Bangkok has some very interesting, little known museums. The Peninsula Hotel, for example, has a small museum on the top floor. You certainly won’t expect to find what you do when you step off the elevator. You might think you have stepped into space ship. The receptionist will welcome you to the Paribata Lounge. Even more confused? The Paribata Lounge is a sky museum that honours Prince Paribata, Minister of War during the reign of King Rama VII.
  
The walls of the lounge carry displays of historical aviation photographs. There’s a plaque denoting that the museum was opened Friday, 21 May 1999. It’s dedicated to “the spirit, progress and bright future of aviation in Thailand.” A second plague details the history of Thai aviation beginning in 1911 right up to 1997. Certain to capture anyone’s attention are actual aircraft controls displayed at various locations around the lounge, from earliest aircraft to modern fighters.

Next is Bangkok’s Human Imagery Museum, a bit far out of town but taxi drivers know the place. But be careful when you enter. The attendant at the door asked for my name card, and said the receptionist must sign me in. He then handed the card to the receptionist, but she kept writing and did not look up. I was becoming a bit annoyed, and pushed my card closer to her, and I probably would have stood there another ten minutes hadn’t the attendant nudged me. Did I feel like a fool! The receptionist wasn’t real. She was one of the figures at the museum, as was the man reading the newspaper next to her. So now you know what to expect inside.
  
Enter and you live not in the present but in another era with past kings of Siam, farmers and laborers, poets and aristocrats, monks and, yes, even slaves. The displays not only depicts slaver but they show the entire history of slavery beginning in prehistoric time down through the Greek and American periods to the freeing of slave in the Kingdom by King Rama V.

If you are down around Charoenkrung Road, better known as New Road, near the Central Post Office, check out the Bangkok Folk Museum. If you have ever wondered what it was like living in Bangkok prior to World War II, before air-conditioning and luxury hotels, then you might want to visit a real Thai house built more than seventy years ago. This is what the Bangkok Folk Museum is all about. The house turned museum is not an old palace or a past royal residence, nor is it one of those traditional Thai teak houses that have begun to appear around town in the last decade or two, the kind of classical house that Jim Thompson bought up country and reassemble in Bangkok. This is a Thai house, with its collection of household antiques that, as the plaque in front of the museum reads, “presents a living scenario of the middle level Bangkokians in the period of post World War II.”

On every tourist list is the Jim Thompson House, but there’s another traditional house that is just as great, and has been turned into a museum. It’s the MR Kukrit Pramoj Heritage Home and offers the chance to explore the life and loves of one of the greatest Thais, both artistically and politically.

The late Kukrit Pramoj was a statesman, prime minister, writer and author, lecturer, Khon dance performer, and even a Hollywood actor who starred along with Marlon Brando. It was eleven years ago that he passed away, leaving behind a legacy of trophies, books, papers, studies, and most memorable, his Thai house, open to the public. The house is a bit difficult to find, down a hidden soi, but at the end is a discovery that’s well worth a visit.

The Wax Museum, a bit far out of town, but one of the best

Which one is the author?

 The figures look real, as this monk does

Rama V and attendants

The interior of the Jim Thompson house

Perhaps the most famous small museum is the Jim Thompson House

The house of the ex-PM is a museum

The Kukrit House is traditional Thai

Kukrit with writer Han Suyin on the right

The Prasart Museum is another

MR Kukrit Pramoj, beloved and known by all senior Thais, was born in 1911 into a truly aristocratic family with a prince on his father's side (Brig-General Prince Kamrob) and an influent ministerial family (the Bunnags) on his mother's. During his long life he was one of the founding members of the Democrat party, had a brief sojourn as Thailand’s prime minister, wrote and translated numerous books, started his own newspaper, lectured at universities, was an advisor to the King, and as I mentioned, a Hollywood actor.

Kukrit was also a respected amateur performer in Khon dance and is credited with single-handedly saving the dance from obscurity by setting up the Khon Thammasat Troupe in the 1960s. The troupe still performs today.

Kukrit died in 1995 at the age of 84.

Kukrit’s pride was his house, hidden on a small soi among the busy streets of Bangkok. Today it carries the title The MR Kukrit Pramoj Heritage Home. Aside from its importance as residence of a memorable Thai citizen it offers the visitor the chance to explore the artistic side of a great man.

A complex of traditional Thai-style houses with its well-manicured gardens is found at 19 Soi Phra Pinit, South Sathorn Road, and has been classified as a "Home of an important Person" by the Department of Fine Arts at the Education Ministry. Fortunately, the accolade has not turned the houses into a stuffy museum. When you wander through the house and lovely gardens you get a feeling of the lifestyle of a former prime minister and literary artist.

What fascinated me most about the house when I saw it was it’s vast size and spreading gardens, all well cared for and tended. When Kukrit was alive, he welcomed numerous prominent figures in politics and society, both local and foreign, making it even well known at the time, although it remained very private.

The compound tucked away behind a high wall is divided into four main parts—a large hall at the front, a garden link to the house, the living quarters and the back garden.

The large hall is most impressive. It’s main use was for public functions such as religious ceremonies, training students to keep the art of Khon dancing alive and formal reception and banquets for important visitors, both Thai and foreign. The highlight in this Section is the collection of traditional classical dance masks, or Hua Khon, all made by the renowned designer Chit Duangyai.

A team of a dozen gardeners work daily to keep the lawns and gardens, as Kukrit would have wanted them. Tucked away among the trees and ferns, and a number of Thai bonsai trees (mai dat), can be seen wonderful works of Khmer art.

The house, including the living quarters, is actually comprised of five separate one-room teak houses, each over 100 years old. Much like the Jim Thompson house, they had been transported from their original sites in central Thailand to the present site. In all it took Kukrit about 20 years to make the property what you see today.

Each of these houses has its own function. If you are standing at the front staircase, on your left is the bedroom while on the right there are three houses. The biggest one is the official reception room, quite large with open sides, while the small house at the far end is a private sitting room, and the one by the stairs is the Buddha shrine. Just opposite the bedroom is the library, and in between both houses is a bird pavilion overlooking a pond with even more garden behind.

Such grand houses are becoming fewer and farther in between. As you walk through the gardens, where it’s all peace and quiet, you can see rising up in the distance towering apartment houses and buildings, all encroaching upon one of the last vestiges of beauty in bubbling cosmopolitan city. It’s most refreshing, but still, I imagine in Kukrit’s day, it was rural.

It was in the movie “The Ugly American” that Kukrit played a lead role, as the prime minister of a fictitious Southeast Asian country, with Marlon Brando. That was long before he actually became prime minister of Thailand.

The property is open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays, plus official holidays from 10 am to 5 pm. The entrance fee is 50 baht for adults and 20 baht for students. English-speaking guides are available. Special group tours on other days or a study tour by schools; can be arranged by appointment. And take your camera.

Next week I would like to give some tips on how to spend leisure time in Bangkok.

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Q. I am planning to visit Thailand and will be traveling all around the country. What is the best way to carry money? Alice Cornish, Paris

A. Dear Alice. If you are traveling by ROH, everything will be pre-paid. However, I imagine you will need spending money for shopping. Credit cards are accepted everywhere, and from ATM machines scattered around the country you can draw cash. I would suggest carrying some small bills in either local Thai baht or US dollars.

Harold Stephens
Bangkok
E-mail:  ROH Weekly Travel

Note: The article is the personal view of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the view of Thai Airways International Public Company Limited.

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