Thread: Memory Lane (In my own language)

The Sokan (top knot removing) ceremony in the Rattanakosin era has inherited the pattern from the late Ayutthaya period.

Record says that after the fall of Ayutthaya Kingdom and Rattanakosin Kingdom was established, there was one and only highest ranking Princess who was born from a king who once ruled Ayutthaya Kingdom left existed.

She knew a lot of old and sacred royal traditions very well and was afraid that these ceremonies including this one might be lost unless they were recorded and enumerated the details as a textbook.

These photos shot from different timeline in the reign of King Rama V showed what was going on during the royal top knot removing ceremony.


King Rama V was seen standing with his back in front of the camera while directing the ceremony held at Grand Palace. Some of the models seen were a waterfall, a pond and some animals which were arranged according to the Brahman belief that the ceremony was taken place on the legend Khao Krailad (Mount Kailash) in Himmapan forest. These animals were made of metal and water was made running out of their mouths to sprinkle his son.

The rest of the photos show general views.








(Gold and jewels decoration)



[The model of Khao Krailad (Mount Kailash)]

Wat Pra Puttabat is a Buddhist temple located in Saraburi Province. It was built up on the mountains, mostly surrounded by forest. It is among the oldest Buddhist temples in Thailand. The name means "temple of Buddha's Footprint" because inside the Wat contains a natural formation believed to be a footprint of Buddha.

According to historians, Wat Pra Puttabat was built by King Songtam who sat on the throne in the late era of Ayutthaya Kingdom (1350-1767), after a hunter named Pran (= hunter) Boon found a large formation in the stone which resembled a huge footprint. That place was located near Suwan Banpot Hill.

The hunter reported his find to the King who ordered workers to build a temporary construction called in Thai as "mondop" to cover the footprint. This later became the temple eventually.

This story has more details in Buddhism tale about the flight of Buddha to the peak of Mount Suwan Banpot and of how he left his footprint there.

The size of the footprint is about 53 cm (21 inches) wide, 152 cm (five feet) long, and 28 cm (11 inches) deep. The footprint is now covered by a decorated golden case. Inside filled with layers of gold leaf, coins and banknotes thrown by worshipers and visitors.


(shot in 1904)



(also shot in 1904 compared with present day)

Wat Pra Puttabat See Roy (= Buddhas’ 4 footprints)

This Wat is located in Mae Rim, about an hour away from Chiengmai Province and in the countryside. It is not easy to find as you need to drive through rice paddies and small villages but at the entrance there is a large stone Buddha to mark the way.

Inside the area is an outstanding building that roofs a rock that looks like 4 footprints. Legend says that they are of 4 Buddhas' from different eons. The largest footprint is close to 3 meters, while the smaller ones were placed within.

Surprisingly that I can't find any information recorded about this Wat; when and who built it. Might be because of back then Chiengmai was an independent kingdom and there was no official scribe yet but just mouth to mouth.

The Royal Thai Mint was established in 1860 in the reign of King Rama IV sited within the Grand Palace.




The new factory was established in 1876 in the reign of his son, King Rama V, sited close by the first one which was disused and later on, burned down in 1897. (Now it is ‘Wat Prakaew Museum”)




In 1902, the third factory was established by Klong Lod. This new factor was, for the first time, driven by electricity. It was used until 1972.


(Examples of coins issued during King Rama V – IX)


The Royal Thai Mint today (at Patumtanee Province)

Originally Posted by Klondyke

Is it the facility that it's construction on a land sold very profitably to Bank of Thailand caused many questions years ago? (However, at the end of the day the answers were satisfactory, as usually...)

Sorry, don't really know about it. Living here, I am like a hermit, hardly know anything outside...

Just found a very interesting document. It really gives a new point of view.

Let's read...












Note: Missions Etrangeres de Paris or The Society of Foreign Missions of Paris (established in 1658) is a Roman Catholic missionary organization. It is not a religious institute, but an organization of secular priests and lay persons dedicated to missionary work in foreign lands.

The Paris Foreign Missions Society started its work in Siam, with the establishment of a base in the capital of Ayutthaya. Siam was known to be highly tolerant of other religions and was the only country in Southeast Asia where the Catholic fathers could establish a base safely. With the agreement of the Siamese King Narai, the Great, the Seminary of Saint Joseph was established, which could educate Asian candidate priests from all the countries of the Southeast Asian peninsula. A cathedral was also constructed. The College remained in Siam for a century, until the conquest of Siam by Burma in 1766.

The benefits of a monarch who produced a lot of offspring, especially sons, for example King Rama IV, once his son took the throne as King Rama V, having a lot of brothers and step brothers, he had helps assisting his duty in various fields which was necessary for developing his Siam a modern country up to those western countries.

Seen in the photo is King Rama V with his step brother, His Holiness the Supreme Patriarch at Wat Bowornniwet in 1905.


(Colored version of a B&W photo)

The King’s troop (did I put it right?) led by King Rama V’s half-brother, the Chancellor of the Ministry of Interior during his visit to Isan area, 1906.


(Colored version of a B&W photo)


A photo of the royal patrol led by King Rama V’s half-brother (the same one) captured by a foreign photographer (can’t not figure out the spelling of his name in English) stomping in a swamp in the city of Udorntani (now a province) in 1906.


(Colored version of a B&W photo)

Restraints used for prisoners under criminal penalties in the early Rattanakosin era (B&W photo taken in the reign of King Rama IV, they were listening to a monk's preach)






Colored version of a B&W photo of the thieves being convicted of the robbery in Pimai City, now a district in Nakorn Ratchaseema Province (Korat), in reign of King Rama V

The Franco-Thai War (1940–1941) was fought between Thailand and Vichy France over certain areas of French Indochina.




The protest made by the academic people (university students and teachers and etc.) to press the French to return the vassal state territories that were ceded to France during King Rama VIII's reign.


[PM. Field Marshal Poh Piboonsongkram (middle)]








Japan subsequently stepped in to mediate the conflict. A general ceasefire had been arranged to go into effect at 10:00 on 28 January 1941, and a Japanese-sponsored "Conference for the Cessation of Hostilities" was held at Saigon, with preliminary documents for an armistice between the governments of Marshal Philippe Petain's French State and the Kingdom of Thailand under PM. Field Marshal Poh Piboonsongkram’s signed aboard the cruiser Natori on 31 January 1941.




On May 9, a peace treaty was signed in Tokyo, with the French being coerced by the Japanese to relinquish their hold on the disputed border territories. France ceded the following provinces to Thailand from Cambodia and Laos:

- Battambang and Pailin which were reorganized as Pra Tabong Province

- Siem Reap, Banteay Meanchey and Oddar Meanchey which were reorganized as Piboonsongkram Province (A former province of Thailand that existed between 1941 and 1946. Named after the Prime Minister’s, the province was dissolved and returned to France in 1946 after the post-war when the French government threatened to veto Thailand's entry into the UN)

- Preah Vihear which was merged with a part of Laos' Champassak Province opposite Pakse to form Nakhon Champassak Province and

- Xaignaboule, including part of Luang Prabang Province which was renamed Lan Chang Province

The resolution of the conflict was widely acclaimed by the people of Thailand, and was seen as a personal triumph for PM. Field Marshal Poh.

For the first time in its history, Thailand had been able to extract concessions from a European power, albeit a weakened one.

For the French in French Indochina, the conflict was a bitter reminder of their isolation after the Fall of France (caused by the German invasion during the WWII).

To commemorate the victory, PM. Field Marshal Poh erected the Victory Monument in Bangkok. Thailand invited Japan and Germany to join in the celebration of its construction.




However, the real beneficiaries of the conflict were the Japanese, who were able to expand their influence in both Thailand and Indochina. The Japanese wanted to use Thailand and Indochina as their military bases to invade British Burma and British Malaya later.

The Japanese won from PM. Field Marshal Poh a secret verbal promise to support them in an attack on Malaya and Burma but the Thai Prime Minister did not keep his word.

This made the relations between Japan and Thailand subsequently stressed.

On December 8, 1941, the Japanese invaded Thailand at the same time as the Japanese invasion of Malaya. It was immediately before the attack on Pearl Harbor, USA, because of the International Date Line.

Pearl Harbor was attacked one-and-a-half hours after Malaya and Thailand were. Fighting between Japanese and Thai forces lasted only five hours before a ceasefire was agreed.

After the war, in October 1946, northwestern Cambodia and the two Lao enclaves on the Thai side of the Mekong River were returned to French sovereignty when the French provisional government threatened to veto Thailand's membership in the United Nations.

Note: During the war, the Royal Thai Air Force built their own planes, the “Hawk 3” and “Corsair”, 200 altogether to fight and defeat the French. Now they are shown at Royal Thai Air Force museum. Each is the last one of its kind left in the world.

Who are you?

Originally Posted by Shy Guava

I worked for a guy called William H Bird and he and Willis were often confused. They were buddies as they had some mutual business interests, particularly in Lao. At the time Willis was supposed to be the Thai representative of Safety Insurance but I don't know if that was true. My understanding was that Willis could not return to the States due to some legal difficulties but, once again, I cannot confirm this as I was a very junior and uninformed member of that clique. William (Bill) Bird had a large construction company in Thailand called Thai Rock Products (where I worked) and also another company called Bird and Sons, in addition to his aviation interests. Very colorful characters.

Bill Bird

So, there is someone who knows him. I thought he was just a random guy.

So, Willis who? his last name?

What did that company 'Willis H. Bird Inc.' do?

Before the Ratcha Taevee intersection there was Ratcha Taevee roundabout and before that there was a beautiful bridge crossing a small klong that ran by the Petchaburi Road. The bridge was built to the order of one of the Queen Consorts of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) named Sukumarn Malasri (no. 4). The bridge was given name as "(Pra) Ratcha Taevee (one of the royal titles of the Queen Consort) Bridge".




Around 1959-1960, the bridge was demolished and the klong was filled to make more roads. A roundabout with fountains were created to decorating the area.


(Photo shot in the 70s)


In 1989, an intersection has replaced the roundabout and the fountain's size was reduced to become a miniature.