Every year, for nine to ten days, Yaowarat Road is hung with yellow flags marked with the Thai word เจ ("jay"): this is the Vegetarian Festival (Kin Jay), the celebration Bangkok's Thai-Chinese community devotes to the Nine Emperor Gods. It begins on the first day of the ninth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, so in late September or October depending on the year. In 2026, the Chinatown festival is announced for 10 to 18 October. For visitors, it is above all the city's biggest vegetarian food festival: more than 120 stalls, temples in ceremony and streets closed to traffic at certain times. The detailed official 2026 programme has not been published: the events below are those of the 2025 edition, which follows a stable pattern. Information noted in October 2026.
Highlights
Yaowarat Road and its stalls
More than 120 vendors line Yaowarat Road, in the Chinatown district described in our guide to Chinatown and Yaowarat. Look for the yellow flag with red lettering: it marks a fully vegetarian stall, so you do not need to read Thai. Specialities range from dim sum and stir-fried noodles to soy or mushroom "meat" and sticky-rice desserts.
Wat Mangkon Kamalawat
Yaowarat's great Chinese temple is one of the hearts of the festival: Wat Mangkon Kamalawat fills with worshippers dressed in white who burn incense and offer flowers. The Chow Sue Kong shrine and the Kwang Tung shrine, in the Talat Noi area, also host ceremonies.
The "jay" rules
No meat, fish, eggs or dairy, and no garlic, onion, leek, Chinese chives or asafoetida (the "five pungent plants"). Worshippers dress in white and abstain from alcohol, keeping to these rules for the whole festival.
The processions
In 2025 the sequence was: deity enshrinement procession on 20 October (2pm-4pm), opening ceremony and floral float parade on 21 October (4pm-10pm), sin-cleansing lantern parade on 26 October (2pm-9pm), deity return procession on 29 October (5pm-7pm). Yaowarat Road was closed to traffic on 21 October from 4pm to 9pm, between the King's 6th Cycle Commemoration Arch and the Lamphun Chai intersection.
"Jay" products everywhere
Even outside Chinatown, chains such as 7-Eleven bring out limited-edition "jay" products during the festival, which makes life easier for vegetarian and vegan travellers.
Infos pratiques
Tips
Access to the street is free; you only pay for what you eat. Come on foot and without a bulky bag: the street is narrow, crowded in the evening, and stalls have queues. Avoid the parade evenings if crowds bother you: in the middle of the afternoon it is easier to taste the dishes. If you enter a temple, cover your shoulders and knees and stay discreet around worshippers at prayer; see our tips on Thai etiquette. Dates change every year: the calendar of festivals in Bangkok gives the landmarks. For the street itself, see also Chinese New Year in Bangkok, the other great festival of Yaowarat.
How to get there
Yaowarat Road, Samphanthawong district, Bangkok 10100. MRT Blue Line, Wat Mangkon station, a few minutes' walk from the temple and the street. By boat: Ratchawong pier (Tha Ratchawong) on the Chao Phraya, then a 10-minute walk. Taxis and tuk-tuks are very slow during the festival: the metro is simplest.
Our guides that feature it
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