Jim Thompson's House (Jim Thompson Thai House)

Member Name: andyneil

Product:	Jim Thompson Thai House
Date:	01/10/01 (168 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Informative, beautiful, different.

Disadvantages: None of you are in Bangkok

While in Bangkok my girlfriend and I went to visit the house of Jim Thompson, and American who was very influential inthe silk trade. In fact his silk houses, or shops, are still around and far more famous than where he used to live. Anyone bored with temples, or looking for something a bit different to do would be well advised to visit here.

The man himself is as interesting as his home, and I'll furnish you with a bit of background before moving on to the house. Jim Thompson was American who fought in World War II,ending up in Asia as part of the Thaliand liberation force. On leaving the service he moved to Thailand permanently, and revived the cottage industry of hand weaving silk. On March 27th 1967, Thompson disappeared whilst on a visit to the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. They never found his body, and several books go into the mystery of his vanishing.

The house itself is 6 traditional teak buildings that were dismantled and brought to the present site. They were re-built using traditional methods, although some mod-cons like electric lights were included.

On arrival at the house we took of our shoes and went on a tour, with a handful of other people, round the house and outer houses and gardens (could wear shoes for that bit, luckily as it was one of those wish I had warn a different pair of socks now everyone can see them days). The tour was very informative, there is a lot of artwork and period decor (short beds, chamber pots in cat ornaments, paintings, statues etc.)so much to see and be told about (in impeccable English). The gardens to the house are very bushy, green, beautiful and shady. You really could imagine living there, its very calm and beautiful. After the tour we roamed a bit on out own, the house and grounds are not big, but really well worth the visit.

On leaving there is a coffee shop and of course gift shop, but did not go in those so cannot comment on price.

If in Bangkok I can
not reccomend enough going here partly because it is reflective of a bygone era in Thaliand (especially Bangkok), partly because in itself it is really beautiful and partly because it is different to everything else Bangkok has to offer tourists. It is located just a few minutes from the national stadium and several large shopping malls, down a road where one might be mistaken for not going down, yet it lets you forget you are in a big, noisy, polluted city, and takes you to a beautiful, quiet, jungly teak house and its many attractions inside. The house and the man are fascinating.

Address: 6 Soi Kasemsan 2, Rama I Road, Bangkok. Open: 9AM - 4:30PM (Monday - Sunday)

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