Bangkok Part 4

Today we went to Jim Thompson's house. Jim was in the American army, and travelled out to Asia during the Second World War (it had finished by the time he got there). He spent some time in Thailand and liked it so much that he returned to make it his home.

JT disappeared in 1977 after going to the Cameron Highlands on holiday. The details of this remain a mystery until this day.

JT was also an architect, and after a few years of living in Bangkok decided to build his own house that incorporated traditional Thai architecture. Each building pre existed somewhere in Thailand and was put back together again at the new site. Each building was joined together to make a complete set (this was different from a traditional Thai house). At the back of the property was a spirit house (looked like a bird house!), Thai people believe that you disrupt the spirits in the ground when building, so by giving it a home and placing offerings each morning at the house you keep the spirits happy and away from the new construction.

Jim Thompson discovered the traditional method of making Thai silk that was a dying art form, he helped to promote it within the country and then to the rest of the world. It's easy to forget that the material comes from a living creature.

After we went to an arcade, had a game of bowling and watched a film (Home).