Hello Hivers & Travelfeeders, I hope everyone is well and enjoying life. I had to take a few days and make a trip to Bangkok, and found a little history on a strange thing and a story I would like to share.
Chiang Mai to Bangkok: A Quick Trip
Yesterday, we had to make a special trip to the Philippine Embassy in BKK to authenticate an apostille, yes, that's right, the Thai government wanted an already authenticated document authenticated; only in Thailand. Anyway, we had a morning flight out of CNX, which departed under the cover of . . . smog, lots of smog. This is what we wake up to every morning in the summertime, and seems to get worse every year.
This was our first time flying on Thai Vietjet, which is an older airbus. Once we got past the unnerving sounds of the landing gear retracting into the belly of the beast, the flight went pretty smooth and we arrived pretty quick; about an hour and some change (Am. = extra minutes).
Breakfast Story
My breakfast story is both a sad one and a happy one. We had planned to go to one of my favorite burger places, Bad Burger, which was near the Asoke BTS, but found that it was one of the business' that had been claimed by covid.
On the bright side, we discovered Breakfast Story, which is located right above, what is now Buddy's Bar & Grill (the late Bad Burger). This place was a real delight! They have both a breakfast and lunch menu loaded with great creations.
The pancakes were delicious, mainly because this was the first time I've had maple syrup in over 6 years. Also noteworthy, if you're a coffaholic like me, they offer a bottomless "cup of Joe".
The Giant Cookie Jar
We had just gotten off the BTS at Phloen Chit along Sukumvit, and started walking up the street when we encountered this giant cookie jar on the corner. Of course, my first reaction was, "WTF is that?".
I asked a couple locals who were squatting nearby and mindlessly scrolling through their phones, but they had no idea. To them, it was just another big obstacle to walk around; an urban growth that had sprouted from the sidewalk, like a pimple that never goes away, but somehow gets overlooked and ignored because it's been there so long.
Determined to figure out the mystery of the giant cookie jar, I started doing some digital excavating for the story. This 'thing' as many previous spectators have referred to it, actually served a real function at one time, and holding giant cookies wasn't it. And no, it wasn't placed there by ancient astronauts either. (555! HA! HA! HA!)
The story goes, that in 1909, the land in this surrounding area, including all along Wireless Road where the British Embassy stands, was still in its natural rustic state and had not been disturbed by the wheels of the industrial era yet. That all changed in 1909, when royal decree allowed for land to be sold and traded, and became the perfect opportunity for a young entrepreneur to become a land developer.
Born in 1872, Lert Sreshthaputra, a.k.a. Nai Lert (Master Lert), who had already made his name as a sharp entrepreneur who was the first to provide Bangkok with ice, started the first tram service, opened the first filling station for vehicles, and was responsible for many other important innovations at the time.
In 1915, he purchased swamp land from the royal family along the Saen Saeb Canal bordered by Phloen Chit, Chit Lom and Wireless Road. Part of this land was used to build a vacation home and Nai Lert Park.
A couple years later he divided the remaining land into plots, and to distinguish his land markers from those of others, he modelled his enormous boundary markers after the backend of a cannon barrel, as if it had been stuck in the ground upright, and other various types of artillery shells. (see picture below) Originally, there were 6 distinct boundary markers, but this is the only one that remains.
Why he chose a cannon barrel as a template is not 100% clear, but some speculate that his choice was based on the symbolism of the cannon and artillery as being strong and powerful forces that were able to repel the threat of invading foreigners and may have provided the same protection against those trying to lay claim to his land.
His boundary markers were definitely unique and not to be mistaken for anyone else's markers. These are the stories we find while trekking the urban paths; some more obvious than others.
Sources
- Boundary marker information (OkNation)
- Boundary marker information (Nai Lert Park Heritage Home)
- Picture of Nail Lert (Nai Lert Group)
- Cannon (GetArchive)
Stay tuned, next post will cover my visit to Wat Umong in the other day.
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