Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
each of which has a foot on Charoen Krung. There is a map produced in 1878 by a Brit-
ish sea captain named Alfred Loftus, who was the official topographer and surveyor to
the king of Siam, that shows all the embassies, the main businesses and even some of the
residencies along Charoen Krung, starting with the German Consulate on the bank of the
canal and ending with the offices of the SiamWeeklyAdvertiser perched on the riverside
at Thanon Tok. Fifteen years after the road had been completed, it looks a very busy thor-
oughfare. Today we can stand with our backs to Padung Krung Kasem and see that, in
essence, this part of Charoen Krung Road hasn't really changed. The architecture is still
shophouses, many of them late nineteenth century originals, and the atmosphere is one of
bustling commerce.
Captain Bush Lane is a narrow little thoroughfare running from Charoen Krung down
to the river, known nowadays mainly for a collection of arts and antiques shops that are
housed in warehouses built by the Japanese in World War II . Captain Bush, however, was
one of the best-known Europeans in Bangkok during the second half of the nineteenth
century. Born in England in 1819, he had arrived in Bangkok in 1857, shortly after the
signing of the Bowring Treaty. Already Western ships were beginning to crowd into the
port of Bangkok, and the Krom Ta, or Harbour Department, found itself overwhelmingly
busy. The department had divided itself into three divisions: one taking care of European
shipping, one of Chinese shipping, and the third taking care of Indian shipping. Rama IV
realised that he needed an experienced seadog to act as harbour master, and following dis-
cussions with the British consul, Sir John Schomburgk, Captain Bush was appointed to
the office, with the title of Luang Wisoot Sakoradit Chao Ta. He immediately reformed the
Harbour Department, and 5 th August 1859 is recognised today as Harbour Department
Founding Day. Bush remained in that position for thirty years, and was a respected and
popular local figure. He was amongst the first Westerners to buy plots of land, and built
a house here facing the river. Anna Leonowens, who first met Bush when he sailed out to
meet her incoming ship on the night of 15 th March 1862, finding her with her six-year-old
son Louis and the family pet, a large Newfoundland dog, describes him as “a cheery Eng-
lishman, with a round, ruddy, rousing face.” Anna was distraught that her royal employers
had arranged no accommodation, and Bush brought them across the river and provided a
room in his house.
Standing at the end of Captain Bush Lane, facing the Sheraton, and in such a sadly ru-
inous state that it is something of a surprise it stands at all, is a mansion built by a wealthy
French wine merchant. In the neighbouring compound are a couple of warehouses that
until recent years had a familiar name affixed, for little Louis Leonowens grew into a
Search WWH ::




Custom Search