One of the problems of going to the lesser known sites is getting there. The instructions are usually poorly written in the guide books and taxi drivers don’t want to take you, even if they do know where it is, because it is off the beaten track and they may not get another fare so easily. Bangkok cab drivers are generally great but they do have the option of not taking you which can be inconvenient at times. For example, when they change shifts around 6 they want to end up in a certain place to exchange cabs with the other driver and if you are not going where they want to go you are out of luck!
Yesterday, after trying a few cabs, we finally did get one to take us to a little known museum called the Phaya Thai Palace. As you can see from the pictures, Sylvia and the building manager are studying the Bangkok map to show the taxi driver although the map is in English and they only read Thai, but that is another matter. After finally convincing a cabdriver to take us and having the doorman explain where we were going, about 100 yards down the road we head a big and the cab suddenly stopped. Since no-one was hurt, I assumed the diesel just blew up but since he didn’t kill anyone or hit another car we just jumped out and got into the cab behind us, without the manager or doorman telling the cabdriver where to go. I simply said Phaya Thai Palace. The Phaya Thai was ok, but I had no idea how to say Palace, which was the rub!
There is a Phaya Thai BTS station which the driver kept talking about but I could not get him to understand palace or museum. We finally got near the area and when in doubt, you always ask the motorcycle guys who know the area. They told the driver where the Phaya Thai Palace was and the cab driver dutifully took us there, a brand new condominium called “Phaya Thai Palace.” Great, but no cigar. This did not remotely look like the palace of Rama V and his consorts or wives? After laughing, the concierge told us where to go and off we went ( again!).Of course, we had to hire another cab since our driver had long since left after he dropped us off.
We eventually found it. I know, you think I am now going to say it was closed, but it wasn’t! We had a delightful tour from a volunteer docent who worked in the adjoining hospital during the week. The palace dated back about a century and it was very nice. What kind of upsets me is that we saw the ‘Roman’ gardens, the frescoes on the ceilings like the ‘Italians’, British Gothic features and so on. Did the Thais at the turn of the last century have such an inferiority complex that they could not take pride in their own architecture? There was nothing Thai about this place and the bitter irony is that the Thais do build very unique things not found anywhere else in the world as I will talk about in a second. Certainly the Americans have no problem building and boasting about what they have created. They don’t have to go to see other parts of the world to get affirmation that what they have is good.
Anyway, after going to the Thaya Phaya Palace, we went to the Suan Pakkad Palace, a collection of traditional Thai houses housing exhibiting lots of artifacts. You can see the pictures of the great mask collection, for instance. What is so interesting about Thai houses is that they are built on stilts, so they don’t float away during the rainy season. I am continually amazed at how open they are with the first floor usually being completely open to the world to see ( to say nothing of the mosquitoes) and the second floor having the bedrooms with lots of windows usually open. There are no bathrooms, since these are usually a separate area outside the actual house.
This style of house can be seen from the most modest house on the island of Koh Kred to the most elegant Thai house on Sukhumvit 38. The only difference is that the elegant house is surrounded by high walls,guard dogs and barbed wire fences whereas the houses on Koh Kred are open to the world to see and probably visit!
To-day the Harris’ are coming from Toronto so we will have some fun taking them around and may even get a chance to do some more grown up things as we did with Ricky. It will certainly be great for them to get out of the snow, which seems incredible this year from what I see in the pictures from Toronto.
Yesterday, after trying a few cabs, we finally did get one to take us to a little known museum called the Phaya Thai Palace. As you can see from the pictures, Sylvia and the building manager are studying the Bangkok map to show the taxi driver although the map is in English and they only read Thai, but that is another matter. After finally convincing a cabdriver to take us and having the doorman explain where we were going, about 100 yards down the road we head a big and the cab suddenly stopped. Since no-one was hurt, I assumed the diesel just blew up but since he didn’t kill anyone or hit another car we just jumped out and got into the cab behind us, without the manager or doorman telling the cabdriver where to go. I simply said Phaya Thai Palace. The Phaya Thai was ok, but I had no idea how to say Palace, which was the rub!
There is a Phaya Thai BTS station which the driver kept talking about but I could not get him to understand palace or museum. We finally got near the area and when in doubt, you always ask the motorcycle guys who know the area. They told the driver where the Phaya Thai Palace was and the cab driver dutifully took us there, a brand new condominium called “Phaya Thai Palace.” Great, but no cigar. This did not remotely look like the palace of Rama V and his consorts or wives? After laughing, the concierge told us where to go and off we went ( again!).Of course, we had to hire another cab since our driver had long since left after he dropped us off.
We eventually found it. I know, you think I am now going to say it was closed, but it wasn’t! We had a delightful tour from a volunteer docent who worked in the adjoining hospital during the week. The palace dated back about a century and it was very nice. What kind of upsets me is that we saw the ‘Roman’ gardens, the frescoes on the ceilings like the ‘Italians’, British Gothic features and so on. Did the Thais at the turn of the last century have such an inferiority complex that they could not take pride in their own architecture? There was nothing Thai about this place and the bitter irony is that the Thais do build very unique things not found anywhere else in the world as I will talk about in a second. Certainly the Americans have no problem building and boasting about what they have created. They don’t have to go to see other parts of the world to get affirmation that what they have is good.
Anyway, after going to the Thaya Phaya Palace, we went to the Suan Pakkad Palace, a collection of traditional Thai houses housing exhibiting lots of artifacts. You can see the pictures of the great mask collection, for instance. What is so interesting about Thai houses is that they are built on stilts, so they don’t float away during the rainy season. I am continually amazed at how open they are with the first floor usually being completely open to the world to see ( to say nothing of the mosquitoes) and the second floor having the bedrooms with lots of windows usually open. There are no bathrooms, since these are usually a separate area outside the actual house.
This style of house can be seen from the most modest house on the island of Koh Kred to the most elegant Thai house on Sukhumvit 38. The only difference is that the elegant house is surrounded by high walls,guard dogs and barbed wire fences whereas the houses on Koh Kred are open to the world to see and probably visit!
To-day the Harris’ are coming from Toronto so we will have some fun taking them around and may even get a chance to do some more grown up things as we did with Ricky. It will certainly be great for them to get out of the snow, which seems incredible this year from what I see in the pictures from Toronto.
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