Yaowarat and Talat Noi after dark

Yaowarat Road, the spine of Bangkok's Chinatown, is the city after dark and hardly exists for a camera before then: neon signs stacked over the street, gold shops glowing, food stalls spreading across the kerbs and smoke from the grills catching the light. For a couple it is the opposite of the river — close, loud and warm, with strangers in the background — which is exactly what makes the frames read as Bangkok at night. Rain improves it: wet tarmac doubles every sign.

The traffic never stops, so the frames come from the pavements and side lanes, never the road: a quieter side street for close portraits, the main road for wide frames with the signs behind you. Two people sharing food at a stall make a better picture than two people standing still; ask before photographing a stall up close, and buy from it. The metro station at Wat Mangkon is two stops from the one by Wat Pho, so an evening that began on the river can end here.

A short walk towards the river, Talat Noi is the quiet end of Chinatown: lanes of old shophouses, workshops with engine parts stacked by the door, murals and a Chinese shrine near the water. At night it is dim and lit by doorways, which suits slower, closer frames after the noise of Yaowarat. It is one of the oldest neighbourhoods in the city and people still live and work there, so voices stay low and a workshop is photographed only after a yes.