Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
WALK 22
PATHUM WAN 3
Mr Sukhumvit
Our walk takes us from what was a century ago swampland on the bank of the Saen Saeb
canal, down through the embassy district to the site of Bangkok's first radio station, and
then back up to the beginning of modern Bangkok.
Duration: 2 hours
On the corner of Ploenchit and Wireless roads stands a curious object. About three
metres (10 ft) high and cylindrical in shape, it is made of concrete and is entirely
blank. No door, no window, nothing. From time to time it has provoked lively comment in
the letters page of the English-language newspapers, where it has generally been referred to
as The Thing. Is it a wartime pillbox, part of the pumping apparatus for the nearby Saen
Saeb canal, a toilet, or something to do with the sewers? For the answer we have to go back
many years, to a remarkable man.
Lert Sreshthaputra was born in 1872 to a well-respected Bangkok family that lived near
the southern end of the second moat. Young Lert showed early signs of being a very enter-
prising person, having his birthdate changed by a venerated monk to give himself a more
auspicious astrological sign. When his schooling was finished he worked as a clerk for the
soda water and soft drinks section of the Singapore Straits Company, which later became
known as Fraser & Neave. By the age of 22 he had risen to be a partner in the business,
but his ambitions went far beyond this: he had saved enough money to set up on his own,
and he opened a store on Charoen Krung Road, near to where it crosses the Padung Krung
Kasem Canal. By now he was called Nai Lert, or Master Lert, and this is the name that ap-
pears above the shopfront in old photographs. Nai Lert's store began by selling sewing ma-
chines, canned foods, carbonated lemonade, and other imported goods, and it prospered.
