Thread: Memory Lane (In my own language)

(The colorized B&W photo shot in 1899, presumably after the royal ceremony of his top knotted removal)

Dilok Nobaratana, Prince of Sankhaburi (born in 1884) was a son of King Rama V with a royalty from Chiengmai named Tipkasorn.

The Prince was the first royalty who graduated in economics, from the University of Tubingen, Germany, and the second who achieved a Ph.D. graduation (called in German as Doktor der Wirtschafts-wissenschaften), the first was a commoner, at the age of 23.

After coming back to Siam, he was appointed to work in a foreign section of the Department of Public Prosecution, Ministry of Interior and had paved his way up from there.

(Second from left, the future King Rama VI on third from right)


The Prince’s personality was a person with new ideas, diligent and love to learn.When comes to working, he was very serious and always expected the best outcome. Once the job was not as expected, he was kind of emotional. Thus, these caused him cumulative stress.

The Prince had married to a princess from Chiengmai who was his relative whose beauty was proclaimed. Sadly that the couple did not share their love nest for long for the wife died suddenly from cramps while playing in the pond inside the Dusit Palace.

The Prince was too sad to be able to stop and at that time he was not quite well which was caused from a cerebral palsy for 7 months. Finally, he decided to commit suicide by a gun in his bedroom on January 12^th, 1912. His age was only 28 years.

On December 2021, UNESCO officially registered Thailand’s traditional Nora folk dance drama as an intangible cultural heritage.

(Shot in the 50s in Pattalung Province)


The southern folk dance is an art form in which singing, trance-like music, and unique dancing with swift hand movements are intertwined. It’s now Thailand’s third intangible cultural heritage following Khon, an ancient masked-dance drama, and traditional Thai massage.

Nora meets The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)’s five criteria including oral traditions and expressions, performing arts, social, rituals and festivals practices, and traditional craftsmanship.

The folklore has historical links to India and is still widely practiced in Thailand’s south.

Nora is a lively and acrobatic form of dance theater and improvisational singing from southern Thailand. Performances normally include a long oral invocation, followed by a presentation by a lead character who dances with vigorous and elaborate movements of the legs, arms and fingers.

Also, the performances are usually based on stories about the former lives of Buddha or about legendary heroes. An ensemble plays highly rhythmic and fast-paced music, with a traditional southern oboe providing the melody and strong rhythms produced by drums, gongs, cymbals and wooden clappers.

The most famous story depicts a prince who tried to rescue his beloved half-bird, half-human princess. The main Nora performers – whether male or female – wear colorful costumes with crowns or headdresses, beads, bird-like wings tied around the waist, ornate scarves, and swan tails that give them a bird-like appearance. Performers also wear long, metallic fingernails that curl out from the fingertips. Nora is a community-based practice with deep cultural and social significance for the people of southern Thailand.

Performances use regional dialects, music and literature to reinforce cultural life and social bonds among local people.

Over five hundred years old, Nora is performed in local community centers and at temple fairs and cultural events, and is passed on through training by masters in homes, community organizations and educational institutions.

The most recognizable element of Nora is the colorful layered costumes dancers wear which consist of a pointed headdress and long detachable nail tips to emphasize their finger movements.

A documentary (photos not included) titled: Public lights

In the bright neon glare of a Bangkok evening today, it’s almost impossible to imagine the gloom that beset the city within a few hours of sunset little more than a century ago.

Nonetheless, the capital, vast though it already was, was pitch-black after sundown until King Rama V brought electric light to our public thoroughfares in 1891.

In his father's reign, King Rama IV, the light of oil lamps had struggled to illuminate the night, and that only improved slightly when the gaslight was initially introduced. American physician Dan Beach Bradley recorded in the 1868 Bangkok Calendar annual that "RS Scott, Esquire" had given the city its first glow of gaslight on October 26 that year.

The Bangkok Recorder weekly illuminated the historic moment further: “At Mr. Scott & Company’s rice mill, there are lighted lamps in the night. It is light made of gas, not oil, and it is very good. Mr. Scott & Company invites anybody in Bangkok who wants to see the light to go to his company on October 24. He believes that it will be a new tradition in Bangkok soon and every Siamese should see it.”

The good Dr. Bradley failed to tell his readers whether anyone did indeed come out to "see the light" that particular autumn evening, but he did report that on the 26^th at around 8pm, "Mr. Scott & Company performed gaslight at their new rice mill.

"The gaslight is good and beautiful and people appreciate it," the physician- journalist enthused. "There is no need to use oil. Mr. Scott & Company places a gas lamp in a form of elephant at a window that is decorated with alphabets forming the King’s name. I want the gaslight to be used in every rice mill, consulate, department stores, in the palace and residences of personages."

A few months later, King Rama IV agreed to install a small gas plant, called Rong Hoog Lom Pra Pratheep, in the Royal Palace.

The glowing gas lamp in the window soon evolved into the gas lamp on a pole, and by the time King Rama V was on the throne, every major street in Bangkok was lined with lampposts, another giant step toward a brighter future.

(Bang Lumpoo area)

That is not Phloen Chit Arcade. I don't remember it having an Foodland inside when I first visit it in 1984. Not sure If I am confusing with Ratchadamri Arcade. The place over there looks like some random place in Sukhumvit Road I visited in 1984.

Bangkok Chinatown in 1986 (taken by me). As you see here is Cathay Mall. Cathay Mall is now Lotus Chinatown as it no longer exists.

Streets of Bangkok in 1986 (taken by me).

(The colorized B&W photo)


Benbadhanabongse, Prince of Phichai (1884 – 1909) was a son of King Rama V and one of his Royal Concubines.

The Prince studied agricultural studies in the United Kingdom in 1903, while he was only 19 years old.

After graduating, he began working as the secretary officer in the Ministry of Education.

In 1902, the King promoted the country's silk-silverware (what’s that??) and weaving industry. He hired Dr. Kametaro Toyama from the University of Tokyo to teach the Japanese practice of silk and weaving to Siamese students.

Later on 30^th September 1903, the ministry included the productive division, the division of animal husbandry, and the silk-weaving pillow station, creating the "Department of Silk Technicians". Prince Benbadhanabongse became the first director of the department.

The Prince was interested in Thai music instruments, being able to play almost every type of instrument. He created the Thai classical music band "Prince Ben's band".

Back when returning from the United Kingdom, he made an official visit to Chieng Mai. There, he met a Chieang Mai princess and the two created a relationship.

The Prince requested the governor of Chieang Mai to negotiate with the Princess’s father about a marriage, but the proposal was rejected.

Disappointed by love and together with the struggling along the trip in the middle of the forest in the north and overnights in the wilderness inspired him to compose a song called ‘Lao Dumnern Kwean’. The Prince would perform this song whenever he missed this princess of Chieang Mai.

Though later, the King, his father arranged the marriage for the Prince with another princess but first love never died.

Prince Benbadhanabongse had been chronically ill with tuberculosis and died on 11 November 1909, at the age of 27 only.

He originated the House of Benbadhana (read as: Penpat).

Charoen Krung Road or New Road is one of a major roads in Bangkok and the first in Siam/Thailand to be built using modern construction methods.

It was built during 1862–1864 in the reign of King Rama IV and marked a major change in Bangkok's urban development with the major mode of transport shifting from water to land.

The road runs from the old city center in Rattanakosin Island starting from Sanam Chai at the corners of the Grand Palace. It passes through Bangkok’s Chinatown and continues into Bang Rak District where formerly served the community of European expatriates. The road ends in Bang Kho Laem District.

The final stretch of Charoen Krung Road after it intersects, at present time, Rama III Road under Rama III Bridge is known as Thanon Tok (Tok Road) which means "falling road" as a reference to the fact that if the road continued on, it would fall into the river (Chao Praya River), fall = tok .

Charoen Krung Road was Bangkok's main street up to the early 20th century, but later declined in prominence. It is still home to many historic buildings and neighborhoods, which are beset by changes as extension of the underground MRT is poised to drive new development.

(The colorized B&W photo was taken by Peter William Hunts, an Allied pilot in 1946, shows Thanon Tok (Tok Road), the last section of Charoen Krung Road, which ended at the Chao Praya River’s bank in Bang Kho Laem District (hence comes the name of the road). The transportation along this road was supported by Luk Mueng – Thanon Tok Line Tram)