Soi Mitrakham – Old Little Saigon in Bangkok

Soi Mitrakham
Old Little Saigon in Bangkok

Soi Mitrakham is located between Soi Samsen 11 and Soi 13 off Samsen Road near the National Library. It's home of the largest and oldest Vietnamese community in Bangkok.

The Vietnamese have lived in Thailand since the Ayutthaya days in the 17th century after fleeing religious persecution in their country. There are records of a Vietnamese community in the foreign quarter in Ayutthaya. When the Burmese sacked Ayutthaya, the Vietnamese Catholic St Joseph Church was destroyed too.

During the Ayutthaya period, Vietnamese were living in Bangkok as well. Soi Mitrakham used to be the site of a Roman Catholic church attended by the Vietnamese community in the area.

Vietnamese immigration to Thailand continued in the late 18th and early 19th centuries during the reigns of King Rama I and II.

During the reign of King Rama III, Thailand went to war with Vietnam from 1832 – 1846 over control of what is now Laos and Cambodia. Many Vietnamese prisoners-of-war were taken and settled in Thailand. Most of the immigrants in this period settled in this soi.

In 1851, King Rama IV or King Mongkut granted land to Catholic Church to built St Francis Xavier Church, which has become the center of the community in the area.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there were more Vietnamese immigrants to Thailand. These immigrants, opposing French colonialism, fled to Thailand and settled in the northeastern provinces along the Mekong River. One such Vietnamese was Ho Chi Minh, father of the Vietnamese Revolution.

The predominantly Catholic population in this soi is evident in the number of mission schools in the area, St Francis Xavier Convent, St Gabriel College and the Conception Convent.

Don't expect to see Vietnamese restaurants, shops and signboards when you visit the area. It looks like any other neighborhood in Bangkok. After generations, the Vietnamese community here is well integrated into Thai society, holding Thai citizenships, though still practicing their traditions mixed with Thai customs.

Soi Mitrakham is another old community that adds to the multi-cultural fabric in modern Bangkok.

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