Trang's town centre is not a tourist spectacle, but it has a genuine character shaped by generations of Chinese immigrant traders who settled along the coast in the 19th century. The streets around the clock tower — a modest landmark near the main market — are lined with two-storey Sino-Portuguese shophouses, many of them still functioning as hardware stores, herbal medicine shops, and family restaurants.
The best time to explore is early morning, when the dim sum shops and coffee houses open and the market behind the clock tower fills with local produce. The smell of roasting pork drifts through the streets from the shophouses that specialise in khao muu daeng. It's not pretty in the polished resort sense, but it's thoroughly alive.