My Jim Thompson House
My favorite tourist spot in Bangkok is the Jim Thompson House, a collection of traditional teakwood Thai houses set in a garden that the silk magnate assembled before his mysterious disappearance in 1967. The Grand Palace is, well, grand, but also a little overpowering. The Jim Thompson House is on a more human scale. You can see how everything in it reflects his exquisite tastes.
For the past year I’ve lived in my own Jim Thompson house, here in Hua Hin, except that my little bungalow has only one room, while the Thompson House has a dozen. But it is a genuine traditional Thai house, constructed with teak and set in its own garden, an oasis in the middle of town. There are three of them located in a quiet soi just behind the post office. Technically they are a part of the Phueng Hotel, an otherwise conventional Hua Hin guest house
I stumbled across them a year ago looking for a cheaper place to live. My room, in fact, was not cheaper, but I fell in love with it anyway and have stayed there ever since. In the early mornings I sit out on my balcony, feeling the breezes wafting in from the Gulf of Thailand, which is only about two blocks away. And I like the convenience. Walk two blocks to the east and you hit the beach, two blocks west and you hit the golf course.
Every morning like clockwork two myna birds fly in to root around in the garden. I’ve got to know them well, and they have become braver, perching on the banister next to me, pecking at the crumbled cornflakes that I lay out for them (they don’t seem to like store-bought bird seed). The bungalows are raised about two feet from the ground in the Thai style, which provides a haven for frogs in the rainy season. Sometimes after a heavy rainfall, they wake me up early with their strenuous croaking.
The bungalows are constructed in the kalae style prevalent in northern Thailand around Chiang Mai. The entrance and balcony is covered by an eave held up by two teak posts. The balustrade and edges of the roof are decorated with intricate fretwork. It has a steep roof with a decoration on the gable (the “kalae” that is said to represent the horns of a water buffalo.
I was curious as to why the management chose to build their bungalows in the northern Thai style instead of the style prevalent in central Thailand that characterizes the Jim Thompson and Kukrit Pramoj mansions in Bangkok. I thought that the landlady might have come from that region, but one day I ran into Mrs. Wanara and asked her. She told me that she was born and bred in Hua Hin. So, maybe it was a decision of the contractor or simply the best design for the property.
Mrs. Wanara (who incidentally owns the Hua Hin Shopping Mall) said she erected the houses two years ago after many of her Thai and foreign guests requested a Thai style room. She has plans to build 10 more Thai bungalows on some beach property she owns.
The bungalows are tastefully furnished with Thai furniture and are equipped with the conveniences found in most Hua Hin guesthouses such as television and airconditioning. But there are some disadvantages, I’ll confess. A Finnish couple that occupied the adjacent bungalow earlier this year soon moved into a more conventional hotel after complaining about mosquitoes.
I can sympathize, but for me the pleasure I get from living in a Thai house, such as the cool feeling of teak wood under my bare feet, my garden and sitting on my balcony more than compensate. Now if the damn frogs would only shut up.