After visiting the Grand Palace and Wat Pho the previous day, I decided to check out some more of Bangkok. I started with the giant standing Buddha, called Wat Intrawihan. Not as impressive as the Buddha's of the day before, but nice all the same.
After leaving this temple I decided today would be a day of walking instead of tuk tuks or taxis. My goal was to see the Thewet flower markets and then walk to the National museum. However, I managed to get lost within the first 10 minutes of leaving Wat Intrawihan. No one in this area spoke English, so who should come to my rescue but a man who was disguised as a helpful English speaking gentleman, but was in fact a recruiter for the tuk tuks. He wrote down on a piece of paper all the wonderful places I should go, and offered to help me find a "trustworthy" tuk tuk driver to help me out. He then proceeded to tell me that the flower market was "closed" today. This tipped me off as to his motives, because I read in my guide book that whenever someone tells you a temple or market is closed they are lying. So I said thank you and marched on. The Thewet flower market wasn't all that grand, it was mostly house plants and some small flowers in pots. I took a few photos and marched on.
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| Samsen Road |
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| Thewet market |
After walking down Samsen Road, in what I think was 40 degree weather, I made my way to the National museum for some air conditioning and a little pad thai for lunch. Then I decided it was only 3pm so I could still get in another sight before having to meet Mary for dinner. I headed off to see Jim Thompson's house. It is one of the best-preserved traditional Thai houses in Bangkok, and the former home of Jim Thompson. He was an American who revived the art of Thai silk weaving. In 1948 he founded the Thai silk Company Ltd., turning an ailing industry into a thriving business. In 1959 Thompson dismantled six teak houses in Ban Khrua and Ayutthaya province and resassembled them Bangkok. He collected antiques and artworks from all over southeast Asia, which are housed in the various rooms within the buildings. He often took broken artifacts that the Thai did not want, as they considered it bad luck to have cracked or damaged dishes or buddha statues in their homes; broken things meant a broken home or family. Ironically enough, Jim Thompson later divorced his wife and one of his children died at an early age. Jim Thompson vanished in the wilds of the Malaysian jungles in 1967, and was never found.
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| Dvaravati Torso of the Buddha, made of limestone. Dates from the 6th century, is said to be one of the oldest surviving Buddha images in Southeast Asia |
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| Traditional Thi house. Note the walls slope outward the roof for strength. They are also on stilts in order to survive the flooding in Thailand. |
After I finished my tour of Jim's house, I asked the tour guide about seeing some of the current silk weavers located in the area. She gave me the names of two facilities and off I went down some very dodgy looking back alleys. There I found two ladies weaving away in some poorly lit and hot rooms. These ladies worked so fast, moving the shuttles back and forth at lightening speed. I also found some giant pots where they must have been dying the raw silk before putting in onto the spools.
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| dying pots |
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