You can google Jim Thompson and learn all about him, but here are the highlights. He was an American that moved to Thailand, started making and trading silk, he got extremely good at it and his fabrics were featured in "The King and I" movie, and he got famous. Then he went to Malaysia and he was hiking in the jungle and he disappeared and was never heard from again. Crazy, huh?
So before he disappeared, he built a cool house on a canal, planted a large garden, and collected art and sculptures from around Southeast Asia. Now that he's gone, his house is on display. And it's pretty cool.
You have to explore with a group, so we bought our tickets and were assigned a time to meet with our English tour guide. We could wander the gift shop if we wanted, but after this morning, we just wanted to sit and stare at the ground. Finally, our 2:15 tour guide gathered us together and took us to the lockers where we had to leave everything but our camera.
She took us around the gardens and the house, explaining the purpose of the various rooms and interesting facts and stories about Jim Thompson.
They also teach you a little about silk and the how they (well, the little worms) make it. Near the entrance, there is a man actually getting the silk from the silk worm cocoons. It was pretty interesting.
Overall, it was ok. It's definitely not an absolute must see in Bangkok, but if you have some extra time it's worth stopping by. It's right across from MBK mall (the haggling mall), which most people stop by at some point on their trip, so it's easy to get to from there.
Oh, and we stopped at a corner market and found this:
This is the original form of Red Bull. Did you know it was a Thai drink before it went big?
Oh, and we stopped at a corner market and found this:
This is the original form of Red Bull. Did you know it was a Thai drink before it went big?
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