The Jim Thompson House

The Jim Thompson House has so far been one of my favorite things to see in Bangkok. Jim Thompson was an American architect who went to Thailand during World War II and fell so in love that he returned to Thailand to live there permanently. His apparent career of architecture seems to have disappeared and instead, upon seeing the beautiful hand woven silk that Thailand is so famous for now, he became a businessman and had a huge contribution to the silk industry's growth worldwide. He even convinced the Editor in Chief of Vogue of its importance in the fashion industry in the 1940s. What a guy right? I wish I could have met him.
His house is a combination of 6 teak homes, 4 from Ayutthaya and 2 from across the canal from his house. He collected artifacts from all over Asia to decorate his home. Everything from 8th century buddha statues to 17th century intricately painted cotton cloth to 19th century Chinese porcelain to a 19th century Chinese mouse house. They wouldn't let me take any pictures inside which was a bummer since like everything was inside the house, naturally.
Sadly in 1967 he disappeared from the highlands in Malaysia. No one knows what happened to him and it seems no one ever will!!!

These were my favorite

Giant fish in a giant pot of water… and thats it!

A portion of the living room you could see from the outside

However, you were not allowed to take a photo of the same thing from the inside…

I'm clearly still bitter about the 'No Photos Inside' rule

Everyone had to take off their shoes before going into the house

That room was stinky

Silk worms are so fat and cool

If you look really closely you can see the silk threads coming from the worms above the pot

A great little purse hanger in the bathroom

Jungle city

A prayer house