day 6...meeting jim thompson

the night before we've decided to give the jim thompson house museum another try. i wiki-ed jim thompson and in a capsule it said that he owns the thai silk company. he, a delaware native who was an architecht before he enlisted to the US army during the world war II,  was basically the one responsible for  reviving the cottage industry in thailand. what seems fascinating for visitors, even the locals is his mysterious death or disappearance after an afternoon walk in cameron highlinds in pahang, malaysia. our tour guide mentioned that what made jim thompson was when he started supplying rolls and rolls of thai silk to vogue. also, his thai silk was used for the elaborate costumes for the film "the king and i".

the house museum is a three teak traditional thai houses joined together. it's got the rich red color also accordingly traditionally thai. inside jim thompson's house were his collection of rare traditional thai paintings on cotton which is difficult to preserve according to the guide. also in his collection were china porcelain from the 18th century.the china ranged from the simplest bowl to the ones with lid, to the wine pots without lid and which hole can be seen at the bottom, to our version of 'orinola'. the house is also decorated with antique crystal chandelier from belgium.the antique furnitures were like no other. even the fabric used in the same are very unique. the shapes of his pillows and cushions are very unique. the wood carvings are also intersting. he had pieces hung on the wall but what's noting is the carvings right at the bottom of the windows. in traditional thai houses, these carvings are seen from the outside. he inverted it because accordingly he wanted to admire it's beauty while he's dining, or when he's basically in the house. he also has collection of buddha statues displayed all over the house and the garden. he has one made from wood which is very rare as thai buddhas are mostly made of bronze. the eyes of the wooden buddha is slightly more slanted and the reason perhaps is that the artist commissioned to do this one's a chinese. the most precious of his buddha collection is one made of sandstone and is headless. it dates back to as early as the 11th century.

his garden, according to the guide jim thompson calls his jungle is a lush of tropical plants from bird of paradise to bonsaid trees and orchids. big bowls are also around the area. in each of these bowls are lotus leaves and flowers floating and look a little closer one can see fish raging from the biggest goldfish to guppies and some not so fancy fish unknown to me. aside from this bowl there's a turtle pond in the middle of his jungle. near the entrance to the main house was a very tranquil koi pond.

at the left side of the garden and the reception area is a display of the jim thompson silk and other jim thompson products. they're so pricey i didn't even wanna touch them but i did and they're certainly the best quality ( not that i know silks and all ).the colors are beautiful and vibrant and the designs are so varied.

above this display/shopping room is the hall called tomyam pladib which is an art exhibition of traditional and contemporary japanese and thai art. i found the children's program very interesting. it's called " everyone likes someone as you like someone" by tsuyoshi ozawa. the idea is one draws or paints a postcard picture of the person/s they like or love. then this postcard picture will be swapped with the ones made by children in australia. i made one. it was fun.i got one too from a little girl named chelsea. she's 7. her paicture was of a lady with a dress full of heart. i can almost see her in her picture. the crooked lines in her picture can tell how a tot she still is at her age.

i got to wear thos big sumo-like costume and watch cartoons reflected or projected on it. it's cool too. the mini theater was kind of like an avant garde to me. nice concept only i didn't understand the dialogue nut the visual's awesome.

from the jim thompson house meseum we proceeded to bayouk  sky hotel. it's the tallest building in bangkok at 997 ft. we went as far as the revolving roofdeck but for some odd reason it wasn't revolving. the view of the entire bangkok from up there was breathtaking. it's so beautiful being there.lovely, lovely view. on top of this wonderful view and the idea of being above everything else, i got my favorite shirly temple which comes free with the observation fee which was a little too much at 200 baht.

for dinner we ended up at the lebanese restaurant in the red light district of bangkok and boy, was the area a real shocker to me. i'm like holy crap, people offer this bar and that for live shows and god knows what else like the manongs in quiapo sell their dvds to passers by and shoppers. anyway, this lebanese restaurant's had this typical mediterranian feel with all the white washed walls. the menu was lebanese and mediterranian food. i had lamb kebabs with onion salad, fries and pita. it was very nice but very heavy too. their appetizer/salad which was a compliment of the house was i think the perfect to the predominantly meat  dishes. i loved their dips. there's the traditional thai dipping sauce, the coconut milk and yougurt dip and garlic and i suspect some gelatine if not beaten eggwhite and tartar thingy. it was a very filling meal. i was so stuffed i wanted nothing more than just go home and sleep.

Comments

[Russelle]

i think i'd like to visit jim too...