Bangkok Folk Museum – preserving the lifestyle in a bygone era

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Bangkok Folk Museum
preserving the lifestyle in a bygone era

The Bangkok Folk Museum was originally the home of the Suravadee family which was built in 1937. It’s tucked away in Soi Charoen Krung 43, off the famous Charoen Krung Road, the oldest road in Bangkok, built in 1860 during the reign of King Rama IV.

The family home was converted to the Bangkok Folk Museum to preserve the lifestyle of early Bangkok and also to record the history of Bangkok and the Bangrak district, where the museum is located. On 1 October 2004, the property was donated to the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority who now manages the place.

There are four buildings set in a lush garden in half an acre of land in the busy commercial Bangrak district near the Chao Phraya River.

The lush garden

Three of these building are open for public viewing. Ms Waraporn Surawadee, daughter of the original owners, lives in the fourth and it was through her dedicated efforts that the Bangkok Folk Museum was established.

The first building, which used to be the family home, is a two storey wooden building with a covered verandah at the back. The ground floor consists of an anteroom connecting to the dining room, guest room and library.

At the entrance to the house

There’s an air of nostalgia in the house where there’s a grandfather clock and an old gramophone that has to be started by a lever. On my first visit in 2004, an old 75-rpm record of “Would I Love You” by Doris Day and Harry James was still on the turntable. The record has been changed when I revisited the museum in August 2008.

Music of yesteryears

The dining room has a collection of European porcelain around the 1899 – 1913 period and old Chinese ceramics.

Dining porcelain

The rooms in the Bangkok Folk Museum have been meticulously preserved. Looking at the vintage displays in the house, one gets the feeling that time has stood still.

On the way upstairs, I noticed this contraption on the landing. You’ll never guess what it’s for.

Traditional iron

It’s old method for pressing clothes! The clothes are placed between the two boards which are then tightened. You’ll have to wait three days though!

Upstairs there’s another model. These devices were even before the days of charcoal irons.

The four rooms upstairs have a comfortable and well lived in air about them. The first was the ancestors’ room where relics of family members are kept. The old Benjarong jar, the Thai porcelain in five basic colors, was from the days of King Rama V (1858 – 1910). Some of the other porcelain pieces in the Bangkok Folk Museum are from the early Rattanakosin era.

All the bedrooms have also been kept just the way there were; colorful face towels neatly folded into shapes of animals;

an early 20th century porcelain washing bowl and old shaving sets;

a dressing table with three sets of mirrors

and an old sewing machine.

The second building in the Bangkok Folk Museum is a two-storey house to the rear. This was meant to be the home and clinic of Dr Francis Christian, Ms Waraporn’s stepfather.

The house was first constructed in Soi Ngamduplee, off Rama IV Road in 1929. The space downstairs was meant to be a clinic with the living quarters upstairs.

However, Dr Christian died before he could move in and the house was rented out. When Ms Waraporn decided to convert the premises in Soi Charoen Krung 43 to the Bangkok Folk Museum, the house in Soi Ngamduplee was dismantled and transferred to Charoen Krung.

Dr Francis Christian

The building has been preserved in memory of Dr Christian. A room upstairs displays medical equipment used in the early 1930s. Dr Christian’s fondness for cigars is evident from the old cigar boxes on display in his bedroom which has a four poster bed.

Cigar box collection

The third building in the Bangkok Folk Museum has a collection of traditional kitchen and household utensils on display on the ground floor. A walk through the wide hall on the ground floor is like walking through a time warp.

In the old days, tiffin carriers or lunch boxes were used to keep or deliver food. Before the days of refrigerators, food was stored overnight in meat safes.

Tiffin carrier and meat safe

The “wok” is the traditional frying pan using in many South-east Asian countries. It’s still in use today. So are the food steamers. They are multi-tiered today.

Wok and food steamer

These were the kitchen stoves in the first half of the 20th century before gas and electricity were available.

Old charcoal stoves

The perforated coconut shells of various sizes on the left are actually cooking timers. They are placed in bowls of water. The timing is based on how long they take to be completely immersed.

Old cooking utensils

Do you remember the wooden back scratchers?

Scratch your back?

The egged shaped stones to the left of the showcase are for massaging the back.

Care for an old fashioned massage?

The upper floor of the third building houses the Bangrak Museum a community museum set up by the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority to preserve the history of Bangkok and Bangrak district. The Bangrak Museum is covered separately in Bangkok Museums.

The Bangkok Folk Museum is a depository of relics and a way of life in a bygone era. As a historical record of the lifestyle in the early 1900s in old Bangkok, it’s invaluable and truly a Bangkok legacy preserved for posterity.

Pleasant memories on the way out

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Ms Waraporn Surawadee for preserving her home for posterity. It’s an undertaking done out of love for her heritage, the heritage of her family and her community.

My thanks must also go to the volunteer guides at the Bangkok Folk Museum for their helpfulness and hospitality in hosting me during my two visits.

All photographs on this page are with the courtesy of the Bangkok Folk Museum.

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