A Day in Dusit

Yesterday my roommates and I put our tourists hats back on and visited the neighborhood of Dusit. Dusit is the area of Bangkok where the royal family currently lives. The area is also home to some other important government buildings, such as the National Assembly. Naturally, all these buildings that are currently in use are off-limits to tourists. They never let us see the good stuff.


After getting off the skytrain at Victory Monument we hailed a cab to Dusit Zoo, which is located right in the heart of the royal neighborhood. We bypassed the Zoo in favor of exploring some of the old royal buildings. I've heard that the zoo is only so-so, but I'll probably go back some time later in the year. We sort of stumbled upon our first stop: Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall. I highly recommend that you click on that link so you can see the stunning interior of the building. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside. When looking at this throne hall you can't help but think that it was plucked up from somewhere in Italy and deposited in the middle of Bangkok. It appears as though King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) had a passion for European architecture, as the vast majority of the buildings that we visited were distinctly European in style. The throne hall was a remarkable example of this. The ceilings of the building are covered with friezes painted by Italian artists (Galileo Chini and Carlo Riguli) depicting scenes from Thai history... though the people in them seemed more European looking than Thai to me. Inside the throne hall is an impressive exhibition of artifacts made by the Queen's SUPPORT Foundation. The SUPPORT Foundation was set up to help protect the legacy of Thai folk arts. Queen Sirikit has connected Thai people with training, funding, and and finding markets for folk arts in order to allow them to continue to thrive. The exhibition that we went to showed the cream of the crop-- incredible carved wood panels and ornate gold work abounded. Also, a lot of Thai art is decorated with beetle wings. Yes, insect wings. The wings have this incredible shiny blue luster to them that makes it seem as though they are a precious stone rather than part of a bug. I was most impressed by an ornate chandelier that was more or less covered with them. Think how time consuming that would be!


Next we headed next door to visit the Vimanmek Mansion which is billed as the World's Largest Teakwood Mansion. Vimanmek Mansion was built in 1900 for the same King Rama V that built the neighboring throne hall (actually, there are several neighboring throne halls...). Rama and his family lived in the Mansion from 1901-1906 and then Rama VI's Queen Consort Indharasaksaji lived there for a short time in the 1920s as well. It is a shame that this mansion was only lived in for such a short period of time. It is utterly beautiful and seems to me to be one of the most livable palaces I've ever been in. The rooms are smaller and cosier than in most palaces. Really, it seems like a beautiful European style summer-home filled with many windows and octagonal shaped rooms. I can imagine how breezy the long hallways that run along the outside of the mansion must have been. Once again, no interior photos were allowed but you can go here and take a peek inside if you are interested. The mansion is located in a tree filled park that is dotted with other residences for lower members of the royal family. Now, those smaller buildings are home to exhibitions of random things such as the King's photography of the irrigation systems of Thailand and old clocks. We didn't spend much time in these other buildings but were sure to peak inside the old Elephant barns that are now the Royal Elephant National Museum.



Yesterday was a fantastic day to go to Dusit, as it was overcast and a bit windy. I was about to say that it was cool out, but really, my idea of cold and hot are incredibly skewed right now. I'm sure it was in the upper 80s, but the heat and humidity didn't seem as oppressive as they can be. I only drank one water bottle full of water-- which means I must be adjusting somewhat to the weather here, as I normally drain two or three on a day trip like this.

(Sitting on the steps of the Abhisek Dusit Throne Hall)