Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The new premises opened in 1908, and remain unchanged to this day, a lovely example
of an early twentieth century bank. The building has its own garden with a big old bodhi
tree. Pick up one of the leaves and it will immediately be seen where the bank derived its
distinctive logo. This is still a working bank, although the headquarters is now over on
Ratchadapisek Road. No one minds if you step inside and look around. Everything here is
original: the grilles behind which the tellers sit, the tiles on the floor worn by a century of
bank customers, the quaint old light fittings. There is a big vault under the floor where the
money was stored, and almost poignant in its simplicity, the prince's office can be seen to
the side of the banking hall. Siam Commercial Bank is today one of Thailand's big three
banks, with the country's largest network of
ATM
s. The English language name was re-
gistered as the official name, although the Thais know it as Thanakhan Thai Phanit.
Warehouses on the bank of the outer moat at the eastern end of Chinatown.
As we have seen, the Portuguese formed the earliest European community in Ayut-
thaya, and in Thonburi, having travelled down from the destroyed city and established
themselves on a parcel of land on the riverbank granted them by King Taksin, who had
been grateful for their support, and where they built Santa Cruz Church. In 1786, Rama
I
granted the Portuguese community an area of land at his new capital, at the far end of
the land he had granted the Chinese, just beyond Wat Sampeng. he Portuguese built
Holy Rosary Church in 1786, and they founded two schools, Kularb Wattana and Kularb
Wittaya, the word
kularb
being Thai for “rose”, the name deriving from the church name.
Thais know the church as Wat Kalawan, the Thai pronounciation of “Calvary”. The build-
ing that stands on the site today is the third Holy Rosary Church, and dates from 1898.
A Gothic, cream-coloured structure, it has a high façade and a spire, and outstandingly
beautiful Romanesque stained glass windows.
At the same time as the Chinese and the Portuguese were settling into their new land
along the Bangkok riverbank, a Vietnamese prince arrived in Bangkok, pleading for mil-
itary assistance from Rama
I
. Nguyen Phuc Anh was a nephew of the last Nguyen lord
who had ruled over southern Vietnam, and his family had been slain in the Tay Son re-
