Archive for Architecture
October 4, 2008 at 10:18 pm · Filed under Architecture, Culture, Thailand
Burma Railway is a 415 km railway between Bangkok, Thailand and Rangoon, Myanmar – built by the Empire of Japan during World War II to support its forces in the Burma campaign.
The sea route, namely through Malaysia and Singapore, is patrolled by the reputable British navy, hence the construction of this very difficult route.
Much of the Death Railway isn’t particularly interesting because it looks like just any other ordinary railway track.
Occasionally you come across a section where you marvel at the engineering, and wonder how they pulled it off with rudimentary tools and starved labour.
The cliff here was excavated without explosives, and if I recall correctly, only using pick axes and sacks to carry rocks away.
Then tracks have to be constructed dramatically higher than the terrain to squeeze in between the cliff and river – with the same dodgy tools.
Forced labour was used in its construction. About 180,000 Asian labourers and 60,000 Allied prisoners of war (POWs) worked on the railway.
Of these, around 90,000 Asian labourers and 16,000 Allied POWs died as a direct result of the project.
Midway there’s a surprise cave temple which was not documented anywhere.
Can’t tell if it existed during WWII or after because like most cave temples, this one is remarkably well maintained for such a secluded spot.
See related posts The Bridge over the River Kwai and Kanchanaburi War Cemetery and Death Railway Museum.
June 28, 2008 at 8:50 pm · Filed under Architecture, Culture, Thailand
There are no bicycle racks here, no posts, pipes or loops whatsoever to secure our bikes. So we got creative.
Upon arriving at the museum, you won’t be entirely convinced with the signage – given the proliferation of piracy in Thailand.
Inside, it’s not too shabby at all. Too bad no cameras are allowed, but there’s a plenty of models to help you wrap your head around how massive the Death Railway is/was.
There’s even an actual reconstruction of the Bridge over River Kwai (earlier wooden version) and even 1:1 models of the prisoners’ living conditions. Historical photographs are worth seeing too.
It’s rather abrupt to see such orderliness and cleanliness in a country like Thailand, but it shouldn’t be surprising given that it’s managed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
There are 6,982 POWs buried here mostly Australian, British and Dutch.
Having visited many World War II memorials sites, notably the ANZAC memorials in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra, as well as the Ranau War Memorial in Borneo – I can’t help but feel a sense of connection between all of them.
I guess war amplifies differences but ultimately makes the world smaller.
April 25, 2008 at 9:29 pm · Filed under Architecture, Culture, Thailand
Kanchanaburi is a real nice quiet & small town, perfect for cycling. In the case of one of us, learning how to cycle.
You wouldn’t even suspect one of World War II’s little big epics is set here.
Have you ever read the novel, or seen the film “The Bridge on the River Kwai”? Here’s news for you, the plot is entirely fictitious.
The actual bridge over River Kwai however, is very real – as well as the deaths of forced slave labour used to build it, estimated to be 13,000 prisoners-of-war and 80,000 to 100,000 civilians from Malaya, Dutch East Indies, Siam and Burma.
WWII aficionados will appreciate that it is an integral part of the infamous Burma Death Railway and all the concrete and steel parts are intact since the war ended, a definite must-see site.
What I find more amusing is that the river was not originally called River Kwai. Before 1960, that is before the release of the novel and movie, it was called Mae Klong.
Typical of Hollywood foul ups, the novelist who inspired the movie never visited the bridge and assumed that, since the Burma Railway ran along most of the nearby River Kwai, the bridge must have crossed it.
A flood of misguided tourists showed up only to find there was no such bridge over River Kwai, and the authorities in Thailand subsequently renamed the river Kwai Yai (trans: แควใหญ่, thai for Big Tributary).
And bravo, history is changed to the delight and convenience of tourists. You won’t find this fact in travel brochures and sorts.
There’s a strange transition of scale between the end and mid-sections. The rounded arches appear larger than life, and the angular sections (the bit that got bombed by Allied forces, and thereafter rebuilt by the Japanese as “payment for their war crimes”) are much larger than expected.
For a bridge that’s declared “actively used today”, there’s really nothing on the other side. The one-carriage “train” that crosses holds about 10-12 passengers only, for a pathetic shuttle back and forth the river banks.
It puts pedestrians (like us) in a rather precarious position. If we can’t make it to the next platform in time, we have to sidestep and balance ourselves on a narrow 30 cm piece of something (eg. steel beam or timber board) about 4 metres above the swirling river.
Happened to me twice, must say it was utterly hair raising.
February 28, 2008 at 12:00 am · Filed under Architecture, Thailand
Walked out of Nakhon Pathom’s train station and it was squarely right front of us. The scale of the chedi is huge compared to the rest of the town is (which after all, is named after the chedi).
I expected it to be even bigger but you start walking towards it and suddenly realise – you haven’t gotten a lot closer. By the way, it’s 120 metres high.
The sheer size of it is hard to tell, even up close like this. If you care to imagine, those irregular specks on top are not dirt but pigeons. (Architects, for scale the tiles are about 150mm x 150mm).
Like all chedis, there’s no “inside” per say. So we walked around the also unassumingly large colonnade. The whole atmosphere is really, urm, ORANGE though it’s not captured on camera (thank you, JPEG algorithms). And the colour really lends itself to the calming serenity, kind of like, a perpetual quiet sunset feeling.
Then you see a statue that looks a little “CHINESE”?
Sure enough, Phra Pathom Chedi also claims to be the oldest temple in Thailand (trans: Pathom means “of the beginning”). So it has a lot of history going for it (apparently since the 4th century) but what you see today is initiated by King Mongkut in 1853.
So the statues are some ballasts of Chinese ships from a few hundred years ago.
What? Well why use boring rectilinear stones when you can carve elaborate statues just for keeping ships bouyant? After we load our ships with much heavier cargo, we’ll just chuck these statues away onshore!
Calling the chinese opulent?? Who dares to be so insolent…
January 13, 2008 at 9:26 am · Filed under Architecture, Thailand
I have something to confess …
I have this uncontrollable urge to immediately condemn any form of “classical” European style in this part of the world.
I know, I know but you’ll be surprised with the prevalence of bungalows with Greek columns, Tudor facades and “Some Exotic Asian” roof, not only in Thailand but in all parts of Asia.
You may also be surprised that most of these houses are not products of 80’s Post-Modern historicity but comes from an unbroken lineage of rags-to-riches clientele who felt compelled to be Euro-centric once they consider themselves “upper-class”.
Looking at Hua Lamphong train station …. I have a feeling this culture goes WAY back.
This train station is built in the Italian Renaissance style in the early 20th century by a Turin-born Mario Tamagno. So at least it was designed by a European, but at that time I’m sure he would have felt the bubbling excitement of Art Nouveau and/or Art Deco.
But thanks to a genuinely Euro-centric monarch known as the famous King Chulalongkorn of Siam (Rama V of the Chakri Dynasty), these ideas are very much at home with his grand plans to “westernise” Siam. So I suppose even “Italian Renaissance” would appear to be progressive.
Here’s a closer look of him in his official (note: Western) uniform.
So you have a rapidly Westernising Siam, and the overwhelming presence of Britain in India, Malaya & Burma, Dutch in Indonesia and the French in Indochina – all of the sudden, European IS the aristocracy.
But why the eclecticism? King Mongkut (also known as Rama IV – the father of our good fellow above) has an interesting quote that far outlived him …
King Mongkut once remarked to a Christian missionary friend: “What you teach us to do is admirable, but what you teach us to believe is foolish”.
So you see, when it comes to matters of science and technology everything is just imported wholesale. When it comes to matters of culture and religion, it seems that opinions are reserved. And when opinions are reserved, the opportunity for hybridity and “fusion” (so to say) becomes inevitable.
Much like how the Europeans had to somewhat reconcile the Industrial Age with their older architectural habits with, for instance, the Art Nouveau/Deco movement – everyone else in other parts of the world was pretty much doing the same thing albeit with a more jarring consequence in the Far East because of the greater divide.
Of course, I am not attributing the mentality in the region entirely to Rama V, but I’m sure this anecdote is a good insight into how the story played out elsewhere in the vicinity. So here’s my mini-lecture (it could be utter rubbish) on early 20th century Siam architecture.
BUT … next time you are revolted by another Southeast Asian building with an absurd mix of “styles” ….. give it a little thought, it may be more deeply rooted than you think.
January 3, 2008 at 7:52 am · Filed under Architecture, Thailand
Unlike many cities in the world, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur chose to build their mass transit trains ABOVE ground. For good reason I feel.
Why would you …
… in a climate where the temperature under shade is a constant 25˚C whole year round with wide-open highways ripe for whamming layers of freeways above …
… want to waste time shoving something underground??
No air-conditioning + no digging = lots of money saved !!
Of course, the trade off is this Blade Runner thing you see above.
But … Menacing Concrete Jungle vs. Slick Sci-Fi Metropolis … take your Distopian/Utopian slant !!
Siam Square is not really a square, but a freak load of shopping malls lining a boulevard of Asian consumer indulgence (like Singapore’s Orchard Road, or Tokyo’s Ginza and numerous others). Again, take your slant.
I used to be terrified at the prospect of more and more super duper massive but impersonal shopping labyrinths. But having stayed in laid back Sydney for so long – I really miss the high energy 24/7 buzz in Asian malls, with wide open spaces in between to chill or meet people.
I mean WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDDDDDDEEEEEEEEEE open spaces.
Or if you’re still conservative, there’re still plenty of ultra claustrophobic people-packed venues! Existing for the exact same reasons of Shopping, Socialising & Eating!!
Ahhh, the wonderful paradoxes of my Asian compatriots …
December 18, 2007 at 6:14 pm · Filed under Architecture, Thailand
No visit to any country should be complete without a look at its seedier side. If extra-terrestrials think alike, I think they’ll choose Pattaya to visit as the seediest side of planet Earth!!!
Ok, I know that doesn’t look too seedy…. mmmm… Fast forward 12 hours!
That’s better. And in the centre of all this electric energy is Walking Street.
A closer look and you see bar girls sitting outside waiting for customers. I guess we’re still early…
In case you think these photos are isolated cases, they’re not!! The whole town is just packed with these sort of places wall to wall (okay, perhaps with the occasional “hotel”) with girls harassing passer-bys.
Normally you find poles inside buildings, but practically all of them here are open air! You can see them shaking booty while riding a songthaew around town. They come in other shapes and sizes as well …
The system is simple. They try to entice you into the bar with their good looks and demeanour, in order to sell drinks and make the establishment lotsa money. We’ve talked to them and I can tell you, even with broken English they are very very good at chatting.
Once you’re hooked, they will make you stay as long as possible. If drinks are not enough, you can bring them to “some place else” for as little as 1 hour up to 1 whole night. To do that, you will have to pay a certain “bar fine” because these girls won’t be making the bar money in their absence.
Like THIS guy!
December 12, 2007 at 5:43 pm · Filed under Architecture, Thailand
What is this guy doing?? Trying to steal someone’s car?
This lady looks like she’s doing the same thing! Is the officer going to stop her??
Wait a minute … why is the officer helping the lady here …..
Ohhh … as it turns out. This is Bangkok’s brand of solving the double parking problem. Basically the allowance for parking in older carparks (like this one, near Jatujak market) is just impossible in today’s traffic load. So the solution is to allow cars to be parked LEGALLY in marked boxes with one rule … FREE YOUR HANDBRAKE.
So if you happened to be blocked by a car (or 2 or 3 or more), you just a play a GIANT game of Sokoban!
With officers in uniform to help you out! Brilliant!
December 8, 2007 at 9:03 am · Filed under Architecture, Thailand
I’ve once told a friend, “Don’t underestimate humanity’s ability to evolve original & completely workable solutions without professionals (ie. architects!),” adding that there are plenty of examples in Third World (or formerly 3W) countries. Jatujak market is one of those bizarre places where the market just kept growing … and growing … and growing.
The total area is IMMENSE, but the shops are like mini-stall size. So ..
Teeny Weeny Shops x Over Several Football Fields = Extreme Hardcore Intense Shopping
Look closely at the “solid grey” – they’re actually a tight series of alternating grey and white lines that indicate the lanes within the complex !! The map is useless because …
- Inside everything just looks the same, even to locals.
- The numbers are illogically numbered (you’ll discover later in this blog that this is a uniquely Indochinese trait)
As if the shops weren’t small enough, the environment has further packed the shelves to the 101% capacity.
I left very early to get some rest so I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. But Julius snapped this gem..
1:1 scale of Robocop?!?!
December 4, 2007 at 6:13 pm · Filed under Architecture, Thailand
This city of 10 million people with the longest name in the Guiness Book of Records could have easily been one of my more interesting posts. Unfortunately two things happened …
1 – Allergic Contact Dermatitis
I checked into hospital twice!! Doctors say I’m the hundredth over foreigner who walked in with this for year 2007, postulating there must be some new kind of toxic insect in the Krabi and Phuket region. It took a full week before I began to look normal again.
So any of you hanging around those places, if you have a rash that is not reacting to anti-histamines, go see a doctor !!
2 – Because of my allergic reaction, I had to stay at home.
The rest of the Rat Pack still went out but in their eccentric brand of wisdom decided AGAINST visiting the Grand Palace and Wat Pho, despite never being there before!
When I later enquired, “Do you know coming to Bangkok and missing the Grand Palace is like going to Sydney and missing the Opera House?”.
The reply was a paltry … “Hmm, never thought about it that way.”
Astute readers will note that since my photographer decided to go AWOL, I’m left without photographs of Ko Ratanakosin. Flickr to the rescue again!
November 29, 2007 at 8:22 pm · Filed under Architecture, Thailand
If the airport I am heading to happens to be spanking new especially if it claims to be the biggest in Asia, I always put effort into arriving during daylight hours.
Sidenote: This odd behaviour can be explained by the gargantuan amount of airports completed in Asia during the last 10 years.
Sadly, we have to settle with a night flight to catch the Sapam Street Procession of the Phuket Vegetarian Festival. And sure enough the Great Cosmic Interference made sure we MISS the street procession(!!). Two missed opportunities … que sera sera~
I was impressed at the scale of the airport, but the quality of the finishes (especially the bare concrete) looks pretty dubious. And the steel frames are too coarse for my liking. Hmm, I guess that’s the furthest extent of my comments.
However, I am officially duly fully impressed with quality of photos on Flickr these days. I’ll find a way to integrate it into this blog soon …
EDIT:
Here you go! Magazine quality photos of Suvarnabhumi Airport !! Man, I love Web 2.0~
While I am still in this state of euphoria, I will add some Phuket Vegetarian Street Procession photos as well !
November 4, 2007 at 6:44 am · Filed under Architecture, Malaysia, Nature
Kuala Lumpur Batu Caves is the only worthwhile attraction near Kuala Lumpur (that surprisingly) a lot of Malaysians never make the effort to visit. Since we have to pass through KL to take a flight to Thailand, I decided to make sure I find my way there.
That golden statue of Lord Murugan, said to be the highest of this deity, is indeed very big. There are 272 steps to the top, which can be tiring if you rush yourself. It is also relatively steep so keep you should keep your head facing upwards.
By some weird cosmic coincidence (that my life always seem to attract), there was a troop of uniformed men at the top that day coordinating crowds around a filming session for some Bollywood movie. Which explains the baffling presence of this Styrofoam kavadi I saw on my way up … that will hardly break anyone’s sweat.
After making a way up the steps and squeezing past a few seconds of Bombay-like pedestrian activity, I can see why this place in “divinely” inspiring.
There’s a shrine at the end which you can place donations and get flowers as well as ash thumbed on your forehead in return. Tried chatting with the Hindu priest but he seems more concerned with doing his rituals thing.
November 4, 2007 at 6:36 am · Filed under Architecture, Malaysia
Kek Lok Si Temple is actual a complex of temples. The intensely unique pagoda is usually the main point of attraction (besides the really really big bronze Kuan Yin which I didn’t feel the urge to pay the entrance fee for).
I didn’t expect Kek Lok Si temple to be this big but this temple complex is HUGE … and it’s getting bigger! They have a very interesting way of raising donations for the building fund, but I don’t know if it’s traditionally “chinese” or not.
Everyone who gives a donation gets their name written on these roof tiles. I presume that when the roof gones on, these tiles get used, so your donation is then immortalised on the temple roof. Interesting …
October 24, 2007 at 11:33 pm · Filed under Architecture, Malaysia
Other than Dutch Square in Malacca, Fort Cornwallis is probably one of the most mentioned location in our school textbooks. So it’s incredibly sad to say that it not only did not live up to its hype, but I fail to see anything worth hyping at all.
There’s really nothing more than a few rusting cannons pointing at the sea on an earth-rammed wall. Can’t believe they’re charging an entrance fee for this!
They should pay us for having to walk through this, the most boring stretch in Penang!
October 24, 2007 at 11:31 pm · Filed under Architecture, Malaysia
Family clan temples is a cultural phenomena that can only arise from the deeply-rooted Confucian values of the far east. Khoo is a family name and Kongsi is a Hokkien word meaning “share” (imported unchanged into Malay) which gives some insight to origins and purpose.
Built in 1906, it is a traditional Qing dynasty temple with some overt European influences, most notably the art deco railings (yes, they were not added at a later date) and a Baroque-esque type of entrance.
What struck me most was, the quality of the materials and craftsmanship. Every granite stone is hewn to fit perfectly and they still do after 100 years. The ornaments look like they could be tacked-on but they are carved in place to “appear” like that, meaning it’s all still one big piece of stone.
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