Yaowarat Road

This guide to Yaowarat Road in Bangkok opens in 1782, when King Rama I struck a deal with the city's Chinese community, offering swampy land across the river in exchange for their old neighborhood. It follows the Teochew migrants who drained that ground into a trading district, and the 1892 road Rama V cut through it along the curves of old oxcart tracks. You'll hear why the Chinese named it Dragon Road, and how its gold trade grew into one of the densest on earth. Listen as you walk its bend from end to end.