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Published: June 20th 2011
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Jim Thompson's House
The house through thick vegetation in the garden You can’t call yourself a silkophile unless you’ve visited Jim Thompson’s museum. Jim Thompson, otherwise known as the Thai Silk King, is a man shrouded in mystery. Ever since his disappearance in 1967 rumors and theories have grown fertile in the minds of theorists and conspirators alike. Jim went missing one day after going for a stroll in the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia, the circumstances of his disappearance have been under scrutiny ever since. What is now the Jim Thomspon Museum was once Thompson’s own house, constructed from several Thai houses, which he had found on his numerous visits to the ancient Thai capital of Ayutthaya and had reconstructed on the land where the Museum now stands. The wonderful thing about old Thai architecture is that there was no use of nails, houses could be taken apart and reconstructed thanks to the ingenious use of interlocking wooden joints, which would fit together similar to pieces in a puzzle.
Taking a tour of the houses, you walk through what was once his garden, which is green and verdant, with the sound of birdsong in the canopies one can almost forget that MBK and Siam Paragon, two of Bangkok’s busiest shopping malls, are
Silk printing block
The wall piece was used to print onto the silk not more than a 10 minute walk away and accessible by BTS to the Siam stop. The house is set next to a canal, across from which Thompson first encountered his silk manufacturers who were Muslim Thais. He would make daily trips across the river to what was once the Muslim settlement and meet with weavers and dyers, discussing the qualities of Thai silk.
As well as being an entrepreneur, Jim was an architect by profession and a great lover of the old world, with a large collection of antiques dating as far back as the 7th century. The walls of his house are adorned with tapestries depicting the Buddha’s life, the tapestries look as though they had only been hung yesterday, having recently been restored in the past 5 years, the images clearly visible and beautifully painted and woven. The houses themselves are 100 to 200 years old but are as structurally sound as they would have been when Thompson had been entertaining his many guests as they passed through Bangkok.
Entry to the museum has two categories, for visitors under 25 entry is 50 Baht and 100 for visitors above. The tours, which, if you want to go
Silk loom
A loom that would have been used to make silk inside the house, are a must, last 30 – 40 minutes and are offered in a range of languages, mine was in English (naturally) but I did hear one guide speaking to a couple in French and another in Japanese, albeit with a Thai twist. Our guide was lively and excited and more than ready to answer any questions, drawing from a pool of information that can only be filled from experience. Going into the houses, as with most Asian cultures, visitors are asked to remove their shoes and bags and places them in the racks and lockers provided. Photographs are, unfortunately, not permitted inside the house but you are free to snap away in the garden and display area under the house, which is raised on pillars.
The museum has been arranged beautifully, with the displays and set up almost as if Jim would walk through the door and finish the explanation at any moment. The dining room set up for lunch and his bedroom neat and tidy, you can almost see the indent in the mattress where he would have slept all those years ago.
Another museum that I admittedly didn’t even know existed but now adore is
Buddha antique
The oldest piece in Thompson's collection dating back to the 7th century the Cabbage Garden, or more formally known as Suan Pakkad Palace. The Palace was originally a garden for Chinese cabbage and lettuce farmers before Prince Chumphot turned it into his weekend home for him and his wife. After the Second World War they moved there permanently and started displaying their many antiques and artifacts to friends and family, it wasn’t until their King thought it would be a good idea to start showing the exhibition to outsiders that the Palace made the shift to a museum. Underlying the decision to make the exhibition public was the belief that, although artifacts could be private possessions, they constitute a history of our species and should be made accessible to all those with the desire to see them.
The collection of artifacts includes pieces dating back as far as 2000 and 3000 years, with pieces of pottery from the Ban Ching culture, which was discovered, as I think with may great finds, by accident when a sociology student tripped on the dead trunk of a tree to find himself eye-level with small, broken pieces of pottery, even though there were no buildings in the area. The exhibit in the first section is dedicated
to the pieces from the Ban Ching culture, with pottery and jewelry, some of which still contains human bones within the arm bangles. These were ceremonial, to ensure that their spirits would have something for the afterlife. Part of their tradition was to bury the passed with pots and items of value, similar to other cultures from around the globe.
The rest of the museum is made up of 8 Thai houses, not unlike Jim Thompson’s, which have been joined together and connected by suspended walkways. The centerpieces of the Palace, houses 1-4, is a family heirloom and were reconstructed on the land in the 50’s. The houses contain several rooms, each displaying different antiques and pieces ranging from ceremonial weapons to a display of traditional Thai theatre known as Ramaiken, which is where the now famous Khon dance takes its roots. The display includes elaborately and beautifully crafted masks and a miniature of a Khon cast, which can be made up of upwards of 100 members. The Khon dance almost disappeared entirely due to the fact that it was traditionally reserved for the royal family and those with wealth but thankfully it was revived under Rama VI who was
himself an artist and writer.
The museum grounds are beautifully kept, with a pristine lawn and a large lagoon pond over which, what I assume to be a banyan tree hangs, its leaves flowing down to lightly touch the calm waters under which large carp swim in lazy circles. Again, it’s easy to forget that you are in the center of Bangkok, with Siam City Hotel just across the street. There is the Paya Thai BTS stop 10 minutes from the museum. Entry to the museum is 100 Baht and again, visitors are asked to leave their bags in a locker and to not take photos while inside the museum buildings, photos from the gardens or walkways are allowed though.
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Xiomara
non-member comment
God I am so jealous of your job!!! And the photos are so beautiful - reminded me of what I've been missing out on not having been in South-East Asia for 2 years now! It really is the most beautiful part of the world.