northwest of present-day Malaysia, west of the Pattani Sultanate, and is another Malay state bordering Thailand.
Al-Athik mosque
In 1803, Thailand forcibly interfered in the internal affairs of the Kedah Sultanate, forcing the Sultan to abdicate and installing a new one, which led to the Kedah Sultanate splitting into two countries in 1808.
In 1808, a group of Malay captives from the Kedah Sultanate arrived in Bangkok. To avoid interaction with previously settled Pattani Malay villages, they were placed in a remote area on the east bank, five kilometers down the Chao Phraya River. These Kedah Malays dug canals to provide irrigation for their village, gradually turning jungle swamps into farmland reaching one kilometer inland, and they established the Al-Athik mosque, which means 'Old Mosque'.
After more than fifty years of isolation, Bangkok's first southern suburban road was finally built, which greatly improved transportation for the Al-Athik mosque community. In the late 19th century, ferry terminals, rice and timber export companies, a tram terminal, a slaughterhouse, and Bangkok's first coal-fired power plant were gradually built around the mosque community.
The Al-Athik mosque community holds a halal market on the morning of the first weekend of every month, which is the best chance to experience Bangkok's halal culture; you can find it on the map by searching for Riverside Market, Charoen Krung 103.
We first bought a pastry similar to Malay steamed rice cakes (dudu kuih), made by putting palm sugar inside rice flour, pressing it into stainless steel molds, steaming it, and sprinkling it with shredded coconut.
Then we drank longan water, which can be mixed with various ingredients like pearl barley, red beans, honey dates, green jelly noodles (cendol), and grass jelly (xiancao), finally topped with palm sugar and ice for a very rich flavor.
At the Al-Athik mosque halal market, we ate the specialty folded pancake (mataba) with a beef and onion filling. Mataba comes from the Arabic word 'Murtabak', which means 'folded'. This pancake likely originated with Arabs in Yemen, was brought to India by Indian merchants along the Arabian Sea, and finally reached Southeast Asia via the Indian Ocean monsoon winds; today it is a street snack shared across the Arabian Peninsula, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, though recipes vary by region. Thailand's mataba is similar to the version in Malaysia, and both are classic street breakfasts.
During the market, the courtyard of Al-Athik mosque hosts various charity activities, including medical check-ups and haircuts, which many middle-aged and elderly people attend.
Bang Uthit Mosque
In 1841, the Siamese-Vietnamese War broke out between Thailand and Vietnam, and King Rama III developed a shipyard in the Wat Phraya Krai area on the lower Chao Phraya River to support naval operations against Vietnam. After the Siamese-Vietnamese War ended in 1845, the shipyard was renovated to support the profitable China trade. After 1885, the shipyard continued to expand and began recruiting Malays from the nearby Al-Athik mosque community. The shipyard provided new settlements for these Malay workers near the shipyard, which became Bang Uthit village.
As the Wat Phraya Krai area continued to develop, rice mills and sawmills were built near the shipyard, and more and more Malays settled in Bang Uthit village. In the early 20th century, Bang Uthit mosque was built, officially separating from the Al-Athik mosque community. When Bang Uthit mosque was built, Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II (reigned 1876-1909) sent an Ottoman shield-shaped emblem, making Bang Uthit mosque the only mosque in Thailand with an Ottoman emblem.
In 2015, the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) renovated Bang Uthit mosque, using Turkish marble to build an Ottoman-style mihrab, minbar, and pulpit, and also added a mezzanine for women. This makes Bang Uthit mosque the only Ottoman-style mosque in Bangkok.
Next to Bang Uthit Mosque, there is a row of food stalls where you can eat authentic Thai halal home-cooked meals. We ordered holy basil chicken rice (gaprao gai) and shrimp porridge. Gaprao is also called holy basil. It is native to South Asia and widely grown in the tropical regions of Southeast Asia. Stir-frying meat with holy basil leaves is a famous Thai dish that I really love. Thai people love to drink meat porridge. The Thai word 'Chok' comes from the Minnan word for 'porridge'. The condiments on the table include fish sauce. I saw people at other tables adding a lot of it to their porridge and noodles, and adding a little really brings out the fresh flavor.
Kocha Itsahak Mosque
Near Sampeng Lane in Bangkok's Chinatown stands the European-style Kocha Itsahak Mosque, built in the late 19th century by the Siamese royal translator Luang Kocha Itsahak.
Luang Kocha Itsahak was of Malay descent from Kedah. He worked in the Siamese Department of Western Trade (Krom Tha Khwa), serving as a translator for foreign ambassadors visiting the Siamese court. He was also responsible for liaising with rulers of Siamese dependencies on the Malay Peninsula and foreign merchants trading with Siam. Luang Kocha Itsahak's father was a Malay merchant from the Kedah Sultanate who moved to Bangkok for business and married a Chinese wife.
After Siam established its capital in Bangkok in 1782, an import and trade district dominated by Teochew merchants gradually formed near Sampeng Lane. Before Don Mueang Airport was built in 1914, people wanting to travel from Bangkok to India, the Middle East, or Europe had to first take a steamship from the Kongsa Pier near Sampeng Lane to Singapore or Penang, then transfer to a cruise ship to continue westward. Because of this, the 19th-century Kongsa Pier was crowded with merchants from all over the world, and many Indians and Malays worked in the nearby warehouses and trading companies.
Seeing that there was no mosque in the Sampeng Lane area, Luang Kocha Itsahak donated a piece of his own land and had his children dismantle the bricks and stones from an old house he owned across the river in the Thonburi area to build this mosque. Today, the mosque is still owned by the descendants of Kocha Itsahak and provides convenience for the friends (dosti) working in Bangkok's Sampeng Lane.
Kocha Itsahak Mosque was originally a wooden building, but it was rebuilt into the current neoclassical structure during the reign of Rama V (reigned 1868-1910).
Halal Travel Guide: Bangkok - Malay Mosque Quarters, Hotels and Markets
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Summary: Bangkok has Malay Muslim mosque quarters, halal hotels, river markets, and neighborhood food stops shaped by migration from the Malay world. This account follows the six Malay mosque areas, local markets, hotels, restaurants, and photos in the same order as the original travel note.
There are many Malay-founded mosque communities in Bangkok's city center and suburbs. They come from two main areas: the Pattani region in present-day southern Thailand (the three southern border provinces) and the Kedah region in northwestern Malaysia. I visited three Pattani Malay mosque communities and three Kedah Malay mosque communities on this trip.
Pattani Malay Mosque Communities
The Sultanate of Pattani was a Malay state founded in the 15th century, located in the southernmost part of modern-day Thailand. After the Sultanate of Malacca fell in the 16th century, the Sultanate of Pattani began to rise, becoming a center for trade and culture during that same century.
Thailand began invading the Sultanate of Pattani from the 17th century, and the war of conquest in 1688 caused chaos in the Pattani region. Long-term warfare led to many Pattani Malays being taken to Ayutthaya, the capital of Thailand at the time. In the mid-18th century, thousands of Pattani Malay captives were settled in the southern and southwestern suburbs of Ayutthaya, where they were forced to work to fill the capital's granaries. After Ayutthaya fell in 1767, some Pattani Malays managed to return home, while others stayed in Ayutthaya. A small number of Malays were invited by the Thai king to settle in the new capital, Thonburi, and were released from their status as captives.
Bang O Mosque
The Bang O mosque community is located 5 kilometers downstream from Thonburi and is one of the Pattani Malay mosque communities that relocated from Ayutthaya. During the reign of Rama I (1782-1809), the leader of the Bang O mosque community was granted the title of Director of Maritime Construction (Phraya Yotha Samut). He was responsible for supplying timber to the Thai naval base and established a sawmill. In the late 19th century, a Malay merchant from Songkhla named Mohammat Phet thongkham converted the Bang O mosque community's sawmill from manual labor to steam power and obtained a concession for inland teak. He built a thriving timber export trade in the Bang O mosque community and donated funds to rebuild the Bang O mosque in 1903. In 1924, the timber trade at the Bang O mosque community was interrupted by the construction of an upstream dam. Later, the community shifted to exporting timber and rice to the Middle East, which led to the introduction of more radical Salafi ideas from Arabia.
The main prayer hall of the Bang O mosque was built in 1918. It features a neoclassical style and a very exquisite design. Interestingly, the entrance hall faces southeast toward the banks of the Chao Phraya River, but the main hall behind it faces due west toward the Kaaba. Because of this, the entire building is not symmetrical along a single axis.
Additionally, the office of the Bang O mosque was built in 1920 using the teak gingerbread style, which is very characteristic of that era. This is a decorative style that originated in the United States in the 1860s. It involves cutting wood into small decorative pieces with very rich details. Because gingerbread houses have high ceilings and shutters on all sides to improve ventilation, they were very popular in tropical regions. During the reign of Rama V (1868-1910), many mansions belonging to Thai nobles were built in the teak gingerbread style.
Chakraphong Mosque
After Ayutthaya fell in 1767, the Sultanate of Pattani was briefly free from Thai control. However, with the establishment of the Chakri Dynasty in Thailand in 1782, the Thai government decided to restore its control over the Sultanate of Pattani. In 1786, Thailand sent an army led by the Second King Maha Sura Singhanat to launch a devastating attack on the Pattani Sultanate. To show their loyalty to Thailand, the Pattani Sultanate sent a large number of nobles and craftsmen to Bangkok as hostages. Under the supervision of the Thai Second King, these Pattani Malays were settled inside the northern city wall of Bangkok, near the mouth of the Bang Lamphu canal. Among the many mosque communities (masjid) established by Malay and Cham captives around Bangkok, the Chakraphong mosque community is the only one located inside the city walls.
The Chakraphong mosque was originally called the Bang Lamphu mosque, and it only changed to its current name after Chakraphong Road was built in 1900. Before the 1960s, many Malay residents worked as goldsmiths, setting up stalls to trade along the roads around the mosque community. Today, the Bang Lamphu mosque community is famous for its specialty snacks.
Chinese porcelain collected by the Chakraphong mosque.
The snack stalls at the entrance are very busy, with people lining up to get food to go.
The Nouvo City Hotel where we stayed is only about 200 meters from the Chakraphong mosque, and it is the most famous halal hotel in Bangkok's old town. Near the hotel are piers for two express boat lines on the Chao Phraya River and the Bang Lamphu canal, making it very convenient to reach major Bangkok attractions without getting stuck in traffic.
The hotel has a gym, two swimming pools, and a prayer room, which is very convenient.
The prayer room features Thai-style Islamic decorative art, combining local Thai patterns with Islamic calligraphy, which looks very beautiful.
The hotel's buffet breakfast is also good, offering Thai, Indian, and Western styles, with specialties like coconut milk mushrooms, spicy porridge, and brown rice.
The hotel also has another restaurant called Sara where you can order from a menu, focusing on Thai and Indian food. Before I left for the airport, I ordered a beef fried rice to go; it was inexpensive and came with a box of side dishes. Their service is also quite good.
Mahanak mosque
Not long after Thailand invaded Pattani in 1786, the Pattani Sultanate soon began to resist Thailand again. Thailand invaded the Pattani Sultanate again in 1790 and then sent a second group of Pattani Malay captives to Bangkok, where they were settled in the eastern suburbs and established the Mahanak mosque community.
With the excavation of the Padung Krung Kasem canal and the Mahanak canal, the Mahanak mosque community gradually became a floating market. After the 20th century, a large group of Indian textile merchants on the other side of the canal provided more income opportunities for the mosque community.
Kedah Malay mosque community
The Kedah Sultanate is located in the northwest of present-day Malaysia, west of the Pattani Sultanate, and is another Malay state bordering Thailand.
Al-Athik mosque
In 1803, Thailand forcibly interfered in the internal affairs of the Kedah Sultanate, forcing the Sultan to abdicate and installing a new one, which led to the Kedah Sultanate splitting into two countries in 1808.
In 1808, a group of Malay captives from the Kedah Sultanate arrived in Bangkok. To avoid interaction with previously settled Pattani Malay villages, they were placed in a remote area on the east bank, five kilometers down the Chao Phraya River. These Kedah Malays dug canals to provide irrigation for their village, gradually turning jungle swamps into farmland reaching one kilometer inland, and they established the Al-Athik mosque, which means 'Old Mosque'.
After more than fifty years of isolation, Bangkok's first southern suburban road was finally built, which greatly improved transportation for the Al-Athik mosque community. In the late 19th century, ferry terminals, rice and timber export companies, a tram terminal, a slaughterhouse, and Bangkok's first coal-fired power plant were gradually built around the mosque community.
The Al-Athik mosque community holds a halal market on the morning of the first weekend of every month, which is the best chance to experience Bangkok's halal culture; you can find it on the map by searching for Riverside Market, Charoen Krung 103.
We first bought a pastry similar to Malay steamed rice cakes (dudu kuih), made by putting palm sugar inside rice flour, pressing it into stainless steel molds, steaming it, and sprinkling it with shredded coconut.
Then we drank longan water, which can be mixed with various ingredients like pearl barley, red beans, honey dates, green jelly noodles (cendol), and grass jelly (xiancao), finally topped with palm sugar and ice for a very rich flavor.
At the Al-Athik mosque halal market, we ate the specialty folded pancake (mataba) with a beef and onion filling. Mataba comes from the Arabic word 'Murtabak', which means 'folded'. This pancake likely originated with Arabs in Yemen, was brought to India by Indian merchants along the Arabian Sea, and finally reached Southeast Asia via the Indian Ocean monsoon winds; today it is a street snack shared across the Arabian Peninsula, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, though recipes vary by region. Thailand's mataba is similar to the version in Malaysia, and both are classic street breakfasts.
During the market, the courtyard of Al-Athik mosque hosts various charity activities, including medical check-ups and haircuts, which many middle-aged and elderly people attend.
Bang Uthit Mosque
In 1841, the Siamese-Vietnamese War broke out between Thailand and Vietnam, and King Rama III developed a shipyard in the Wat Phraya Krai area on the lower Chao Phraya River to support naval operations against Vietnam. After the Siamese-Vietnamese War ended in 1845, the shipyard was renovated to support the profitable China trade. After 1885, the shipyard continued to expand and began recruiting Malays from the nearby Al-Athik mosque community. The shipyard provided new settlements for these Malay workers near the shipyard, which became Bang Uthit village.
As the Wat Phraya Krai area continued to develop, rice mills and sawmills were built near the shipyard, and more and more Malays settled in Bang Uthit village. In the early 20th century, Bang Uthit mosque was built, officially separating from the Al-Athik mosque community. When Bang Uthit mosque was built, Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II (reigned 1876-1909) sent an Ottoman shield-shaped emblem, making Bang Uthit mosque the only mosque in Thailand with an Ottoman emblem.
In 2015, the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) renovated Bang Uthit mosque, using Turkish marble to build an Ottoman-style mihrab, minbar, and pulpit, and also added a mezzanine for women. This makes Bang Uthit mosque the only Ottoman-style mosque in Bangkok.
Next to Bang Uthit Mosque, there is a row of food stalls where you can eat authentic Thai halal home-cooked meals. We ordered holy basil chicken rice (gaprao gai) and shrimp porridge. Gaprao is also called holy basil. It is native to South Asia and widely grown in the tropical regions of Southeast Asia. Stir-frying meat with holy basil leaves is a famous Thai dish that I really love. Thai people love to drink meat porridge. The Thai word 'Chok' comes from the Minnan word for 'porridge'. The condiments on the table include fish sauce. I saw people at other tables adding a lot of it to their porridge and noodles, and adding a little really brings out the fresh flavor.
Kocha Itsahak Mosque
Near Sampeng Lane in Bangkok's Chinatown stands the European-style Kocha Itsahak Mosque, built in the late 19th century by the Siamese royal translator Luang Kocha Itsahak.
Luang Kocha Itsahak was of Malay descent from Kedah. He worked in the Siamese Department of Western Trade (Krom Tha Khwa), serving as a translator for foreign ambassadors visiting the Siamese court. He was also responsible for liaising with rulers of Siamese dependencies on the Malay Peninsula and foreign merchants trading with Siam. Luang Kocha Itsahak's father was a Malay merchant from the Kedah Sultanate who moved to Bangkok for business and married a Chinese wife.
After Siam established its capital in Bangkok in 1782, an import and trade district dominated by Teochew merchants gradually formed near Sampeng Lane. Before Don Mueang Airport was built in 1914, people wanting to travel from Bangkok to India, the Middle East, or Europe had to first take a steamship from the Kongsa Pier near Sampeng Lane to Singapore or Penang, then transfer to a cruise ship to continue westward. Because of this, the 19th-century Kongsa Pier was crowded with merchants from all over the world, and many Indians and Malays worked in the nearby warehouses and trading companies.
Seeing that there was no mosque in the Sampeng Lane area, Luang Kocha Itsahak donated a piece of his own land and had his children dismantle the bricks and stones from an old house he owned across the river in the Thonburi area to build this mosque. Today, the mosque is still owned by the descendants of Kocha Itsahak and provides convenience for the friends (dosti) working in Bangkok's Sampeng Lane.
Kocha Itsahak Mosque was originally a wooden building, but it was rebuilt into the current neoclassical structure during the reign of Rama V (reigned 1868-1910). view all
Summary: Bangkok has Malay Muslim mosque quarters, halal hotels, river markets, and neighborhood food stops shaped by migration from the Malay world. This account follows the six Malay mosque areas, local markets, hotels, restaurants, and photos in the same order as the original travel note.
There are many Malay-founded mosque communities in Bangkok's city center and suburbs. They come from two main areas: the Pattani region in present-day southern Thailand (the three southern border provinces) and the Kedah region in northwestern Malaysia. I visited three Pattani Malay mosque communities and three Kedah Malay mosque communities on this trip.
Pattani Malay Mosque Communities
The Sultanate of Pattani was a Malay state founded in the 15th century, located in the southernmost part of modern-day Thailand. After the Sultanate of Malacca fell in the 16th century, the Sultanate of Pattani began to rise, becoming a center for trade and culture during that same century.
Thailand began invading the Sultanate of Pattani from the 17th century, and the war of conquest in 1688 caused chaos in the Pattani region. Long-term warfare led to many Pattani Malays being taken to Ayutthaya, the capital of Thailand at the time. In the mid-18th century, thousands of Pattani Malay captives were settled in the southern and southwestern suburbs of Ayutthaya, where they were forced to work to fill the capital's granaries. After Ayutthaya fell in 1767, some Pattani Malays managed to return home, while others stayed in Ayutthaya. A small number of Malays were invited by the Thai king to settle in the new capital, Thonburi, and were released from their status as captives.
Bang O Mosque
The Bang O mosque community is located 5 kilometers downstream from Thonburi and is one of the Pattani Malay mosque communities that relocated from Ayutthaya. During the reign of Rama I (1782-1809), the leader of the Bang O mosque community was granted the title of Director of Maritime Construction (Phraya Yotha Samut). He was responsible for supplying timber to the Thai naval base and established a sawmill. In the late 19th century, a Malay merchant from Songkhla named Mohammat Phet thongkham converted the Bang O mosque community's sawmill from manual labor to steam power and obtained a concession for inland teak. He built a thriving timber export trade in the Bang O mosque community and donated funds to rebuild the Bang O mosque in 1903. In 1924, the timber trade at the Bang O mosque community was interrupted by the construction of an upstream dam. Later, the community shifted to exporting timber and rice to the Middle East, which led to the introduction of more radical Salafi ideas from Arabia.
The main prayer hall of the Bang O mosque was built in 1918. It features a neoclassical style and a very exquisite design. Interestingly, the entrance hall faces southeast toward the banks of the Chao Phraya River, but the main hall behind it faces due west toward the Kaaba. Because of this, the entire building is not symmetrical along a single axis.
Additionally, the office of the Bang O mosque was built in 1920 using the teak gingerbread style, which is very characteristic of that era. This is a decorative style that originated in the United States in the 1860s. It involves cutting wood into small decorative pieces with very rich details. Because gingerbread houses have high ceilings and shutters on all sides to improve ventilation, they were very popular in tropical regions. During the reign of Rama V (1868-1910), many mansions belonging to Thai nobles were built in the teak gingerbread style.
Chakraphong Mosque
After Ayutthaya fell in 1767, the Sultanate of Pattani was briefly free from Thai control. However, with the establishment of the Chakri Dynasty in Thailand in 1782, the Thai government decided to restore its control over the Sultanate of Pattani. In 1786, Thailand sent an army led by the Second King Maha Sura Singhanat to launch a devastating attack on the Pattani Sultanate. To show their loyalty to Thailand, the Pattani Sultanate sent a large number of nobles and craftsmen to Bangkok as hostages. Under the supervision of the Thai Second King, these Pattani Malays were settled inside the northern city wall of Bangkok, near the mouth of the Bang Lamphu canal. Among the many mosque communities (masjid) established by Malay and Cham captives around Bangkok, the Chakraphong mosque community is the only one located inside the city walls.
The Chakraphong mosque was originally called the Bang Lamphu mosque, and it only changed to its current name after Chakraphong Road was built in 1900. Before the 1960s, many Malay residents worked as goldsmiths, setting up stalls to trade along the roads around the mosque community. Today, the Bang Lamphu mosque community is famous for its specialty snacks.
Chinese porcelain collected by the Chakraphong mosque.
The snack stalls at the entrance are very busy, with people lining up to get food to go.
The Nouvo City Hotel where we stayed is only about 200 meters from the Chakraphong mosque, and it is the most famous halal hotel in Bangkok's old town. Near the hotel are piers for two express boat lines on the Chao Phraya River and the Bang Lamphu canal, making it very convenient to reach major Bangkok attractions without getting stuck in traffic.
The hotel has a gym, two swimming pools, and a prayer room, which is very convenient.
The prayer room features Thai-style Islamic decorative art, combining local Thai patterns with Islamic calligraphy, which looks very beautiful.
The hotel's buffet breakfast is also good, offering Thai, Indian, and Western styles, with specialties like coconut milk mushrooms, spicy porridge, and brown rice.
The hotel also has another restaurant called Sara where you can order from a menu, focusing on Thai and Indian food. Before I left for the airport, I ordered a beef fried rice to go; it was inexpensive and came with a box of side dishes. Their service is also quite good.
Mahanak mosque
Not long after Thailand invaded Pattani in 1786, the Pattani Sultanate soon began to resist Thailand again. Thailand invaded the Pattani Sultanate again in 1790 and then sent a second group of Pattani Malay captives to Bangkok, where they were settled in the eastern suburbs and established the Mahanak mosque community.
With the excavation of the Padung Krung Kasem canal and the Mahanak canal, the Mahanak mosque community gradually became a floating market. After the 20th century, a large group of Indian textile merchants on the other side of the canal provided more income opportunities for the mosque community.
Kedah Malay mosque community
The Kedah Sultanate is located in the northwest of present-day Malaysia, west of the Pattani Sultanate, and is another Malay state bordering Thailand.
Al-Athik mosque
In 1803, Thailand forcibly interfered in the internal affairs of the Kedah Sultanate, forcing the Sultan to abdicate and installing a new one, which led to the Kedah Sultanate splitting into two countries in 1808.
In 1808, a group of Malay captives from the Kedah Sultanate arrived in Bangkok. To avoid interaction with previously settled Pattani Malay villages, they were placed in a remote area on the east bank, five kilometers down the Chao Phraya River. These Kedah Malays dug canals to provide irrigation for their village, gradually turning jungle swamps into farmland reaching one kilometer inland, and they established the Al-Athik mosque, which means 'Old Mosque'.
After more than fifty years of isolation, Bangkok's first southern suburban road was finally built, which greatly improved transportation for the Al-Athik mosque community. In the late 19th century, ferry terminals, rice and timber export companies, a tram terminal, a slaughterhouse, and Bangkok's first coal-fired power plant were gradually built around the mosque community.
The Al-Athik mosque community holds a halal market on the morning of the first weekend of every month, which is the best chance to experience Bangkok's halal culture; you can find it on the map by searching for Riverside Market, Charoen Krung 103.
We first bought a pastry similar to Malay steamed rice cakes (dudu kuih), made by putting palm sugar inside rice flour, pressing it into stainless steel molds, steaming it, and sprinkling it with shredded coconut.
Then we drank longan water, which can be mixed with various ingredients like pearl barley, red beans, honey dates, green jelly noodles (cendol), and grass jelly (xiancao), finally topped with palm sugar and ice for a very rich flavor.
At the Al-Athik mosque halal market, we ate the specialty folded pancake (mataba) with a beef and onion filling. Mataba comes from the Arabic word 'Murtabak', which means 'folded'. This pancake likely originated with Arabs in Yemen, was brought to India by Indian merchants along the Arabian Sea, and finally reached Southeast Asia via the Indian Ocean monsoon winds; today it is a street snack shared across the Arabian Peninsula, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, though recipes vary by region. Thailand's mataba is similar to the version in Malaysia, and both are classic street breakfasts.
During the market, the courtyard of Al-Athik mosque hosts various charity activities, including medical check-ups and haircuts, which many middle-aged and elderly people attend.
Bang Uthit Mosque
In 1841, the Siamese-Vietnamese War broke out between Thailand and Vietnam, and King Rama III developed a shipyard in the Wat Phraya Krai area on the lower Chao Phraya River to support naval operations against Vietnam. After the Siamese-Vietnamese War ended in 1845, the shipyard was renovated to support the profitable China trade. After 1885, the shipyard continued to expand and began recruiting Malays from the nearby Al-Athik mosque community. The shipyard provided new settlements for these Malay workers near the shipyard, which became Bang Uthit village.
As the Wat Phraya Krai area continued to develop, rice mills and sawmills were built near the shipyard, and more and more Malays settled in Bang Uthit village. In the early 20th century, Bang Uthit mosque was built, officially separating from the Al-Athik mosque community. When Bang Uthit mosque was built, Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II (reigned 1876-1909) sent an Ottoman shield-shaped emblem, making Bang Uthit mosque the only mosque in Thailand with an Ottoman emblem.
In 2015, the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) renovated Bang Uthit mosque, using Turkish marble to build an Ottoman-style mihrab, minbar, and pulpit, and also added a mezzanine for women. This makes Bang Uthit mosque the only Ottoman-style mosque in Bangkok.
Next to Bang Uthit Mosque, there is a row of food stalls where you can eat authentic Thai halal home-cooked meals. We ordered holy basil chicken rice (gaprao gai) and shrimp porridge. Gaprao is also called holy basil. It is native to South Asia and widely grown in the tropical regions of Southeast Asia. Stir-frying meat with holy basil leaves is a famous Thai dish that I really love. Thai people love to drink meat porridge. The Thai word 'Chok' comes from the Minnan word for 'porridge'. The condiments on the table include fish sauce. I saw people at other tables adding a lot of it to their porridge and noodles, and adding a little really brings out the fresh flavor.
Kocha Itsahak Mosque
Near Sampeng Lane in Bangkok's Chinatown stands the European-style Kocha Itsahak Mosque, built in the late 19th century by the Siamese royal translator Luang Kocha Itsahak.
Luang Kocha Itsahak was of Malay descent from Kedah. He worked in the Siamese Department of Western Trade (Krom Tha Khwa), serving as a translator for foreign ambassadors visiting the Siamese court. He was also responsible for liaising with rulers of Siamese dependencies on the Malay Peninsula and foreign merchants trading with Siam. Luang Kocha Itsahak's father was a Malay merchant from the Kedah Sultanate who moved to Bangkok for business and married a Chinese wife.
After Siam established its capital in Bangkok in 1782, an import and trade district dominated by Teochew merchants gradually formed near Sampeng Lane. Before Don Mueang Airport was built in 1914, people wanting to travel from Bangkok to India, the Middle East, or Europe had to first take a steamship from the Kongsa Pier near Sampeng Lane to Singapore or Penang, then transfer to a cruise ship to continue westward. Because of this, the 19th-century Kongsa Pier was crowded with merchants from all over the world, and many Indians and Malays worked in the nearby warehouses and trading companies.
Seeing that there was no mosque in the Sampeng Lane area, Luang Kocha Itsahak donated a piece of his own land and had his children dismantle the bricks and stones from an old house he owned across the river in the Thonburi area to build this mosque. Today, the mosque is still owned by the descendants of Kocha Itsahak and provides convenience for the friends (dosti) working in Bangkok's Sampeng Lane.
Kocha Itsahak Mosque was originally a wooden building, but it was rebuilt into the current neoclassical structure during the reign of Rama V (reigned 1868-1910). view all
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Summary: Bangkok has Malay Muslim mosque quarters, halal hotels, river markets, and neighborhood food stops shaped by migration from the Malay world. This account follows the six Malay mosque areas, local markets, hotels, restaurants, and photos in the same order as the original travel note.
There are many Malay-founded mosque communities in Bangkok's city center and suburbs. They come from two main areas: the Pattani region in present-day southern Thailand (the three southern border provinces) and the Kedah region in northwestern Malaysia. I visited three Pattani Malay mosque communities and three Kedah Malay mosque communities on this trip.
Pattani Malay Mosque Communities
The Sultanate of Pattani was a Malay state founded in the 15th century, located in the southernmost part of modern-day Thailand. After the Sultanate of Malacca fell in the 16th century, the Sultanate of Pattani began to rise, becoming a center for trade and culture during that same century.
Thailand began invading the Sultanate of Pattani from the 17th century, and the war of conquest in 1688 caused chaos in the Pattani region. Long-term warfare led to many Pattani Malays being taken to Ayutthaya, the capital of Thailand at the time. In the mid-18th century, thousands of Pattani Malay captives were settled in the southern and southwestern suburbs of Ayutthaya, where they were forced to work to fill the capital's granaries. After Ayutthaya fell in 1767, some Pattani Malays managed to return home, while others stayed in Ayutthaya. A small number of Malays were invited by the Thai king to settle in the new capital, Thonburi, and were released from their status as captives.
Bang O Mosque
The Bang O mosque community is located 5 kilometers downstream from Thonburi and is one of the Pattani Malay mosque communities that relocated from Ayutthaya. During the reign of Rama I (1782-1809), the leader of the Bang O mosque community was granted the title of Director of Maritime Construction (Phraya Yotha Samut). He was responsible for supplying timber to the Thai naval base and established a sawmill. In the late 19th century, a Malay merchant from Songkhla named Mohammat Phet thongkham converted the Bang O mosque community's sawmill from manual labor to steam power and obtained a concession for inland teak. He built a thriving timber export trade in the Bang O mosque community and donated funds to rebuild the Bang O mosque in 1903. In 1924, the timber trade at the Bang O mosque community was interrupted by the construction of an upstream dam. Later, the community shifted to exporting timber and rice to the Middle East, which led to the introduction of more radical Salafi ideas from Arabia.
The main prayer hall of the Bang O mosque was built in 1918. It features a neoclassical style and a very exquisite design. Interestingly, the entrance hall faces southeast toward the banks of the Chao Phraya River, but the main hall behind it faces due west toward the Kaaba. Because of this, the entire building is not symmetrical along a single axis.
Additionally, the office of the Bang O mosque was built in 1920 using the teak gingerbread style, which is very characteristic of that era. This is a decorative style that originated in the United States in the 1860s. It involves cutting wood into small decorative pieces with very rich details. Because gingerbread houses have high ceilings and shutters on all sides to improve ventilation, they were very popular in tropical regions. During the reign of Rama V (1868-1910), many mansions belonging to Thai nobles were built in the teak gingerbread style.
Chakraphong Mosque
After Ayutthaya fell in 1767, the Sultanate of Pattani was briefly free from Thai control. However, with the establishment of the Chakri Dynasty in Thailand in 1782, the Thai government decided to restore its control over the Sultanate of Pattani. In 1786, Thailand sent an army led by the Second King Maha Sura Singhanat to launch a devastating attack on the Pattani Sultanate. To show their loyalty to Thailand, the Pattani Sultanate sent a large number of nobles and craftsmen to Bangkok as hostages. Under the supervision of the Thai Second King, these Pattani Malays were settled inside the northern city wall of Bangkok, near the mouth of the Bang Lamphu canal. Among the many mosque communities (masjid) established by Malay and Cham captives around Bangkok, the Chakraphong mosque community is the only one located inside the city walls.
The Chakraphong mosque was originally called the Bang Lamphu mosque, and it only changed to its current name after Chakraphong Road was built in 1900. Before the 1960s, many Malay residents worked as goldsmiths, setting up stalls to trade along the roads around the mosque community. Today, the Bang Lamphu mosque community is famous for its specialty snacks.
Chinese porcelain collected by the Chakraphong mosque.
The snack stalls at the entrance are very busy, with people lining up to get food to go.
The Nouvo City Hotel where we stayed is only about 200 meters from the Chakraphong mosque, and it is the most famous halal hotel in Bangkok's old town. Near the hotel are piers for two express boat lines on the Chao Phraya River and the Bang Lamphu canal, making it very convenient to reach major Bangkok attractions without getting stuck in traffic.
The hotel has a gym, two swimming pools, and a prayer room, which is very convenient.
The prayer room features Thai-style Islamic decorative art, combining local Thai patterns with Islamic calligraphy, which looks very beautiful.
The hotel's buffet breakfast is also good, offering Thai, Indian, and Western styles, with specialties like coconut milk mushrooms, spicy porridge, and brown rice.
The hotel also has another restaurant called Sara where you can order from a menu, focusing on Thai and Indian food. Before I left for the airport, I ordered a beef fried rice to go; it was inexpensive and came with a box of side dishes. Their service is also quite good.
Mahanak mosque
Not long after Thailand invaded Pattani in 1786, the Pattani Sultanate soon began to resist Thailand again. Thailand invaded the Pattani Sultanate again in 1790 and then sent a second group of Pattani Malay captives to Bangkok, where they were settled in the eastern suburbs and established the Mahanak mosque community.
With the excavation of the Padung Krung Kasem canal and the Mahanak canal, the Mahanak mosque community gradually became a floating market. After the 20th century, a large group of Indian textile merchants on the other side of the canal provided more income opportunities for the mosque community.
Kedah Malay mosque community
The Kedah Sultanate is located in the northwest of present-day Malaysia, west of the Pattani Sultanate, and is another Malay state bordering Thailand.
Al-Athik mosque
In 1803, Thailand forcibly interfered in the internal affairs of the Kedah Sultanate, forcing the Sultan to abdicate and installing a new one, which led to the Kedah Sultanate splitting into two countries in 1808.
In 1808, a group of Malay captives from the Kedah Sultanate arrived in Bangkok. To avoid interaction with previously settled Pattani Malay villages, they were placed in a remote area on the east bank, five kilometers down the Chao Phraya River. These Kedah Malays dug canals to provide irrigation for their village, gradually turning jungle swamps into farmland reaching one kilometer inland, and they established the Al-Athik mosque, which means 'Old Mosque'.
After more than fifty years of isolation, Bangkok's first southern suburban road was finally built, which greatly improved transportation for the Al-Athik mosque community. In the late 19th century, ferry terminals, rice and timber export companies, a tram terminal, a slaughterhouse, and Bangkok's first coal-fired power plant were gradually built around the mosque community.
The Al-Athik mosque community holds a halal market on the morning of the first weekend of every month, which is the best chance to experience Bangkok's halal culture; you can find it on the map by searching for Riverside Market, Charoen Krung 103.
We first bought a pastry similar to Malay steamed rice cakes (dudu kuih), made by putting palm sugar inside rice flour, pressing it into stainless steel molds, steaming it, and sprinkling it with shredded coconut.
Then we drank longan water, which can be mixed with various ingredients like pearl barley, red beans, honey dates, green jelly noodles (cendol), and grass jelly (xiancao), finally topped with palm sugar and ice for a very rich flavor.
At the Al-Athik mosque halal market, we ate the specialty folded pancake (mataba) with a beef and onion filling. Mataba comes from the Arabic word 'Murtabak', which means 'folded'. This pancake likely originated with Arabs in Yemen, was brought to India by Indian merchants along the Arabian Sea, and finally reached Southeast Asia via the Indian Ocean monsoon winds; today it is a street snack shared across the Arabian Peninsula, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, though recipes vary by region. Thailand's mataba is similar to the version in Malaysia, and both are classic street breakfasts.
During the market, the courtyard of Al-Athik mosque hosts various charity activities, including medical check-ups and haircuts, which many middle-aged and elderly people attend.
Bang Uthit Mosque
In 1841, the Siamese-Vietnamese War broke out between Thailand and Vietnam, and King Rama III developed a shipyard in the Wat Phraya Krai area on the lower Chao Phraya River to support naval operations against Vietnam. After the Siamese-Vietnamese War ended in 1845, the shipyard was renovated to support the profitable China trade. After 1885, the shipyard continued to expand and began recruiting Malays from the nearby Al-Athik mosque community. The shipyard provided new settlements for these Malay workers near the shipyard, which became Bang Uthit village.
As the Wat Phraya Krai area continued to develop, rice mills and sawmills were built near the shipyard, and more and more Malays settled in Bang Uthit village. In the early 20th century, Bang Uthit mosque was built, officially separating from the Al-Athik mosque community. When Bang Uthit mosque was built, Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II (reigned 1876-1909) sent an Ottoman shield-shaped emblem, making Bang Uthit mosque the only mosque in Thailand with an Ottoman emblem.
In 2015, the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) renovated Bang Uthit mosque, using Turkish marble to build an Ottoman-style mihrab, minbar, and pulpit, and also added a mezzanine for women. This makes Bang Uthit mosque the only Ottoman-style mosque in Bangkok.
Next to Bang Uthit Mosque, there is a row of food stalls where you can eat authentic Thai halal home-cooked meals. We ordered holy basil chicken rice (gaprao gai) and shrimp porridge. Gaprao is also called holy basil. It is native to South Asia and widely grown in the tropical regions of Southeast Asia. Stir-frying meat with holy basil leaves is a famous Thai dish that I really love. Thai people love to drink meat porridge. The Thai word 'Chok' comes from the Minnan word for 'porridge'. The condiments on the table include fish sauce. I saw people at other tables adding a lot of it to their porridge and noodles, and adding a little really brings out the fresh flavor.
Kocha Itsahak Mosque
Near Sampeng Lane in Bangkok's Chinatown stands the European-style Kocha Itsahak Mosque, built in the late 19th century by the Siamese royal translator Luang Kocha Itsahak.
Luang Kocha Itsahak was of Malay descent from Kedah. He worked in the Siamese Department of Western Trade (Krom Tha Khwa), serving as a translator for foreign ambassadors visiting the Siamese court. He was also responsible for liaising with rulers of Siamese dependencies on the Malay Peninsula and foreign merchants trading with Siam. Luang Kocha Itsahak's father was a Malay merchant from the Kedah Sultanate who moved to Bangkok for business and married a Chinese wife.
After Siam established its capital in Bangkok in 1782, an import and trade district dominated by Teochew merchants gradually formed near Sampeng Lane. Before Don Mueang Airport was built in 1914, people wanting to travel from Bangkok to India, the Middle East, or Europe had to first take a steamship from the Kongsa Pier near Sampeng Lane to Singapore or Penang, then transfer to a cruise ship to continue westward. Because of this, the 19th-century Kongsa Pier was crowded with merchants from all over the world, and many Indians and Malays worked in the nearby warehouses and trading companies.
Seeing that there was no mosque in the Sampeng Lane area, Luang Kocha Itsahak donated a piece of his own land and had his children dismantle the bricks and stones from an old house he owned across the river in the Thonburi area to build this mosque. Today, the mosque is still owned by the descendants of Kocha Itsahak and provides convenience for the friends (dosti) working in Bangkok's Sampeng Lane.
Kocha Itsahak Mosque was originally a wooden building, but it was rebuilt into the current neoclassical structure during the reign of Rama V (reigned 1868-1910).
Summary: Bangkok has Malay Muslim mosque quarters, halal hotels, river markets, and neighborhood food stops shaped by migration from the Malay world. This account follows the six Malay mosque areas, local markets, hotels, restaurants, and photos in the same order as the original travel note.
There are many Malay-founded mosque communities in Bangkok's city center and suburbs. They come from two main areas: the Pattani region in present-day southern Thailand (the three southern border provinces) and the Kedah region in northwestern Malaysia. I visited three Pattani Malay mosque communities and three Kedah Malay mosque communities on this trip.
Pattani Malay Mosque Communities
The Sultanate of Pattani was a Malay state founded in the 15th century, located in the southernmost part of modern-day Thailand. After the Sultanate of Malacca fell in the 16th century, the Sultanate of Pattani began to rise, becoming a center for trade and culture during that same century.
Thailand began invading the Sultanate of Pattani from the 17th century, and the war of conquest in 1688 caused chaos in the Pattani region. Long-term warfare led to many Pattani Malays being taken to Ayutthaya, the capital of Thailand at the time. In the mid-18th century, thousands of Pattani Malay captives were settled in the southern and southwestern suburbs of Ayutthaya, where they were forced to work to fill the capital's granaries. After Ayutthaya fell in 1767, some Pattani Malays managed to return home, while others stayed in Ayutthaya. A small number of Malays were invited by the Thai king to settle in the new capital, Thonburi, and were released from their status as captives.
Bang O Mosque
The Bang O mosque community is located 5 kilometers downstream from Thonburi and is one of the Pattani Malay mosque communities that relocated from Ayutthaya. During the reign of Rama I (1782-1809), the leader of the Bang O mosque community was granted the title of Director of Maritime Construction (Phraya Yotha Samut). He was responsible for supplying timber to the Thai naval base and established a sawmill. In the late 19th century, a Malay merchant from Songkhla named Mohammat Phet thongkham converted the Bang O mosque community's sawmill from manual labor to steam power and obtained a concession for inland teak. He built a thriving timber export trade in the Bang O mosque community and donated funds to rebuild the Bang O mosque in 1903. In 1924, the timber trade at the Bang O mosque community was interrupted by the construction of an upstream dam. Later, the community shifted to exporting timber and rice to the Middle East, which led to the introduction of more radical Salafi ideas from Arabia.
The main prayer hall of the Bang O mosque was built in 1918. It features a neoclassical style and a very exquisite design. Interestingly, the entrance hall faces southeast toward the banks of the Chao Phraya River, but the main hall behind it faces due west toward the Kaaba. Because of this, the entire building is not symmetrical along a single axis.
Additionally, the office of the Bang O mosque was built in 1920 using the teak gingerbread style, which is very characteristic of that era. This is a decorative style that originated in the United States in the 1860s. It involves cutting wood into small decorative pieces with very rich details. Because gingerbread houses have high ceilings and shutters on all sides to improve ventilation, they were very popular in tropical regions. During the reign of Rama V (1868-1910), many mansions belonging to Thai nobles were built in the teak gingerbread style.
Chakraphong Mosque
After Ayutthaya fell in 1767, the Sultanate of Pattani was briefly free from Thai control. However, with the establishment of the Chakri Dynasty in Thailand in 1782, the Thai government decided to restore its control over the Sultanate of Pattani. In 1786, Thailand sent an army led by the Second King Maha Sura Singhanat to launch a devastating attack on the Pattani Sultanate. To show their loyalty to Thailand, the Pattani Sultanate sent a large number of nobles and craftsmen to Bangkok as hostages. Under the supervision of the Thai Second King, these Pattani Malays were settled inside the northern city wall of Bangkok, near the mouth of the Bang Lamphu canal. Among the many mosque communities (masjid) established by Malay and Cham captives around Bangkok, the Chakraphong mosque community is the only one located inside the city walls.
The Chakraphong mosque was originally called the Bang Lamphu mosque, and it only changed to its current name after Chakraphong Road was built in 1900. Before the 1960s, many Malay residents worked as goldsmiths, setting up stalls to trade along the roads around the mosque community. Today, the Bang Lamphu mosque community is famous for its specialty snacks.
Chinese porcelain collected by the Chakraphong mosque.
The snack stalls at the entrance are very busy, with people lining up to get food to go.
The Nouvo City Hotel where we stayed is only about 200 meters from the Chakraphong mosque, and it is the most famous halal hotel in Bangkok's old town. Near the hotel are piers for two express boat lines on the Chao Phraya River and the Bang Lamphu canal, making it very convenient to reach major Bangkok attractions without getting stuck in traffic.
The hotel has a gym, two swimming pools, and a prayer room, which is very convenient.
The prayer room features Thai-style Islamic decorative art, combining local Thai patterns with Islamic calligraphy, which looks very beautiful.
The hotel's buffet breakfast is also good, offering Thai, Indian, and Western styles, with specialties like coconut milk mushrooms, spicy porridge, and brown rice.
The hotel also has another restaurant called Sara where you can order from a menu, focusing on Thai and Indian food. Before I left for the airport, I ordered a beef fried rice to go; it was inexpensive and came with a box of side dishes. Their service is also quite good.
Mahanak mosque
Not long after Thailand invaded Pattani in 1786, the Pattani Sultanate soon began to resist Thailand again. Thailand invaded the Pattani Sultanate again in 1790 and then sent a second group of Pattani Malay captives to Bangkok, where they were settled in the eastern suburbs and established the Mahanak mosque community.
With the excavation of the Padung Krung Kasem canal and the Mahanak canal, the Mahanak mosque community gradually became a floating market. After the 20th century, a large group of Indian textile merchants on the other side of the canal provided more income opportunities for the mosque community.
Kedah Malay mosque community
The Kedah Sultanate is located in the northwest of present-day Malaysia, west of the Pattani Sultanate, and is another Malay state bordering Thailand.
Al-Athik mosque
In 1803, Thailand forcibly interfered in the internal affairs of the Kedah Sultanate, forcing the Sultan to abdicate and installing a new one, which led to the Kedah Sultanate splitting into two countries in 1808.
In 1808, a group of Malay captives from the Kedah Sultanate arrived in Bangkok. To avoid interaction with previously settled Pattani Malay villages, they were placed in a remote area on the east bank, five kilometers down the Chao Phraya River. These Kedah Malays dug canals to provide irrigation for their village, gradually turning jungle swamps into farmland reaching one kilometer inland, and they established the Al-Athik mosque, which means 'Old Mosque'.
After more than fifty years of isolation, Bangkok's first southern suburban road was finally built, which greatly improved transportation for the Al-Athik mosque community. In the late 19th century, ferry terminals, rice and timber export companies, a tram terminal, a slaughterhouse, and Bangkok's first coal-fired power plant were gradually built around the mosque community.
The Al-Athik mosque community holds a halal market on the morning of the first weekend of every month, which is the best chance to experience Bangkok's halal culture; you can find it on the map by searching for Riverside Market, Charoen Krung 103.
We first bought a pastry similar to Malay steamed rice cakes (dudu kuih), made by putting palm sugar inside rice flour, pressing it into stainless steel molds, steaming it, and sprinkling it with shredded coconut.
Then we drank longan water, which can be mixed with various ingredients like pearl barley, red beans, honey dates, green jelly noodles (cendol), and grass jelly (xiancao), finally topped with palm sugar and ice for a very rich flavor.
At the Al-Athik mosque halal market, we ate the specialty folded pancake (mataba) with a beef and onion filling. Mataba comes from the Arabic word 'Murtabak', which means 'folded'. This pancake likely originated with Arabs in Yemen, was brought to India by Indian merchants along the Arabian Sea, and finally reached Southeast Asia via the Indian Ocean monsoon winds; today it is a street snack shared across the Arabian Peninsula, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, though recipes vary by region. Thailand's mataba is similar to the version in Malaysia, and both are classic street breakfasts.
During the market, the courtyard of Al-Athik mosque hosts various charity activities, including medical check-ups and haircuts, which many middle-aged and elderly people attend.
Bang Uthit Mosque
In 1841, the Siamese-Vietnamese War broke out between Thailand and Vietnam, and King Rama III developed a shipyard in the Wat Phraya Krai area on the lower Chao Phraya River to support naval operations against Vietnam. After the Siamese-Vietnamese War ended in 1845, the shipyard was renovated to support the profitable China trade. After 1885, the shipyard continued to expand and began recruiting Malays from the nearby Al-Athik mosque community. The shipyard provided new settlements for these Malay workers near the shipyard, which became Bang Uthit village.
As the Wat Phraya Krai area continued to develop, rice mills and sawmills were built near the shipyard, and more and more Malays settled in Bang Uthit village. In the early 20th century, Bang Uthit mosque was built, officially separating from the Al-Athik mosque community. When Bang Uthit mosque was built, Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II (reigned 1876-1909) sent an Ottoman shield-shaped emblem, making Bang Uthit mosque the only mosque in Thailand with an Ottoman emblem.
In 2015, the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) renovated Bang Uthit mosque, using Turkish marble to build an Ottoman-style mihrab, minbar, and pulpit, and also added a mezzanine for women. This makes Bang Uthit mosque the only Ottoman-style mosque in Bangkok.
Next to Bang Uthit Mosque, there is a row of food stalls where you can eat authentic Thai halal home-cooked meals. We ordered holy basil chicken rice (gaprao gai) and shrimp porridge. Gaprao is also called holy basil. It is native to South Asia and widely grown in the tropical regions of Southeast Asia. Stir-frying meat with holy basil leaves is a famous Thai dish that I really love. Thai people love to drink meat porridge. The Thai word 'Chok' comes from the Minnan word for 'porridge'. The condiments on the table include fish sauce. I saw people at other tables adding a lot of it to their porridge and noodles, and adding a little really brings out the fresh flavor.
Kocha Itsahak Mosque
Near Sampeng Lane in Bangkok's Chinatown stands the European-style Kocha Itsahak Mosque, built in the late 19th century by the Siamese royal translator Luang Kocha Itsahak.
Luang Kocha Itsahak was of Malay descent from Kedah. He worked in the Siamese Department of Western Trade (Krom Tha Khwa), serving as a translator for foreign ambassadors visiting the Siamese court. He was also responsible for liaising with rulers of Siamese dependencies on the Malay Peninsula and foreign merchants trading with Siam. Luang Kocha Itsahak's father was a Malay merchant from the Kedah Sultanate who moved to Bangkok for business and married a Chinese wife.
After Siam established its capital in Bangkok in 1782, an import and trade district dominated by Teochew merchants gradually formed near Sampeng Lane. Before Don Mueang Airport was built in 1914, people wanting to travel from Bangkok to India, the Middle East, or Europe had to first take a steamship from the Kongsa Pier near Sampeng Lane to Singapore or Penang, then transfer to a cruise ship to continue westward. Because of this, the 19th-century Kongsa Pier was crowded with merchants from all over the world, and many Indians and Malays worked in the nearby warehouses and trading companies.
Seeing that there was no mosque in the Sampeng Lane area, Luang Kocha Itsahak donated a piece of his own land and had his children dismantle the bricks and stones from an old house he owned across the river in the Thonburi area to build this mosque. Today, the mosque is still owned by the descendants of Kocha Itsahak and provides convenience for the friends (dosti) working in Bangkok's Sampeng Lane.
Kocha Itsahak Mosque was originally a wooden building, but it was rebuilt into the current neoclassical structure during the reign of Rama V (reigned 1868-1910).