Thread: Memory Lane (In my own language)

A photo of "Koon (not ‘khoon = Mr.’) Sappakit Wichan (noble rank+title granted by the king)" who won the Harley Davidson motorcycle race on October 30^th, 1920.

In this photo, it explains that he is posting as a model riding on a 1920 Twin Cylinder Harley Davidson for an advertisement during the reign of King Rama VI, date and year unknown.

The term “Front Palace or Wang Na” has been mentioned quite often. There was the term “Rear Palace or Wang Lang” as well.

Wang Na and Wang Lang had been mentioned since Ayutthaya Kingdom.

In Rattanakosin Kingdom, the term ‘Wang Na’ referred to the Uparaja (viceroy) of Siam, who held the title Krom Phra Ratchawang Bowon Sathan Mongkhon.

‘Wang Lang’ held the title Krom Phraratchawang Bowon Sathan Phimuk. Its importance was second to Wang Na.

So, the terms ‘Wang Na’ and ‘Wang Lang’ are used as common terms.

In Rattanakosin Kingdom, Prince Anurak Devesh who was a nephew of King Rama I was the only Wang Lang who was appointed in 1785.

The importance of Wang Lang was to provide force to protect the northern and western side of the capital city of Bangkok (the western side of Chao Praya River) from enemy invasion.

After Prince Anurak Devesh’s death in 1806, the office was divided to be the residences of his offspring. Until the reign of King Rama III, the descendant of the Prince had less and less power and money, not much enough to maintain so, the vast area was left vacant and had become free land for anybody.

In 1886, the reign of King Rama V, he had the land improved to establish Siriraj Hospital (more detail on page 22/546) and Bangkok Noi Train Station.

Note: To be clear, both terms: Wang Na and Wang Lang, each is referred to a position of a person not a name of a place.

(Siriraj Hospital in the beginning)

(Bangkok Noi Train Station in the beginning)

Ratchadamnern Stadium is a sporting arena located in Bangkok. It is one of the two main stadiums for modern ‘muay Thai’.

In 1941, the Prime Minister of Thailand, Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram (page 12/297 and 13/302) gave orders to build a national boxing stadium on Ratchadamnern Avenue. Impresse Italiane All' Estero-Oriente won the construction rights, and the 258,900 baht project foundation stone was laid on 1 March 1941.

Due to the lack of construction supplies during the WWII, the project was halted until August 1945. When the construction resumed, it took only four months to complete it.

The first boxing match was held on 23^rd December 1945. Tickets were priced at between 70 and 300 baht.

The original stadium was open-air, resembling a Roman amphitheater in design.

Six years later, in 1951 a concrete roof was added, making it weather-proof. Despite the construction, boxing events continued as usual.

After seven years of the government ownership, the stadium was losing money. On 24^th May 1953, The stadium manager at the time asked permission from the Crown Property Bureau to run the stadium and founded the "Ratchadamnern Co, Ltd.".

The Ratchadamnern Co., Ltd. operates it to this day and it has become one of the chief muay Thai boxing stadiums in Thailand.

Gambling is legal there and takes place at the second level. The betting is done by hand-signals, as on a stock exchange trading floor. Anyway, very often such signs are misunderstood by one side and fights may erupt outside the ring between gamblers. The security service at Ratchadamnern Stadium is managed by armed military police. Foreigners usually occupy the expensive ringside seats, while gamblers and aficionados prefer the second or third ring of seats upstairs.

Lumpinee Boxing Stadium is a sporting arena located on Rama IV Road in Bangkok. It was opened more than a decade later than Ratchadamnern Stadium so, it is the second national stadium.

General Praphas Charusathien, a military officer and politician, was the driving force behind the construction of the Lumpinee Stadium. The Stadium opened its doors on 8^th December 1956.

The Stadium is run by the Army Welfare Department of the Royal Thai Army. The board of directors, as of 2020, consists entirely of army officers. The rules are the same as at the Ratchadamnern Stadium. Women are not allowed to fight in the stadium or enter the ring (I have no idea about at the Ratchadamnern Stadium).

One of the most famous Lumpinee champions was Diesel-Noi (= Little Diesel) Chor Thanasukarn who reigned without defeat in the early 80s. He held the Lightweight title for four years. He was eventually forced to retire because he ran out of opponents.

The final event at its original site on Rama IV Road near Lumphini Park was held on 8th February 2014. The stadium then moved to its new home on Ram Intra Road which can hold up to 5,000 spectators. The new stadium held the first fight on 11^th February 2014 and was officially opened on 28th February 2014.

Lumpinee Stadium was implicated in a cluster of COVID-19 cases during the coronavirus pandemic in Thailand in 2020. Boxing matches were held on 6^th March 2020 in spite of a government shutdown order issued on 3^rd March. Among those later stricken by COVID-19 was the chief of the Army Welfare Department, who had been at the stadium.

Since K. HuangLao has brought this photo up, noticing the clock tower on the right...

I happened to have the story of this clock compiled and waited in queue. So, I am cutting the queue and bringing it up here...


King Rama IV had built a clock tower within the area of the Grand Palace that was close to Chao Phraya River so that those who sailed along the River Or the villagers can look at the time from afar.

This royal clock was located on top of the 5 story Phuwadon Tassanai Throne Hall.

King Rama IV used his skills in astronomy to study both indigenous astrology and English texts on Western astronomy and mathematics to build this clock intending it to tell the standard time of Bangkok which was called the Bangkok Time.

"... to prevent them (meaning farung) from laughing that our country using the old time telling device, gongs…”

This royal clock tower was built two years prior to Westminster Palace (Big Ben) clock tower in England. It was the clock that created Siam/Thailand Standard Time for the first time and the first before the western countries has assigned the prime meridian (the line of 0 degrees longitude) running through the London Observatory of Greenwich, the United Kingdom which has been the basis for the International Date Line.

Anyway, during the reign of King Rama V, the Throne Hall showed so much dilapidated. It was difficult to repair and also cost too much. Therefore, the King had it demolished to give way to the construction of more modern throne halls planned in the future.

(The same photo as K. HuangLao but being computer colored shows the Grand Palace shot from the Ministry of Defense. The royal clock tower can be seen on the right)

As having mentioned earlier that since the old days, the Chakri Dynasty’s kings, several of their consorts were also his half-sisters or close relatives. These consummations (no official wedding ceremony back then) were usually done to keep the bloodline pure and the power within the right family.

This tradition has passed on not only to the ‘who would be king’ but ‘the others’, such as the king’s male siblings and male relatives and etc., as well.

[From left: Prince Vajiravudh (King Rama VI), Chakrabongse Bhuvanath, Prince of Bishnulok, Purachatra Jayakara, Prince of Kamphaengphet , Chirapravati Voradej, Prince of Nakhon Chaisi]


The computer colored photo below shows Purachatra Jayakara (pronounce as ‘Boorachat Chaiyakorn’), Prince of Kamphaengphet (1881-1936), a son of King Rama V, posted with his wife (‘mea luang’) who was his biological uncle’s daughter. The original photo was taken in London in 1920.

Prince of Kamphaengphet, in 1894, attended Harrow School, England then School of Engineering at Trinity College, Cambridge and engineering at Chatham. After graduated, he continued his study more in France and the Netherlands in the School of engineering of digging dam-canals. After graduating, he went back to work in England and became the officer of the Institution of Civil engineer.

He came back to Siam in 1904 to work as a military engineer and officer of the Siamese Royal Army. He had served there for 17 years.

During his duty, he used his knowledge from his study to develop the Siamese Department of Engineering.

In the reign of his father, Rama V, the King gave the Siamese railway offices in control of the foreigners for administration in the railways system around Siam.

Until his death in 1910, the new reign of King Rama VI requested his half-brother, Prince of Kamphaengphet to be the Head of the Northern railway department. Later in 1917, the King included the railways of the Northern line and the Southern line into the Royal Railway Department and appointed the Prince as the president. He brought the diesel engine to use in Siam, as the first country in Asia to do so.

(A parody cartoon of Prince of Kamphaengphet illustrated by his half-brother, King Rama VI)


Later, King Rama VI dissolved the road department and included it into the Royal Railway Department. Prince of Kamphaengphet was responsibility for creating all the roads and bridges around the country.

In 1921, the Prince brought the engine of searching crude oil to work in Fang District, Chieang Mai Province and found amounts of crude oil.

He was the first to bring the communication system into the country. He set up a small radio for trial broadcasting and gave the first broadcast in 1930. He then, established the first radio broadcasting station called Phayathai radio station. That made him the Minister of the Ministry of Commerce and Transport in 1926.

Furthermore, the Prince created communication system such as telegraph and postal not only within the country but to many foreign countries as well.

He had done more such as establishing the flight operation systems, business aviation, including the international aviation, for commercial aviation international services. Being interested in flying made him the first Siamese who demonstrated the flying.

He was planning to establish the television broadcasting transmission which would have made Siam the first country in Asia to experiment with television when the Siamese Revolution of 1932 occurred which caused the project being cancelled.

After the Revolution, the Prince performed the royal duties and royal ceremonies on behalf of his half-brother, King Rama VII, before his abdication.

Caused by the Revolution, the Prince retired from all of his duties and moved to reside in Singapore with his family until his death on 14 September 1936, at the age of 55.

Prince of Kamphaengphet had 7 consorts, and 12 children; 4 sons and 8 daughters. He was often called the ‘Father of the Thai radio’ and the ‘Father of the Thai railways’ due to his contributions in both fields.

(At a fair in France with his family, with his 'mea luang' 's)

In the early Rattanakosin era, before the reformation of the court and correctional system which happened in the late reign of King Rama V, the prison wardens did not get salary but money received yearly by the government. The prisoners also, did not get suitable cares from the government such as enough food or proper clothes.

Thus, in order to acquire each other’s enough comfort, both sides had to cooperate with each other or ‘Roll my log and I'll roll yours’.

There were many ways to make each other beneficial but the most common way was ‘fetter reducing payment’.

Each prisoner, normally, got fetters but more or fewer depended on how serious crime he performed. Prisoners with serious crimes always got full types of fetters, around his neck, ankles, wrists, waist and also, pillory. Less serious crime got fewer fetters.

If a prisoner wanted to relieve himself from fetter torture, he paid money to the prison warden (aka bribery). The prisoner was more at ease and the prison warden got more money to spend.

Another possible way to get each other’s favor happened in the morning.

Once in a while, in the morning, the prison warden was assigned to take the prisoners out to the fresh market and allowed them to buy consumer goods they need.

Before setting off, each prisoner would be chained in the way as seen in the (computer colored) photo below. This picture of prisoners chained to each other was called ‘khon (= people) puang (= bundle/group)’.

Because each prisoner’s fund was personal so it was not equal. So, once in the market, any prisoners who got enough of money could buy any things they wanted but those who did not have money or not enough money, some asked politely but some just stole which caused much trouble to the vendors.

The only way for those vendors to get protection was to give money to the prison warden. Then, the prison warden shared money with those poor prisoners so they could spend in the market and the problem was taken care of.

(‘Khon puang’ in the reign of King Rama V)

According to the article on page 46/1127, one day in Paris, the Siamese Ambassadors were invited to watch a play.

After the show ended, the manager who arranged the play led the performers to meet and greet the team of the Ambassadors that honored them their visit.

One of the ambassadors wanted to reward the performers. So he put his hand in his shirt pocket. After he pulled it out and opened, there were small gems (possibly gems from Chantaburi Province that had the reputation of making high grade gems).

He, then, said "I am sorry that I have no money from your country. I only have these gems that I have carried with me from Siam. I hope you will accept them."

(The team of the Siamese Ambassadors took a photo (being computer colored) as a souvenir before presenting themselves before the Emperor Napoleon III and the Empress Eugénie in the great Salle de Bal in the Château de Fontainebleau, 27th June, 1861)

(The computer colored photo shot during the ‘Top-knot removing Ceremony’ held in 1905)

Prince Urubongs Rajsombhoj (1893 –1909) was a son of King Rama V. His mother was a commoner. His grandfather on his mother’s side was a Siamese nobleman.

As a little boy, the Prince was his father (the King)’s favorite. He always joined his father on trips to many places including Europe (the second trip).

Unlike the other princes around his age, Prince Urubongs did not gain education in Europe but instead received instruction from foreign teachers at a private residence in Siam. The reason was his father did not want the Prince to be apart from him.

He even built the Prince a small manor close to his residence in Dusit Palace.

Prince Urubongs died on 20^th September 1909 of appendicitis at the age of 15. It was also on the King’s birthday.

His death brought sadness to the members of the Royal Family, especially the King. For his favorite son’s memorial, the King ordered the building of a bridge across a klong. The bridge had the sculptures of Prince Urubongs set into both sides.

The bridge was named after him; Urubongs Bridge where Urubongs Road crossed over. This bridge was eventually demolished but the road and also the Urubongs Intersection still remain today.

(Posted with his father, King Rama V)

It is a belief from ancient times that each important city of Siam had to have a great stupa as its main or center of the city to show power and glory.

Therefore, major cities such as Sukhothai, Phitsanulok, Ayutthaya, Suphanburi and etc. had the great stupas built up as their mascot.

The city of Phetchaburi is another one that has the great stupa of the city as well.

The photo, colorized B&W photo shown below, of Petchaburi’s great stupa during the renovation was shot in the later year of King Rama V’s reign by Karl Dohring, a German architect.

Margaret Landon (1903 – 1993) was an American writer best remembered for Anna and the King of Siam, her best-selling 1944 novel portraying the life of Anna Leonowens.

She married Kenneth Landon and in 1927. They signed up as Presbyterian missionaries to Siam in the reign of King Rama VII.

During 10 years of her stay in Siam, she had collected a lot of photos taken through time around Bangkok and elsewhere outside. Many of them had hardly been seen because after taking them with her back to America, she had donated all of them to Wheaton College, Illinois where she was graduated in 1925.

Thanks to the internet, we, as to say, the owner of these places in these photos are able to see some of them first time though too bad, the College has put watermarks on all of them. For example:

Mahakan Fort and Golden Mount (then and now)

Showing part of the city wall with a local road running by. Historians guess that this place should be the area of Wat Leab (Wat Rachaboorana - page 48/1181) which is sited close to the Memorial Bridge (Sapan Put - not built yet) and the Chao Praya River.

Showing Mahakarn Fort which was way older than the 1^st photo. Historians speculate that judging from the cobblestone road, it would probably been shot during the reign of King Rama IV (before 1868).

This view as in today; to the left is the then Chaloem Thai Theater and the wall on the right was the old city wall. Outside the wall was Wat Saket and the Golden Mount, not seen.

The reign of King Rama V (1868-1910),

Toy shop

Police station

(14 July, 1907: I have received the 'looking glass' postcard on January (= the 4th month in old calendar which counted October as the 1st month of the year and April was the beginning of the New Year). I was very glad. It was a beautiful postcard.)