Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
word for bread,
pung
, comes from a word for bread used by the Portuguese at that time.
The Kudi Cheen community baked their own bread and cakes, and today there are still
bakeries here producing a sponge cake known as
khanomfarang
Kudi Cheen, using apple
and jujube and made to the same recipe used in the time of the Portuguese merchants and
priests who had thrived in Ayutthaya. The largest bakery is located directly to one side of
the precinct, entered via an unmarked doorway set between a statue of Jesus as the Good
Shepherd and a modern three-storey house that is only one room wide. No one appears
to mind if you wander inside. There are a handful of women putting the mix and fruit
into star-shaped moulds, while the baking is done by a man who places the moulds in a
tandoor-like oven and then puts a tray over the top, which he heaps with glowing coals.
The baking done, the cakes are packed into cellophane bags and every so often a bicycle-
powered cart will depart from the premises and deliver them to shops in the locality.
The Kudi Cheen houses in the vicinity of Santa Cruz are smart and have a prosperous
air about them, and as there are no roads here, only footpaths, there is an agreeably sleepy
atmosphere. This is still very much a Catholic community, even though the blood of those
Portuguese settlers has long since mingled with Thai and Chinese blood, and Christian
images can be seen on the houses and fences. Each of the tiny lanes is neatly numbered,
although many are cul de sacs, and charting a way through the maze is not easy. Soon,
though, the path emerges onto the riverside walkway. There is an intriguing old house
here that looks as if it has been abandoned for many years, but in fact is still occupied,
after a fashion. Standing on church land, the house is constructed of golden teak and is
founded upon a solid stone platform, which has protected it from the waterlogged ground.
Faded and blackened with age, its shutters firmly closed, its front door occasionally open
to allow the river breezes to blow through, this is Windsor House, or Baan Windsor, a
classic example of the gingerbread style that is known as Ruen Manila. Louis Windsor, a
wealthy British merchant who had settled in Bangkok during the reign of King Rama
IV
and who married a Thai woman, Somboon, built the house. Their home was passed down
the generations to the modern-day Jutayothin family, who leased it to expatriates during
World War
II
and have ever since lived in a nearby residence, leaving caretakers in place.
There has been a recent move to register Windsor House with the Fine Arts Department
and turn it into a museum for the Kudi Cheen area.
