Fri 20 Dec 2019
Today’s plan is to visit Jim Thompson house. I don’t know much about it but Aliaa recommended it. We had breakfast at hotel and then took a taxi to Jim Thompson House.
Turns out it was such a pleasant place! Jim was an American. He served in world war 2, afterwards became an entrepreneur and expanded his business to Thailand (1946).
He loved the local culture and started his own antique collection, which is the “Jim Thompson House”. It was his actual residence during his stay in Bangkok. He combined a few traditional elements, mostly from Ayutthaya, preserving as much authenticity as he can. Some changes had to be done for practicality purposes (e.g. having a staircase indoors, rather that ourdoors).
The Thai authorities did a good job at helping his estate thrive after his untimely death in 1967 (he was lost in the jungles of Cameron Highlands in Malaysia). To read about his disappearance, click here.
After our tour, we had lunch at a restaurant within the museum complex. The food was great and the ambiance even better.
From Jim Thompson House, we took a tuktuk to Central World. Had coffee at Segafredo and then took care of the kids while Aliaa went around window shopping. Surprisingly, the coffee was quite good. I was also impressed to see how lively Thai shopping malls are. From the interior decos, to the amount of people, it just shows how much more vibrant the economy is compared to Malaysia.
After a few hours of window shopping, I sent Aliaa and kids back to hotel around 3:30PM. They were tired and wanted to rest before going out later for dinner.
After that, I went back to Central World again around 4:30PM to meet my friend K. We met at Coffee Beans by Dao. K was my flatmate during my postgrad studies in the UK. After our MBA in 2021, he went back to Thailand and continued the family business. His family owns a chain of restaurants and currently he is managing the logistics of food supply for the restaurants.
We had a very good conversation. He even made arrangements for dinner but unfortunately we couldn’t go that evening.
After the coffee chat with K, I went back to hotel at 6:30PM. Later in the evening, after everyone had a good rest, we went out for a walk near Central Embassy and Central Mall.
The area had a nice outdoor Christmas set up and it was very pleasant. It felt very tourist friendly and the kids could roam around to see the decorations. The adjacent malls were also connected with well designed open spaces which made it easier to move around.
Related posts: Bangkok Holiday part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4
Imran Jaafar 