Klong Saen Saep good way to get from the Banglampoo/Wat Sakhel area of bangkok to the Central shopping area - half way is the Jim Thompson house and museum.


The Klong has a probably well deserved reputation for being polluted so when that cute Thai lady sitting between you and the rail cozies up to you, she might be just getting away from the spray coming over the gunwale or maybe she is using that as an excuse to get close. There is also a tarp curtain they pull up on the sides to hold out any spray, making it very hard to watch the passing landscape. Though, for 8 baht (.25 US) it's a cheap and exciting experience. Oh ya, this is kind of unnerving - somewhere along the way the boat pulls in (about 15 minutes into the trip) to a docke and every one climbs out, runs up the dock and jumps into another boat which speeds off. It happens real fast so be aware.

I'm trying to remember, think it's about the third boat taxi stop from the Bangalapoo/Wat Sakhel area is Jim Thompson's house and museum. Real interesting and talented American, born 1906 in Greenville Delaware, was a practicing architect before severed in Europe with the army during World War II. After the war he was posted to Asia, fell in love with Thailand. Up on his release decided to make Bangkok his home and became one of the major forces in the development of the Thai silk industry.

The guy knew how to live, his home was constructed of six different, traditional Thai buildings. Each was disassembled, moved and reassembled at his compound with all the Thai traditional religious rituals. So in the spring of 1959 after consulting with astrologers, he and his art collection moved in.

Sorry, had some great photos of this, not his moving in but of the compound on my camera that I erased by accident. So you will have to trust me when I say this is a real special place and a must see. Though, I bet when he lived there long before Bangkok was all built up as it is now, it was really awesome.

Less than 10 years later at the age of 61 he went missing in the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia and to date his disappearance is a mystery.. Maybe ex CIA or a freelancer, what do you think?

Tuesday, February 2, 2010
You be the judge - is Vietnam truely in a struggle against 'hostile forces' as party boss, Nong Duc Manh says or..
03/02/2010
Bangkok Post




Vietnam will prevent "hostile forces" from exploiting democracy and human rights to sabotage the country's revolution, the Communist Party leader , pictured in 2009, said Tuesday.
Vietnam will prevent "hostile forces" from exploiting democracy and human rights to sabotage the country's revolution, the Communist Party leader said Tuesday.

Nong Duc Manh made the comments at a ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of the Indochina Communist Party founded in Hong Kong by Ho Chi Minh on February 3, 1930.

"We are trying hard to maintain political stability and we struggle against all the manoeuvres of hostile forces by preventing them from profiting from matters such as democracy, human rights, multipartyism and pluralism to sabotage the Vietnamese revolution," said Manh, the country's most powerful political figure.

His comments follow the controversial jailing of four dissidents for trying to overthrow the regime. The case highlighted a climate of increasingly harsh political repression in Vietnam, New York-based Human Rights Watch said.

Manh added that the state guarantees religious liberty, but religious activity must be conducted according to law.

"We severely forbid all abuse of religious liberties to attack national security and public interests," he said.

Last month a court in Ho Chi Minh City jailed four democracy activists for between five and 16 years for trying to overthrow the regime, in a case criticised by the European Union, the United States and Britain.

Some observers see a link to next year's Communist Party Congress when high-ranking leadership posts will be determined, while one analyst said "law and order advocates" may be gaining ground among authorities in the one-party state.

The European Parliament and the US embassy have also expressed concern over Vietnam's treatment of followers of Thich Nhat Hanh, a French-based Zen master who is one of the world's most influential Buddhist monks.

Manh said the party and country are facing great challenges.

"We notably have to struggle against bureaucracy, corruption, waste and other negative phenomena. We also struggle against a moral and ideological degradation within the population."

Ho Chi Minh, the country's revered revolutionary leader, died in 1969 while his forces were still battling American troops. Vietnam was reunified in 1975 after decades of war against both the US, and French colonisers.

About half of Vietnam's population of about 86 million is under the age of 30, giving them no memory of the war years.

State television broadcast Manh's speech live after actors dramatised the country's liberation struggle while black-and-white combat footage played and the communist hammer-and-sickle flag flew.