Ranked by lonelyplanet at a modest #310 of 792 things to do in Thailand, the Old siam plaza seldom tops tourists' lists of must-go places in  bangkok. However, if you have a weakness for sweet things/pastries, and like retro-style things/architecture, this is the place for you. 

Admittedly this wasn't originally in our itinerary, but had been included as a nice-to-have when I realised the our Bangkok lodging was located a mere 10 minutes walking distance to it. Coincidentally i also have a huge weakness for desserts and all things sweet, so on a late weekday morning we made the visit.


How to go: The nearest train station is Hua Lamphong MRT, after which you need to take a cab ride lasting about 10 minutes, or public bus. You can consider visiting the plaza on the same day as Wat Pho and the grand emerald palace, which are located in the vicinity. For a map, refer here


view of the stalls from the upper levels

The Old siam plaza is a air-conditioned 3 storey old-style shopping mall that houses various shops such as jewellers, silk retailers, store selling electronic goods, a departmental store, and rows and rows of dessert/pastry stalls on it's first floor. Offerings include Thai snacks like khanom krok, which is sweet coconut milk paste steamed in iron moulds. They are delicious!

tapioca dessert with coconut milk

Other dessert/sweets include egg-yolk made desserts, taipoca pastries, red ruby and the familiar mango sticky rice. Be sure to visit on an empty stomach so you can enjoy a variety of the desserts/pastries on sale. 

glutinous rice pastry/dessert

steamed desserts

durian dessert

empty/unmanned stalls

During our weekday morning visit, business was quiet, with only a few locals purchasing the desserts/pastries from the stalls. Some stalls were closed and the mall was mostly vacant. The entire mall oozes a kind of eerie but quirky aura- it's like a forgotten shopping mall from a bygone era. 

completely empty hall area

After stuffing ourselves silly with thai desserts, we took a stroll around the quiet plaza to explore the stores on the upper levels. Aside from the typical silk stores or jewellers, the boyfriend and I found a peculiar-looking palmistry/face-reading store on the upper levels of the mall, located near the escalator. 


We weren't particularly adventurous that day and decided to give it a miss (also considering how dodgy the place looked), but if you visit and are feeling up for it, have a go and let me know if it's any good!