Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
destroy a ten-foot high stone bullet with a single blow, a vintage motorcar would not stand
a chance.
Descend the flight of steps that leads down from the hotel main entrance, follow
the pathway to the bank of the canal, and you will find one of the city's most curious
shrines. Chao Mae Tuptim is a female spirit,
tuptim
being the Thai word for both ruby and
pomegranate. No one knows quite how long this shrine has been here, or why. Very pos-
sibly it dates back to the early days of the canal, with scattered villages along the banks and
passing boats stopping to make offerings. A large fichus tree stands here, and these trees,
with their twisting aerial roots, are traditionally regarded as an abode for spirits. Why it
was decided the tree was the home of the goddess Tuptim is a mystery, as is the goddess
herself, and her reputation for fertility. It only takes a few wishes to come true, and a shrine
can achieve a reputation. Whatever the history is, the tree and its spirit house has drawn
generations of supplicants bearing the offerings of phalluses, and hundreds of them have
been left here. Some are tiny and placed in the branches, some are baked like cakes and
left to dissolve into the elements, and some are real whoppers, elaborately carved from
wood and painted in varying shades of red and pink.
Although Ploenchit Road may have looked remote to the British legation staff
gloomily contemplating a long trudge from their comfortable homes in Bangrak or Bang
Kolaem, to the British sea captains who had previously only to step of the deck of their
ship and into the embassy garden to get their paperwork sorted, and to the servants who
quite possibly had fears of crocodiles and tigers, the new British Embassy by 1926 was
not really that remote. The tram rattled up Silom Road as far as Pratunam, the roads were
good enough for the motorcars that were becoming commonplace, and there was always a
boat ride along the canal that was eventually to become Wireless Road. Civilisation ended
in fields and pathways where Sukhumvit now runs, true enough, but on the immediate
south side of Ploenchit Road, or the trail that passed for Ploenchit Road, were some very
desirable residences.
Take, for example, the house of an Englishman named Henry Victor Bailey, a wealthy
adventurer who settled in Siam and ran an architectural practice, along with importing
motorcars and blue-and-white porcelain from China. Bailey designed and built a house
for himself here in 1914. A large timber residence, large enough to house himself and his
three Siamese wives, it stood on stilts and had a broad veranda and a billiards room. Bailey
died in 1920, and the house was sold to the Siamese Treasury. In 1947, after the conclu-
sion of World War
II
., Thailand, in a gesture of appreciation to the United States, handed
over the property and ten acres of manicured gardens for use as the official residence of
