Museums in Thailand have been traditionally boring and dull places to spend an afternoon. Now all of that has changed with the grand opening of the Museum of Siam on Sanamchai Road in Bangkok. Located in the former premises of the Ministry of Commerce, the museum is just a short walking distance south of the Grand Palace and Wat Pho. If you have a few hours spare after visiting the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, then I highly recommend that you visit this new museum which tries to answer the question, "Who are the people of Siam?" Through a series of exhibitions in different rooms we were taken through Thai history from past to present.

We were first ushered into a small auditorium where we were presented with a light and sound show which gave us an introduction to the people of Siam. The video presentation, which had English subtitles, actually posed more questions than it answered. But we later found that as we walked through the exhibits we met some of the characters who gave us some of the answers that we were seeking. The exhibit rooms were as follows:

1) Were the cavemen Thai?
2) Where was Suvarnabhumi?
3) What really is the heart of Buddhism?
4) What was the origin of the Ayutthaya Dynasty?
5) Who was the richest man in Ayutthaya?
6) Why did Ayutthaya wage war?
7) What was racially pure Thai?
8) Who inaugrated Bangkok as capital of our kingdom?
9) Why did we change the name of our kingdom to Thailand?
10) Who drew the first map of Thailand?

As we all know, the name of the new international airport in Bangkok is called Suvarnabhumi. But did you know that this is an ancient name that was linked to this whole region and meant the "Land of Gold"? The following is an explanation from the exhibit:

About 2,000 years ago, Indian, Chinese, and Greco-Roman documents refer to a landmass to the east of India. It was fertile, rich in resources, and it was believed that a merchant might make his fortune there. These reports attracted travellers to the region which was called, in various languages, Suvarnabhumi, Suvarnadvipa, Jin Lin, Chryse Chersonesos, all of which meant Land of Gold. Prince Damrong was the first historian to claim that Suvarnabhumi was situated in Thailand, in the Chao Phraya Basin with its center at present day Nakhon Pathom. Neighbouring countries have also proposed that Suvarnabhumi was situation in their region. This provided ample evidence that there was an active international trade during this period. Suvarnabhumi is not really one country or city, but rather the whole region.

Another nearby exhibit explained why Bangkok was never mentioned in early documents about Suvarnabhumi. This was because Bangkok as we know it was at that time below sea level. About 5,000 years ago, the coastline of the Gulf of Thailand was hundreds of kilometres further inland. (Someone should tell Greenpeace that Global Warming isn't a modern invention!) Over the years, the Chao Phraya deposited silt, and the muddy estuary gradually moved south becoming dry land about 1,000 years ago. In the past, the cities of Suphan Buri, Ratchaburi and Nakhon Pathom were all major harbours.

Another nearby exhibit explained how Siam became Thailand. This is what they said:

The process of "Nation Building" began under King Rama V (reign 1868-1910) and gained momentum under King Rama VI (reign 1910-25). Nationalism reached its apex under Field Marshal Pibulsonggram (P.M. 1938-44). His National Socialist regime produced a State Edict in 1939, proclaiming that the country was henceforth to be called "Thailand" in accordance with its racial pure "Thai" inhabitants who were genetically superior to other "lesser breeds". Under this Edict, those who conformed to the ideals of the dictatorship were pronounced "racially pure Thais". Those who resisted and attempted to preserve their cultural identity became, at best, second class citizens.

In the picture above you can see some posters of the time. Of notably interest is the poster in the bottom right corner that tried to teach Thai people not to dress like "savages". I have posted a close up of this poster at our ThailandQA.com forums. It is not surprising that there is now a call to change the name back to Siam as the present name doesn't reflect the racial diversity that we have. In particular, it clearly labels the people in the deep south as "second class citizens" as they are not pure Thai but rather Malay.

It is easy to spend several hours at the museum as the time will pass very quickly. Most of the exhibits are interactive using modern technology never before seen in Thailand. There were also touch screen monitors but you had to use in a different way. For example, we had to use a brush in the archeology section to brush away the layer of dirt to see bones "buried" beneath. In another section we had to pick up drum sticks and actually beat a drum in order to interact with a video presentation. There were also games to play. Many of them are "hidden" and you really had to study the exhibits in order to find all these hidden treasures. Every room had people on duty that encouraged you to learn by interacting with the exhibits. Although we were there a long time, I am sure if we go again we will discover something that we never noticed during our first visit.

The museum is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. At present it is free to visit, but this is due to change within 3-4 months. I strongly urge you to visit this fascinating museum where all the exhibits and video presentations are bilingual and so are therefore catering for the foreign tourist market. This is a refreshing change as we usually only get a brief outline, if we are lucky. The museum is easy to find. In Thai it is actually written "museum siam" though you will find that many people have never heard of it. We caught a taxi at the corner of the Grand Palace and the City pillar and told him to drive south down Sanamchai Road towards the river. You will see the building on your right after Wat Pho. It has a red roof and cream coloured facade. It was actually so near that the fare didn't go up from 35 baht. You can also take bus numbers 3, 6, 12 ,32, 44, 47, 53, 82 and 524. There is also a river express boat pier at N7 Rajinee. Or you could get off at N6 Memorial Bridge and walk through the flower market to the museum.

Our new Bangkok Guidebook with interactive map will be launched soon. In the meantime, keep an eye on thai-blogs.com as I will be visiting more museums and attractions in Bangkok in the coming weeks and months.

Pork in Tomato Sauce (nam prik ong)

Every Friday, we are bringing you pictures of the Thai food that we are eating in the Paknam Web offices. This first dish was a new one for me though I found it worth repeating in the future. The pork and tomato sauce is made up from pounding together chillies, salt, galangal, onion, shrimp paste, garlic and of course the pork and tomatoes. To cook, first fry some garlic in a wok until golden brown. Then add the paste and fry for a few minutes until cooked through. Then add some water and continue cooking until this has evaporated. It is then served with either fresh or cooked vegetables.

Green Curry with Beef (gaeng kiew wan neua)

The next dish is an old favourite for many visitors to Thailand. I like both green curry and red curry and you can cook it yourself with just about any meat or even fish. This version is green curry with beef. You can buy the curry paste ready made in most supermarkets around the world. You will also need some coconut milk. In this picture you can see the quartered egg plants and hard peas. When I cook myself I use normal garden peas from the freezer.

Steamed Noodle Rolls (kuay-tiao lod)

This is another one of those dishes I haven't had often but it has a good taste. It is basically a noodle wrap that is stuffed with various ingredients. This one had chicken with dried shrimp, tofu and bean sprouts. The topping is a sweet dark soy sauce.

Indian Fried Pastry (roti)

Our dessert today is a popular snack often seen on the street. The roti came with Indian immigrants to Thailand. Locally, we buy our roti from a Muslim family. Commonly there are two versions. This one has sweetened milk and sugar which costs about 7 baht each. Another version has an egg instead and is usually about 15 baht each. I will show you some more versions of roti on another day. When you are next in Thailand, make sure you try something new. You never know, it may become your favourite dish.

There are a number of zoos in and around Bangkok that are ideal destinations for people on holiday in Thailand with their children. One of the better zoos is Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Chonburi Province. It is about half way between Bangkok and Pattaya. The journey took us about 90 minutes and so it makes it an ideal day trip from either Bangkok or Pattaya. However, it is not easy to reach there by public transport so you might have to rent a car or hire a taxi for the day. But it is certainly worth the effort. I went there yesterday with Nong Grace and she had a really great time. She certainly wants to go back again.

In some ways Khao Kheow (sometimes spelled Khao Khiew) is similar to Safari World in Bangkok. It has all the regular animals that you would want to see such as giraffe, elephant, tiger, lion, chimpanzee, camel etc. It also allows you to get up close to these animals. There were many opportunities where you can feed the animals. Food was available for the animals at a very reasonable 20 baht a bunch. Like Safari World you can also drive through the park. However, at Khao Kheow you can get out of the car at most places and get quite close to the animals. You wouldn't want to walk around the whole park as the animal exhibits alone cover an area of 400 acres.

If you don't have a car you can always take a guided tram ride or rent a bicycle or even hire a golf cart for 300 baht for two hours. When we go again we might just do that. There are several places within the park where you can rent golf carts. We spent most of our time feeding the giraffes so next time we could park the car there first. Then when ready to explore more, we could go and rent a golf cart. The advantage of a golf cart is that you will see a lot more. Also, we were sometimes a bit lazy to keep getting out of the car to see all of the animals. Having said that, we did spend an incredible six hours at this zoo!

In the afternoon we went to see a Bird Show which was quite good but the parrot named "James Bond" didn't always want to perform on cue. But, it was an enjoyable show for the youngsters. At the end of the show, Nong Grace wanted her picture taken with a parrot which only cost 20 baht. Nearby there was an adventure playground and a Children's Zoo. Nong Grace spent several hours here playing and feeding the animals such as rabbits and goats. In fact I think we probably fed most of the animals at the zoo several times over. Luckily this wasn't as expensive as at Safari World. Nong Grace wanted her picture taken with some of the animals such as tiger like she did at Sriracha Tiger Zoo. But, we didn't see any opportunities for that which was a shame.

When we went to Safari World, the price of the tickets for foreigners was a really expensive 700 baht. This was mainly due to the shows. Nong Grace said she wants to go there again but I have told her it is too expensive. In contrast, Khao Kheow Open Zoo is far cheaper though obviously more challenging to get there. They have a two price system but the difference is very minimal. Thai adults are 70 baht and foreign adults 100 baht. Thai children 15 baht and foreign children 50 baht. Nong Grace is only four and they let her in for free. I then had to pay another 50 baht for taking my car into the zoo which was also very reasonable. As there wasn't much difference between foreign and Thai price I didn't bother to ask for local price. But they gave it to me anyway. It is nice when they do that without asking.

If you are a parent with children, you will probably find Khao Kheow Open Zoo much better if you have your own transport. This meant that Nong Grace didn't have to walk around so much and we had a mobile base where we were able to keep drinks and snacks. The reason we ended up staying there six hours was probably because we drove around the zoo twice! Which is something you cannot do at Safari World. On the first round we skipped a few places which were too near to each other. Then saw these animals on the second round. We also went back to see some of her favourites like the giraffes and elephants. She also liked throwing cucumbers into the open mouth of the hippos. They apparently have a night safari here which might be worth investigating. I also noticed that they have a camping ground though I am not sure if that is mainly for schools.

You can see some of my other suggestions for Day Trips and Excursions from Bangkok over at Bangkok-Daytrips.com. Many more to come!

Songkran is the traditional Thai New Year. The true dates vary every year as they are set by the movement of the stars but are usually between 13th and 16th April. However, the Thai government have now fixed the start of Songkran as 13th April. This usually then lasts for three to five days depending on where you are in the country. The Mon people, in areas like Phra Pradaeng in Samut Prakan and Chonburi, celebrate Songkran a week later than the rest of the county. They had their celebrations this weekend. This afternoon I crossed the river to Phra Pradaeng to watch the Songkran parade. This picture above is of Nang Songkran, the winner of the beauty contest that I went to watch on Friday.

This was my second visit to watch the parade. This time I drove to Wat Protket Chettharam in Phra Pradaeng much earlier. Last time I did manage to arrive before the parade but they had already blocked the road. So I had to walk the remaining 800 metres. As a consequence I got a bit wet. This time I had a better plan of action. I arrived two hours before the parade and just relaxed by the canal in the relative safety of the temple. From here I could see the bridge and the passing pick-up trucks with the water throwers on the back. In the end the parade didn't arrive for nearly three hours. At 4 p.m. I could hear the marching band faintly on the wind. As there was no longer any traffic on the road above me I decided to go and wait on the bridge. It was nearly another hour before they arrived. The parade started at the city hall which is a fair walk. Luckily I didn't get wet while I was waiting. A few people did ask me if they could wipe wet powder on my face but I declined their offer. I knew from experience that this would then mark me out as fair game to anyone with a bucket of icy cold water.

It would be fair to say that the Phra Pradaeng Songkran Parade is quite a major event. Much larger than the one I went to watch at the Samut Prakan city hall last week. Actually, two of the floats from that parade were here today including Nang Songkran Samut Prakan. This is her picture above. In total there were about twenty major floats all of which were colourfully decorated. Many of them also had beautiful young Thai ladies on them.

As well as the floats, there were also various marching bands, both traditional and modern. Then there were the parades of people from each of the districts in Phra Pradaeng. Many of them were either carrying bowls of fish or birds in cages. It is a Mon tradition to release birds and fish during Songkran in order to make merit. Over the years, the Thai people have also adopted this tradition as their own.

The climax of the parade takes at Wat Protket Chettharam where I had parked my car. This is basically a photo opportunity as it is such a beautiful backdrop with people wearing traditional Thai costumes. However, they are indeed making merit by releasing the fish in the temple pond and also the birds into the air. In this picture is the governor of Samut Prakan (wearing the ghastly green sarong) and other local officials and representatives of government. In the front row you can see Nang Songkan wearing the red sash in the center together with the runner's up. I have posted some more pictures at thailandqa.com.

Descendants of the Mon people who live in the Phra Pradaeng District of Samut Prakan celebrate Songkran the first weekend after the rest of the country. I crossed the river last night to go and watch the Nang Songkran Beauty Contest and also to enjoy some of the food they were selling along the river front. The Phra Pradaeng Songkran Festival is 18-20 April 2008, so there is still time for you to go and enjoy a late Songkran if you missed out on the water fights last week. Tomorrow there will also be a Songkran Parade through the city which I will hopefully go and watch. One of the activities that always takes place during Songkran is the ancient game of Saba.

Saba is a game that has been played in various forms by Mon people for many generations. It is a kind of a courting game where single young men and women can come together to get to know each other better. In the old days the different sexes weren't allowed to mix like these days so the game of Saba gave youths an opportunity to get to know suitable marriage partners. Although the original intention of the game is no longer needed, the tradition is kept alive each year during the Songkran celebrations.

It is a bit difficult to follow the rules as each time I watch it they seem to be playing a slightly different version. But basically, there are two teams seated at each end of an arena. Each team takes turns in standing a small discus upright with the aid of plasticine in front of their seat. One of the members of the opposing team then has to try and knock this down with their own discus. The method of doing this varies. Either the discus is put between two toes and thrown or it may be flicked with the fingers. They are then asked questions or given challenges to do.

Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves including the watching audience. The principal of Ban Khun Samut School (the school surrounded by the sea that I visited) spotted me and came over to say hello. I asked him whether he understood the rules and he said no. He was just enjoying watching the players tease each other. I continued watching for a while and then went off to watch the Nang Songkran contest. You can see some of my pictures of the beautiful young ladies over at thaiphotoblogs.com. The winners will take part in the Songkran Parade on Sunday. If I don't get caught up in a water fight tomorrow, I will hopefully bring you some pictures of the winners.