Bangkok, as many cities in the “South” is a pot-pourri of sorts. Extreme beauty side by side with abandoned car parts in the street. A 21st century elevated metro stepping over century-old canals. The city can get to you. Unless you know special gems hidden away.
The Artist house on Klong Bang Luang is one such gem. Located in one of the old floating houses on Bangkok’s canals (the Klongs), it is a treasure of old masks and characters from the Ramayana. They are also called Thai puppets. Almost life-size.
The first picture above is a shrine put up in front of a 600 hundred year-old “chedi”, a Thai name for a Buddhist Stupa.
The Red man. (And the grey man)
The Thai puppets and Khon masks are used to perform stories from the Ramayana, an ancient Indian epic poem telling the story of Prince Rama and his fight to rescue his wife Sita from Demon king Ravana. Rama is helped by Hanuman, the King of monkeys.
Life on the Klongs. c. 1950?
A mermaid puppet. Don’t ask me who she is. I still balk a bit at reading the 20,000+ verses of the Ramayana. I will though. Eventually.
A demon mask. Ramayana is a good example of “Fusion”. Fundamentally a Hindu story it has sprayed and stayed all across Asia, from, amongst others, Buddhist Thailand to Moslem Indonesia. Whatever their “mainstream” religion and culture, all those countries have adopted Ramayana as a part of their own culture and history. Fusion will be the name of the game.
On the Klong. c. 1950.
Khon masks above a touch of Monet’s workshop in Giverny. (I joke you not. Been there)
The Artist’s house. Late 60’s, very early 70’s maybe?
Princesses on display. Note the elaborate costumes. Those were the traditional costumes up to the XXth century. A show is performed – almost – everyday, staging stories from the Ramayana. Make sure you check before you go. (There was no show when we went. All the better excuse to go back to Bangkok)
The owner’s family? Judging by the woman’s hairdo, top left, mid to late 40’s.
Who will be rescued? Modern day Princess Sita above? Or below?
Khob Pun Khraaap. Thank you for hopping along on Equinoxio’s Time-Space shuttle. Second Flight Officer Hanuman reports that Princess Sita has indeed been rescued.
Equinoxio 
Very interesting and great pictures. By the way – I would rescue them both 🙂
Of course, Sir Galahad! Both. 🙂
La sirena es muy bonita…
Sí lo es. Todo el lugar es mágico. 🙂
It is interesting how Ramayana story spreading around the world and influence the local’s folklore. I also know some Dutch people who read Ramayana and Mahabharata books. Thanks for sharing this!
My pleasure Indah. It is indeed interesting. I think it talks about fundamental themes. Love, good and evil, friendship (Hanuman). Universal. I think I will try to find a version of Ramayana when I go to Paris. The old book boxes along the Seine must have one. Hope all is well with you.
(Selamat, selamat… would it be malam at this hour?)
😉
Impressive, Brian! Those puppets and masks are quite scary. I enjoyed this very much…thanks dear friend.
Astublift… 😉
A grand gem you found. The small attractions hold a lot of charm, but have mostly disappeared in the US. Be well. Hugs
Thank you Scottie. Indeed the smaller places have more charm. Be good.
You have captured the essence of the place.
Thank you Arlene. That is a great compliment. The essence is what matters most. (And is not so easy to capture…) Have a lovely week-end
Totally get the Monet reference and you are right!
Your written images are as vivid as your visual ones.
Thank you. I am honoured. Even more so as this blog started as an outlet for my writing until I realized most “readers” prefer images. It is easier. 🙂 Though I still write from time to time. Check the fiction category. Bon week-end, ma chère “Libre”.
Bangkok is an intense place. An assault on the sense which can be exhilarating and exhausting. I was there in 1992, and I can imagine how much it had changed since then. Thanks for the trip, Brian.
You’re very welcome Julie. I did remember you mentioned that. 25 years? Yes, it must have changed, and yet some landmarks are still there. I will post more on Bangkok. It is a fascinating city.
Bon week-end mon amie.
Great photos and very interesting narrative, Brian. I sadly missed this gem when we were in Bangkok.
All the more reason to go back. 🙂
e only saw it because Daughter #2 was several times in Bangkok and is very adept at finding such gems. 🙂
(At least you got a touch of it)
Have a nice week-end
Merci pour cette tranche de Bangkok 🙂
Pas de quoi. Tu connais?
Du tout!
L’Asie vaut le détour… Expérience unique. 🙂
now I sit here singing One Night in Bangkok 🙂 always a lively tune and great pics once again time traveller ❤
I can feel the Devil walking next to me… 🙂
Thank you for reminding me of that song.
I just wondered whether, unbeknownst to us, the eighties weren’t the last decade of Mystery and Elegance on this planet. (Watch the video) 😉
It was a catchy ditty, I vaguely recall the video, will have to YouTube it and rehash the good old days….along with Prince and Bowie of course😃💜
Of course. But the Murray Head video is quite good.
Adding it to the list of must do’s as we speak. Cloudy here and just finished smoked wings a’la hubby, mmmmmm…my shrinking stomach only lets me eat five and that’s enough, diet going well and getting some bike riding in when I can, dodging raindrops today😊💦💧💧💧💧💧💧🌧
Sounds delicious. 🙂
A bit of rain doesn’t hurt. Brings some fresh air. 🙂
Lovely, again. The photo “Life on the Klongs” had me looking at the cherished little boy, and wondering who he will become, did he live up to the expectations of his lovingly smiling caretaker/mum/relative?
Hannah Arendt once wrote “only the universal matters”. Little kids are universal. 🙂
Then they grow up and do what they can.
🙂
That little boy is probably pushing 70 now. 😉
Amazing to think of…!!!
Beautiful photos, Brian. I especially like the vintage ones, and the puppets are spectacular, the puppet show must be amazing. Have a wonderful week. ~ Mia
Thank you Mia. (U2) That place is magic. We have to go back to see the show. 😉
You’re welcome, Brian. It looks magical. I would love to see photos of the show. 🙂
Heres’ a link with a few images of the show:
http://www.bangkok.com/magazine/artist-house.htm
Thank you, B, for the link. I enjoyed the photos and reading about the puppet show. Very interesting that the puppeteers are dressed in black with black masks and fall away into the back ground. It really must be something to see in person.
Must be. And I too noticed on the photos the black dress and masks. The better to fade away. With elegance. 🙂
(Elegance IS important)
What happened to the red man’s toes…? Or has my sight got worse?
I am very intrigued by those pointy “hats”, wonder what their true origin could be.
Don’t know about the toes, maybe they fell off when he took his shoes off. All across Asia it is almost mandatory to take one’s shoes off before entering anywhere. A courtesy.
The pointed hats? Who knows. 🙂
Oh my, I’ll never take my shoes off ever again – what if I too lose my toes…!? 😛 😀
I know about that custom, a relatively funny scene springs to mind, from “Fast and furious: Tokyo drift” when main character enters the classroom with shoes on, teacher keeps saying in japanese “wabaki! wabaki!” and he doesn’t understand anything. 🙂 Later on we see him taking shoes off and putting on the slippers (wabaki).
Now, imagine a handful of tourists – or let’s not say tourists, let’s say people, generally – having traveled by foot on a sunny day for a long time, and then taking shoes off to enter some place. The smell might not be very agreeable. 😉 Out here, the custom is to never ask guests to take their shoes off when entering a home but they are free to do so if they want to. However, occasionally some homeowner may ask that if they feel their floors and carpets are too “precious”. 😉
For some reason I never fancied puppets, not even as a child. Not even “The muppets show”, although at times it may have been funny. Yeah, I’m weird like that. 🙂 Much prefer modern day Princess, she’s so cute. 😉
BTW, on YouTube there’s a version of Murray Head’s ‘One night in Bangkok’ featuring Benny, Bjorn and Frida in the chorus, from the ‘Chess’ musical. 😉
The shoes thing was not so strange. I did spend most of my childhood in Africa barefoot. Now I understand the same happens in Canada and Scandinavia. For opposite reasons: the snow and slosh. Will look the Abba version. Mersi.
I’d seen it. Are those “ABBA”? Oh.
Well, when walking around barefoot all day, Mr. Spock would say “the logic thing to do would be to put on some kind of wabaki when entering a home, otherwise there would be dirt all over the place”. 🙂
If you watched this version then yes, those were 3/4 of ABBA, to the right of the scene:
Murray Head (Chess – ABBA) : One Night In Bangkok (with Benny, Björn & Frida ) (00:03:33)
Agnetha is known for her fear of flight and perhaps she has other reasons too for declining the invitations to reunite for certain public events. Too bad.
Spot on Mr. Spock.
And yes, I thought one (Agnetha) was lacking. 😉
Always so colorful and detailed. Great pictures of the masks 🙏🙏🙏
Thank you Andrew. Glad you liked it. 🙂
(Khop phun kraaap!)
😉
Hi Brian, is the monkey king in the Ramayana, the same as/or related mythology to Monkey in Journey to the West?
Dunno. Lemme check. I did not know of that story. 16th century China. So, no it is different. But the Chinese most certainly had heard of Hanuman, so it may have inspired the Chines author. Thanks for drawing my attention to that.
It is a wonderfully comedic yet philosophical tale. I highly recommend it. 😃
Made a note of it. Will try to dig it up.
Beautiful design of statues. I read the Ramayana & Mahabharat story. It’s really interesting story. I have enjoyed and feeling glad by reading these stories.
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