Bangkok Journal - jim Thompson House

Rule #1 of overseas travel: if things go wrong, go to Plan B. On our first day in Bangkok, we’d planned to spend most of the day at the Grand Palace [See previous post.], but we arrived to late in the morning to see the place right, so next on our to-see list was the Jim Thompson House. The Chao Phraya forms a big ‘C’ enclosing the Grand Palace. Now imagine a line going out from the area around the ‘C’, going off at about 4:00. This is the line of Rama I Road, and the route of the elevated Skytrain, or as Chicagoans would call it, the ‘El’. Follow this a few miles out from the palace area and you are in the modern commercial heart of Bangkok, with skyscrapers, shopping malls, and massive traffic. But if you go off the main drag along a quiet avenue by the National Stadium Metro Stop you reach Jim Thompson House.

Jim Thompson was in the OSS (The wartime precursor of the CIA.) in World War II. He was sent to Thailand just after Japan surrendered, and immediately saw the commercial prospects of the country, which had not gotten trashed in the war. When the British and French penetrated Thailand commercially in the 19th century and brought in their manufactured wares, they killed a lot of the native crafts, but Thompson saw an opening and revived the art of silk weaving. He went out to rural villages and paid the women good money to spin and weave silk for him. Trained as an architect and a designer, Thompson began adding bright, bold colors and marketing the silk in the West. Knowing how to promote things he went to New York, and got the attention of Vogue Magazine. His big break came when the silks he provided were used in the Broadway production of ‘The King and I’.

To his credit Thompson gave back to the community, helping the village women earn income to raise their families from poverty. He used the profits to take six traditional Thai houses and fit them together to make a fine mansion. Following traditional Thai methods, he built it of teak and ironwood, on a raised platform to avoid floods. He then stuffed the place with antiques and fine art, and surrounded the place with lovely gardens, along a quiet canal in what was then the edge of the city.

Today it is a pleasant little oasis in the heart of a bustling metropolis. I like it because it is relaxed, and the art work is genuinely impressive. If you want to get a sense of what fine Thai art and craftsmanship is like, this is the place to start. It’s also close to a lot of happening nightspots. And it was close to the hotel where our teacher friends Marta and Phil were, thus offering the perfect opportunity to get together and have a round of Singapore Slings while watching the sun set. You also get to see Thai building techniques close-up. One of the important lessons I learned in high school wood shop was that I am NOT a carpenter. But it made me appreciate the skill level of the people that built these houses.

Thompson’s ending was something out of a spy novel. After amassing a fortune and becoming known as ‘The Silk King’ of Thailand, in Easter of 1967, while the Vietnam War was raging Thompson took a vacation down to the Cameron Highlands in the Malayan interior. An avid outdoorsman, Thompson went out for a walk along a forest trail, and disappeared… They called out professional jungle trackers to look for him and found nothing.

So… was Thompson eaten by tigers? Murdered by business rivals? Malayan Communists? Hong Kong Triads? The CIA? UFOs? The Bavarian Illuminati? Did he fake his death to go underground to fight the forces of evil? No one really knows. To add to the air of mystery, his older sister in the States was found mysteriously bludgeoned to death a few months later. To offer up some more grist for the rumor mill, it was the Vietnam War. The USAF was flying covert bombing runs into Laos from northern Thailand. And the CIA was likewise heavily involved in running covert ops into Laos out of northern Thailand. But if we posit that Thompson was still active in the CIA and part of this, why wouldn’t the Communists just assassinate him openly? Why hide the body? Why not take responsibility for killing a Capitalist running dog lackey? If anything, by 1967 Thompson had criticized our involvement in Vietnam as a mistake. And why kill the older sister? Like Judge Crater, D.B. Cooper, and the Hidden Imam, he is a quiet reminder of how little we know of what really goes on in the world.

Anyway, if you get to Bangkok, make time for this little gem. You won’t be sorry.

Proof positive that Godzilla was once feared and revered in ancient Thailand!

Wooden pattern used by dyers in preparing Chinese cloth.

Ancient Chinese space heater - You fill it with coals and set it in the middle of a room on cold days.

Traditional Thai houses along the klong (canal) behind the house.

Silkworm eggs

Traditional Thai spirit house. The Thais fear/respect the spirits of nature. To keep them from coming into your house you leave little offerings in this spirit house. Ideally its shadow should not fall on your house.