Along the Saen Saep Canal

Once known as the “Venice of the Orient”, Bangkok earned its romantic nickname due to its vast network of canals (khlongs) that once served as the city’s main arteries for transportation, commerce, and daily life. In the 19th century, boats were as common as cars are today, and much of the city was built along waterways rather than roads. Many of these canals have been paved over, but several still exist, and are just as important today as they ever were.

Khlong Saen Saep, built between 1837 and 1840 on the orders of King Rama III, is one of Bangkok's most important and prominent waterways, spanning 72 km and connecting the Chao Phraya River to Chachoengsao and Prachinburi Provinces. The canal passes through 21 districts and is connected to more than 100 smaller canals.

I usually enjoy taking the Saen Saep Canal river boat from Hua Chang ("Elephant Head") Bridge to Phan Fa Lilat ("King's Crossing") Bridge, but on this day, I was in the mood for an adventure. Getting lost and exploring on foot is one of my favorite things to do in Bangkok, but I haven't gotten to do much of it lately. I decided that I was going to skip the boat and walk along the canal to Rattanakosin, the city's Old Town.

I got a bottle of water from the station and made my way down the steps to the pier beneath the bridge. The walkway took me past colorfully painted walls and shady, drooping trees through a familiar path towards Jim Thompson's House. I've been this way before, but after passing by the luxurious home of the art collector turned spy turned silk magnate (who mysteriously disappeared in Malaysia in the 1960s), I was entering new territory.

As I walked along the banks of the canal, I passed through shops, restaurants, and communities, many of which have existed here for decades or longer.

I had anticipated the canal's walkways to be no more than a railed sidewalk meandering alongside the water. I was surprised, however, to see just how lived-in the edge of the waterway really was. 

Along the way I passed the Binmahmood House, a beautiful painted teakwood house with stained glass windows which dates back to around 1909. The house originally belonged to Mr. Hajji Ismaael Binmahmood, a Muslim silk merchant whose family had fought in the Nine Armies War between Burma and Siam (1785–1786).

This neighborhood is known as Ban Khrua, and is the oldest Muslim community in Bangkok. The community was known for its silk production, which was made internationally famous by the aforementioned Mr. Jim Thompson. Ban Khrua silk was so famous that it was used for costuming in the movies The King and I and Ben Hur.

The walkway I was following abruptly came to an end, and I realized that it was undergoing a massive reconstruction project. I was forced to go off-path, and veered off along a side canal and through a mazelike neighborhood I had never seen before.

After passing over some train tracks and wandering in roughly the right direction, I was able to make my way back to the canal.

By this time, I had entered Bobae Market, one of the oldest and largest clothing markets in Bangkok, and a great place to buy elephant pants. It's not a super touristy market, and seems mainly marketed towards the local community.

Across the water, I could see the domed green tower of a local mosque and the jumbled-up community of houses, shops, and market stalls surrounding it. 

Finally, I arrived in at the end of my walk near the Golden Mount. A detour had taken me a little way off track, and I ended up just outside the gates of Wat Sitiram, a Buddhist temple dating back to the reign of King Rama II.

The local Chinese-Thai community in the area at the time were mostly pig farmers, and when it was built, they named the temple "Khok Mu", or "Pigsty Temple". The original name was in Thai, unusual for a Buddhist temple. 

Around the turn of the 20th century, the Supreme Patriarch, in an attempt to standardize and institutionalize Thai Buddhism, renamed the temple in the liturgical Pali Sanskrit language. The new name, Wat Sitiram, is a form of the name of the founder of the temple (Yim) and the word aram, meaning "monastery".

The temple, overshadowed by the incredible Wat Saket (The Golden Mount) which stands nearby, is itself quite beautiful. It's small, but the large statues of Buddha in various postures which ring the prayer hall set it apart from other temples.

Looking back down the canal, I could see how far I had come. The towers of downtown Bangkok seemed really far away! The boat ride probably takes 15-20 minutes, but the walk had taken nearly an hour. The boat is super fun, and still my favorite way to get around, but there's something to be said about going on foot. You end up seeing and discovering places that you never would if you just stick to the tourist route.

It was a weekday, and Old Town was relatively quiet. I love this part of Bangkok with its old shophouses, delicious local food, temples, shrines, and historic charm.

It was getting close to noon, so I decided to look for lunch. I ended up walking to the nearly Kolun.h (not a typo!), a Michelin recommended noodle restaurant.

Kolun.h is known for their Hainanese-style rice noodles. The signature dish comes with the choice of clear or "sticky" broth. I ordered the sticky broth, a thick, gravy-like stew which was filled with thick, chewy wheat noodles, braised pork, stewed radish and crispy pork belly. 

The noodles were topped with the aromatic flavors of fried garlic, toasted sesame seeds, chopped green onions, and pickled mustard greens, which all added up to create a filling and delicious lunch.

After that, it was time to go back home. I had ended up near the MRT station, so I took the metro back to my condo.

I was tired after a long walk out in the sun and the heat, but I was so happy to have gone out exploring again. I need to do that more often. Lately I've been working so hard that I feel like I've been stuck at home most of the time. I'm trying to get out and about more like I used to.

The Royal Thai Air Force Museum

I had some free time today, so I decided to do something new.

I had been wanting to see the Royal Thai Air Force Museum ever since the BTS Skytrain line built its extension to the northern part of Bangkok, and today, I finally decided to visit.

The museum is located at the RTAF Headquarters near Don Mueang International Airport. Don Mueang is the smaller and older of Bangkok's two airports (the other being the huge and flashy Suvarnabhumi).

Don Mueang is actually the oldest airport in Asia and the eighth oldest in the world! It was established in 1914 as a RTAF base, and opened for commercial flights in 1924.

The museum is located across the road from the Royal Air Force Park, so I stopped by the park first to see the flight monument, which featured four Thai jets soaring into the sky.

The park itself was really beautiful as well. It was a quiet morning, and I took a walk around the pond before crossing the road and heading to the museum itself.

A young cadet welcomed me as I entered the museum. She handed me a map and told me that the museum was totally free and that I was welcome to walk around outside as well to explore the old planes on display.

Established in 1952, the museum was created to gather, safeguard, and restore aircraft and aviation artifacts connected to the Royal Thai Air Force. Among its notable displays are several rare planes, including one of only two remaining Japanese Tachikawa Ki-36s, the world’s last surviving Vought O2U Corsair, and one of just three Curtiss BF2C Goshawks still in existence.

The Kingdom of Siam was an early adopter of aviation technology. The Wright Brothers made the first flight in 1903, and in 1910, just seven years later, the very first air show was performed for Thai audiences at the Royal Bangkok Sports Club where Field Marshal Chakrabongse Buvanth, Prince of Phistonulak, became the first Thai person to ever fly in an aircraft. Today, he is revered as the Father of the Thai Air Force.

The prince established the Royal Army Aeronautical Service, a forerunner to the Royal Thai Air Force, in 1913 making it the first air force in all of Asia.

Siam entered the First World War on the side of the Allies (Entente) in 1917, sending an air group of 1200 pilots and ground crew to fight in France. After the war, Siam, as a stipulation of the Treaty of Versailles, occupied the Rhineland from 1918-1919, the first and only Asian country ever to occupy territory in Europe.

In late 1940, the RTAF saw success against a Vichy French invasion in the Franco-Thai War, where Siamese forces ended up pushing back French encroachment with the help of their British allies. Thailand remains the only nation in Southeast Asia never to have been colonized by a foreign nation, and in fact the name "Thailand" literally means "Free Land".

The air force also fought against the Japanese when the Empire invaded in 1941. After a brutal 36-hour period of resistance, the king ordered the armed forces to stand down and capitulated, giving the Japanese freedom of movement through the country and officially joining the Axis to prevent further bloodshed and the annexation of Thailand. The kingdom made a half-hearted declaration of war against the United States, who completely ignored it. The Thai government would continue to secretly collaborate with the allies until the end of the war.

Read more about Thailand in World War II:
The Blog of Michael Desrosiers: The Legacy of the Burmese Death Railway

The Blog of Michael Desrosiers: The Maeklong

It was interesting to see that the vast majority of the aircraft on display were American planes. It makes sense though. Thailand has historically been the United States' closest and most staunch ally in Southeast Asia.

Thailand fought alongside the US in the Korean War and in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, and more recently in the War in Iraq.

I really enjoyed my time at the museum, especially the part where I got to walk around and admire lots of planes and air force equipment from several different periods of modern history. It was a nice way to spend a quiet morning in Bangkok.

A few years back I had a great time at the Royal Thai Navy Museum. I guess now I'll need to plan a day to check out the Army Museum to complete the whole set.

The Matcha Fair

I stepped inside my local shopping mall today, and found the place absolutely packed. It was the Mother's Day holiday (the birthday of Queen Mother Sirikit, who is recognized as the "Mother of the Thai Nation" and a symbolic mother to all Thai people). That meant that a lot of people were off of work, despite it being a weekday.

The mall was hosting a giant matcha tea festival in the main lobby area. Matcha is a finely ground powder made from specially grown and processed green tea leaves, traditionally used in Japanese tea ceremonies but popular worldwide for its vibrant flavor and health benefits. Unlike regular green tea, where leaves are steeped and discarded, matcha involves consuming the entire leaf, providing a concentrated dose of antioxidants and caffeine.

The fair was made up of dozens of small pop-up shops were selling fresh matcha, imported Japanese matcha powder, and various accoutrements like chawan (matcha bowls), chashaku (bamboo scoops designed to measure out the exact right amount of matcha powder), and chasen (traditional whisks made out of fine bamboo).

My wife is obsessed with Japanese matcha, and bought a bag to bring back home.

I'll be going to Japan myself in just a few weeks, and the fair made me feel excited about all of the amazing tea that I'll be drinking while I'm there!

In general, I'm a black tea drinker, but I do enjoy a good cup of matcha, and I can't wait to participate in a Japanese tea ceremony soon!

The Siam Serpentarium

The Siam Serpentarium is Asia's first entertainment museum dedicated entirely to snakes. We were in the area after stopping by at the Suvarnabhumi Airport Museum, and decided to visit the serpentarium, somewhere I had wanted to see for several years.

Many years ago, when I first moved to Thailand, my old boss Geoffrey took me to the Bangkok Snake Farm, a Thai Red Cross museum and clinic. There, we watched the snake show and even got to meet one of the center's old, sweet, and very docile pythons.

The Blog of Michael Desrosiers: The Snake Farm

We had a quick lunch at the museum's cafe, which also housed several snakes, like this colorful milk snake.

And this little guy who was acting shy and who I thought was actually pretty cute for a snake.

After lunch, we went to visit the museum itself. The first section of the museum was dedicated to the lifecycle and biology of snakes. Next, we got to see some of the snakes themselves.

One snake which really intrigued me was the beautiful albino cobra.

Cobras have always creeped me out. They just look evil. I don't know if it's the hood, the way they move, or just the fact that I know that they are aggressive, highly venomous, and are capable of spitting their venom into an enemy's eyes to blind it. This one, being albino, was very rare. It was cool to see, but I still prefer looking at non-venomous snakes!

The cobra wasn't the only albino snake at the Serpentarium! There was also a huge and super cool albino python with a really stunning white and gold pattern.

My favorite snake was the Oriental Rat Snake, who was super curious and social and who kept raising himself up to look at the visitors.

oriental rat snake

The most beautiful snake that I saw was the white-lipped python, a stunningly iridescent copper, gold, and blue nonvenomous snake endemic to the lowlands of New Guinea. This snake is a popular pet, and I have to admit that if I were ever to adopt a snake of my own, it would be high on my list.

white-lipped python

Twice every day, the Serpentarium hosts a snake show, and we were lucky enough to have arrived at just the right time to catch the evening performance. A snake handler introduced the snakes, including two cobras. It really stressed me out as he picked them up and held them and even kissed them on the head.

Afterwards, they gave a demonstration on how snake venom is milked to create antivenin.

The final exhibition was about antivenin and the process of its production.

It's actually a rather archaic and somewhat barbaric process which involves injecting a horse, a mammal large enough to be able to naturally survive a snakebite, with deadly venom, then extracting and processing the antibodies from the horse's blood to inject into a bite victim to give them some small immunity with the hopes that they will survive. It sounds crazy, but that's actually the only way that we know of making antivenin.

And here's a fun fact (one of my all-time favorite etymological fun facts): Most people say anti-venom, but the correct English word is actually antivenin! It comes from the French word venin (meaning “venom”), as the substance was discovered by French scientist Albert Calmette (1863-1933).