Tuesday, April 13

Last night, I went to bed with a headache and a sore throat—a response to whatever chemicals they're using in reconstructing the house next door. But today I woke up feeling rested and well! And so relieved because of it.

Feeling strong

We rode the Metro then the BTS back to the Apple Store—we had an appointment this time—and Roman dropped off his laptop so they could replace the battery.

We spend a lot of time hanging out on train platforms

Then we walked about a mile to the Jim Thompson House & Museum, walking down a narrow pathway alongside a dirty green canal to get there.

Jim Thompson was an American who visited Thailand when he was serving during WWII. He returned in the late 1940s and, inspired by the hand-woven Thai silks, he started a silk company. His silks became very popular—he got them featured in Vogue, amongst other places—and he's often credited as single-handedly saving Thailand's silk industry.

Window at the Jim Thompson house

So. I always feel like of skeptical when a white Westerner comes to another country and is credited with saving any industry native to that country. Especially when, judging by the house he lived in, Thompson got super rich off that industry.

But the (of course one-sided) tour made it seem like he was pretty thoughtful and respectful about his approach to Thai culture. He built the house with respect to many Thai customs—he built a miniature Spirit House, he moved in on a day deemed auspicious by astrologers, and he collected antiquities while working to prevent other foreigners from smuggling sacred statues from the country. He also kept his company cottage-based—the mostly female, mostly Muslim, workers worked from home, despite pressure on Thompson to create a centralized factory. There is a centralized factory now, but it was only built after Thompson disappeared.

Because, oh yeah, when Thompson was sixty-one and visiting a friend in Malaysia, he went for a walk in the jungle and was never seen again. Which isn't really here or there, but I can't not include that tidbit.

Altogether, I'd like to know more about Jim Thompson, and the ways Thais (especially his former/current workers) regard him and his company...but for now I'll have to leave it as an open question.

Anyway, the museum admission includes a guided tour through the house—Thompson was also an architect, and built the house from six (!) traditional Thai wooden homes, all connected together. You can't take pictures inside the house, but it was lovely—old Buddhist paintings and sculptures, Chinese furniture and an antique Chinese door, Thai-Chinese porcelain, Jim Thompson silks.

We also checked out the gift shop, and wandered the pretty, lush gardens.

For lunch, we stopped in at a small eatery, and Roman got soup with egg noddles, pork, and fish balls, while I had khao kha moo—braised pork leg with rice, pickled mustard greens, morning glory, fried tofu, and half an egg.

View of the lunch spot from the inside

Elephant sculpture with pigeon

Then we headed home to relax and keep cool during the hottest part of the day.

7-Eleven Thai iced tea

Later, we walked to one of our street carts haunts—the one reached by passing many tall gated apartment buildings, rows of frangipani trees, and walls covered in white and pink bougainvilleas. We peered through a chain link fence at a cat, just chilling on its front porch.