Jim Thompson House

Jim Thompson was an American who moved to Bangkok in the 1940's and revitalized the silk trade. His disappearance in 1967 remains a mystery to this day. His house is a compilation of 6 Thai style houses put together.

Since R had been before, it was only A, dad and I going. A has fairly good sense of direction; dad and I couldn't find our way out of a paper bag without a GPS. Even still, A is not a GPS either, and we ended up taking a wrong turn.

A bridge? We've taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque

We took the "scenic" route, much to dad's chagrin. If we hadn't though, we wouldn't have found this canal.

Once we found our way to the house, we were treated to a lush garden filled with all sorts of wonderful greenery.

The planters of water lilies and the koi pond added bright splashes of colours

We were told we could wander the gardens until our tour began.

These look like peppercorns. 

Some of the items that Mr. Thompson possessed. 

Our guide was a lovely young lady

who told us about the various types of Buddhas that were in the house, as well as how this was the first house in Bangkok that had a staircase on the inside of the house, rather than the outside as was the way traditional Thai houses were built. Of course, Mr. Thompson had the funds to do that, as well as building the first indoor bathroom.

We were not allowed to take photos inside the house, but the sitting room was open to the outside, and so we could take pictures from the outside.

According to our guide, there are spirits who live in the ground, and when a building is erected, the spirits are displaced. Therefore, a house must be built for the spirits to live and offerings made to them on a daily basis.

Silk, from raw to finished product