Scenes from history

The curtain has risen on Sanam Chan Palace, once the summer residence of the Shakespeare-loving King Rama VI

Phoowadon Duangmee
The Nation

King Vajiravudh loved plays and acting. This shows His Majesty in his own play, says the guide, leading our group towards a large black-and-white poster of an archer holding by a huge bow.

Some of my fellow travellers, an interesting mix of foreign ambassadors to Thailand, discreetly dab their foreheads to prevent the sweat dribbling into their eyes. It’s almost 40 degrees Celsius on a sultry April afternoon, and we are racing to visit Sanam Chan Palace in Nakhon Pathom.

Indeed, even Thais well versed in history might find it hard to recognise King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) dressed in sandals and the ordinary uniform of a local warrior.
Prince Vajiravudh, a son of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), was crowned King Rama VI in 1910. Educated in England, the young prince developed a fondness for the works of William Shakespeare and brought many of them back to Thailand.

He was the founder of Chulalongkorn University, the country’s first university, a dog lover and a thespian. In 1907, a few years before his accession to the throne, the artistic Crown Prince built Sanam Chan Palace as a summer residence at Nakhon Pathom.

Set in 355 acres of magnificent grounds, Sanam Chan Palace was completed in 1911 and was used by the Crown Prince whenever he visited Phra Pathom Chedi, the country’s tallest pagoda.

The palace, which has long served as the provincial hall, was closed to visitors until last year. Recently, part of the residence has been remodelled as a museum exhibiting the king’s works.

We approach the palace from the pagoda side, arriving in front of the statue of Yah Leh, King Vajiravudh’s beloved dog. This crossbreed, it’s said, was adopted by the Crown Prince, and went everywhere with him. One day, the animal was shot and killed by an envious man.

So sad was the king at losing his friend, he wrote a poem expressing his feelings. An excerpt is inscribed at the base of the life-size statue that stands in front of Chali Mongkol Asana building in the palace compound.

Chali Mongkol Asana is a picturesque, two-storey, European-style castle, complete with small towers and a spire. The king’s working room is on the second floor, next door to his bedroom.

The royal residence also once served as the offices of the Dusit Samid, a weekly newspaper published by King Vajiravudh. Printed ceased shortly after the king’s death in 1925.

We leave King Vajiravudh’s residence and move into the classic cream-painted walkway leading to the pink, two-storey neo-classical Marie Raja Rata Ballang building.

From the windows of the walkway, we stop to admire the stunning landscaped gardens alive with colourful summer flowers and tall, graceful trees.

King Vajiravudh reigned during a time of transition and continued the modernisations introduced by his father. The young prince had studied at England’s Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst but it was at Oxford University that he developed a fondness for Shakespeare.

He translated “The Merchant of Venice”, “As You Like It” and “Romeo and Juliet” into Thai, and introduced several more contemporary works to the Kingdom.

Many royal guards and pages back then, according to Kukrit Pramote’s historical title “Four Reigns”, were cast in “new kinds” of performances and plays.

Taking inspiration from EB Norman and Arnold Golsworthy’s play “My Friend Jarlet”, the Marie Raja Rata Ballang mansion was built in European style with authentic golden teak. Adding to the magic are the king’s collection of plays, samples of his handwriting (rough yet elegant), the draft of his own play as well as photos of his life on and off the stage.

While Chali Mongkol Asana and Marie Raja Rata Ballang reflect King Vajiravudh’s passion for European architecture, Tap Kwan, with its cluster of traditional Thai houses, reveal his love for classic Thai design.

Built by a master architect, these eight traditional houses were made of golden teakwood and while perhaps they are more film-set than home, they still have the power to impress.

Our last stop turns out to be the first royal building to have been constructed on the site - Phiman Pathom. Perched on a spacious piece of land, Phiman Pathom looks rather like a large white hen about to lift her wings to guard her little chicks.

The two-storey building resembles a European mansion, but is well adapted for tropical climes. King Vajiravudh used the royal residence for official meetings with court officers as well as for hosting royal receptions for foreign ambassadors.

With the tour coming to an end, we are taken to the ground floor for refreshments and afternoon tea.

In the far distance, we can see the spire of the country’s tallest pagoda. To the right hand is the  cluster of traditional Thai houses. A little further, the European castle and the pink mansion shimmer in the evening sunlight.

The years simply slip away and the historic buildings come alive again.
Sanam Chan Palace is open every day, except for national holidays from 9.30am to 4pm. Entrance costs Bt30   for adults, Bt10 for children and monks and Bt50 for foreigners. For more information, call (034) 244 237.

HOW TO GET THERE

At only 56 kilometres from Bangkok, Nakhon Pathom is well served by Highway 4. From Bangkok, keep going westwards by first crossing either Phra Pinklao Bridge or Rama VIII Bridge and then following Borommaratchachonnani Road, or Road 338, which ultimately connects with Highway 4 (Phetchakasem Road) in Nakhon Chaisi.
You can take the right turn into Highway 4 for the journey to Muang district (the Great Pagoda and Sanam Chan Palace) or the left turn for a good time in Sam Phran. On the way back, take a different route by following the highway to Ratchaburi and Phetchaburi before entering the capital city through Road 35 and then the western or eastern ring road respectively.

WHERE TO STAY

Rose Garden Hotel
Sam Phran
Tel: (02) 673 0966
Price range: Bt2,100-Bt6,600

Nakhon Inn
Ratwithi Road, Muang district
Tel: (034) 251 152-4
Price range: Bt525-Bt675

Piman
Phetchakasem Road
Tel: (034) 243 555
Price range: Bt400-Bt2,000

Whale
Ratwithi Road, Muang district
Tel: (034) 253 855-63, (034) 280 213-7
Visit: http://www.Whale.co.th
E-mail: info@whale.co.th
Price range: Bt600-Bt1,800

River
Phetchakasem Road, Muang district
Tel: (034) 280 440-5
Price range: Bt390-Bt1,400

Saen Palm Training Home
Kamphaeng San
Tel: (034) 351 400, (034) 355 166
Visit: http://www.Naetc.eto.kps.ku.ac.th
E-mail:  achara_24@yahoo.com
Price range: Bt300-Bt960

Suwan Golf and Country Home Club
Nakhon Chaisi
Tel: (034) 339 333
Price range: Bt1,500-Bt3,000

Pair Sriwichai
Nakhon Chaisi
Tel: (034) 331 978
Price range: Bt400-Bt800

WHERE TO EAT

Khrua Siam
Ratchadamnoen Road, Muang district
Tel: (034) 255 080

Ruang Khao
Muang district
Tel:  (034) 288 688, (089) 612 7614

Lek Pochana
Ratchadamnoen Road, Muang district
Tel: (034) 252 679

Lom Choy
Sakhorn Thanakorn Road, Muang district
Tel: (034) 241 996

Pathom Pochana
Malai Man Road, Muang district
Tel:  (034) 254 374

Khrua Ruen Naam
Nakhon Chaisi
Tel: (034) 232 558

Som Kaew
Sam Phran district
Tel:  (02) 889 4152

Khrua Yaa Kha
Pipitprasat Road, Muang district
Tel:  (034) 215 008

The Meeting Point Plaza
Songpol Road, Muang district
Tel: (034) 270 123

Baan Rim Naam
Kamphaeng Saen
Tel:  (034) 351 077,

Bua Luang
Salaya, Muang district
Tel: (02) 441 9303, (02) 441 9186

Rose Garden
Sam Phran
Tel: (034) 322 588-93

See Fah
Nakhon Chaisi
Tel:  (034) 331 233, (081) 448 8811

Slowly down the Nakhon Chai Sri

A leisurely cruise on a converted rice barge makes for the perfect weekend getaway from Bangkok

Phoowadon Duangmee
The Nation

For anyone who loves to loathe “Hi-So Baan Nok”, a TV series featuring a group of pathetic well-to-do socialites trying to survive in the countryside, escaping Bangkok by boat has a certain appeal. Unlike the television show, you don’t have to mess in anyone’s life at Lam Phya, just climb aboard a renovated rice barge, sleep out on deck and wallow in a large dose of sweet nostalgia from a beautiful past. Plus, it’s only an hour and a half away from Bangkok.

We three weekenders leave Bangkok one Sunday afternoon for the Lam Phya Floating Market in Nakhon Pathom. Driving on the Outer Ring-Road from Rattana Thibet, the traffic starts to mellow past Bangkok’s western suburbs.

Turning left off the main road, we finally leave behind the gigantic mega-store boxes and sprawling suburbs. The scene is now more bucolic, engulfed by the checkered squares of rice fields.

Flocks of storks dabble on treetops. What’s missing here are water buffalo (with magpies on their backs) roaming the fields and a country song emanating from a timeworn transistor radio. Otherwise, you’d think you had turned the clock back to the 1960s.

Ben, a charming woman who has left her luxury resort and Spa bath on Koh Samui to spend a, well, rustic weekend with us, approaches a coffee seller on the side of the road.

“Excuse me!” she says. “We’re going to the Lam Phya Floating Market, but the thing is, we don’t know where are we now.”
The woman flashes a broad smile once we order three cups of coffee and is kind enough to show us the way.

Thanks to her directions, we finally find our destination after an hour or so of many wrong turns.

Lam Phya. Long before the days of the highway, this riverside community, a beautiful mix of Thai farmers and Chinese immigrants, was a backwater.

Travel to Bangkok meant you had to wake up at two in the morning and wait for a double-decked passenger boat coming from the upper waterways of Suphan Buri. Then you caught the morning train at Ngeiw Rai Station in Nakhon Pathom to reach Bangkok Noi terminal.

Fast facts

Lam Phya Floating Market is tucked away on Phutamonthon Sai Si Road. The market is open on Saturdays and Sundays.

Tour operator Nature Trek organises overnight cruises on the Nakhon Chai Sri River every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The price is Bt700 per person for a group of 12 people. Breakfast and dinner are included. The cruise begins late afternoon and ends on the afternoon of the next day.

A transfer between Bangkok and Lam Phya is available on demand.
For more information, call (02) 556 1223 or (01) 554 1597.

Lam Phya’s river of life

Gone are those days of laborious boat travel. New paved roads now connect the small town of Lam Phya to the outside world.

Phoowadon Duangmee
The Nation
Nation photos/ Phoowadon Duangmee

And over the past few years, Lam Phya’s local temple and community have returned life back to river by recreating the long-lost floating market. This has attracted many Bangkok weekenders for its tall stacks of non-chemical farming produce.
“For the people of Lam Phya, this river is special,” says Pornthip Wattanasukkij, a Lam Phya-born tour operator who recently launched a small rice barge on the river.
“These days, you can hardly find any river as clean as the Nakhon Chai Sri, especially as it flows through Lam Phya.”

Breaking off from the great Chao Phya, the river sweeps down from Sing Buri through Suphan Buri, Nakhon Pathom and Samut Sakhon. But the communities in Nakhon Pathom, from Bang Len to Lam Phya to Nakhon Chai Sri in the far south, make other people jealous because their waterway is so much cleaner.

“This is the most beautiful part of the river, where the lifestyle is very much the same as it was decades ago,” says the rice barge captain as we push off from the floating market and head upriver. “If you travel further up to Suphan Buri, the river is small and shallow. Hardly any boats can run through it. You might find a wider river toward Samut Sakhon, but the filthy suburbs cut down the river’s charm.”

From the vantage point of a rattan chair, Lam Phya appears hardly untouched by the upheavals of the last 30 years: rice farms by the river, women picking aquatic vegetables, a man with a fishnet waiting for his catch of the day.
We cruise through a landscape that appears like a setting for a movie: a timeworn traditional Thai house, a small sampan pulling by the bank, rice mills, Buddhist temples, Chinese shrines, retired rice barges. The scenery keeps rolling and changing like a slide show.

Sometimes we tie up at temple and go exploring with an anthropologist’s mind.
In Wat Bang Pla, midway between Lam Phya and Bang Len, we are surprised to find an elongated sampan that was made in the days of King Rama IV. The boat once belonged to an abbot.

“When he had a meeting in Bangkok, the monk would take the boat,” says Pornthip. “How long did the journey take? I have no idea.”

Only a stone’s throw to the west of the old sampan stands an eye-popping temple building entirely painted in gold.

Stepping closer, I’m surprised to see how much the local people really love the river – the small chapel is built to look like a boat, with walls and windows looking like the side view of a river vessel.

“Do you want to know the temple’s secret?” asks a noodle-seller while we’re waiting for our second bowl of noodles.

“The Buddha can ‘give’ lottery numbers. Very accurate indeed.”
This sounds illogical to us scientific-minded weekenders. How can the stone Buddha tell a lottery number?

My friends sidle inside the chapel and come out with smiling faces. They have discovered the reason behind all the gold of the chapel: whenever people win the jackpot, they always give a “little something” to the Buddha.
From the temple, we turn and cruise back to the floating market with much hope of seeing charming ladies bathing by the river.

Alas! Either it’s the wrong day or we’re late. But the glorious sunset quite makes up for the disappointment.

We tie the boat by the riverbank and spend the night on board. The rice barge has a long history of travelling from one mill to another.

Pornthip has renovated and refurbished it as a stylish river cruiser. Clean white sheets are placed on the deck, covered by the largest mosquito net you have ever slept under. And the lullaby is a ragged symphony of little frogs and other night creatures.