JIM THOMPSON HOUSE IN BANGKOK CONTINUES TO DRAW VISITORS DECADES AFTER HE VANISHED MYSTERIOUSLY IN CAMERON HIGHLANDS IN MALAYSIA. HIS BODY HAS NEVER BEEN FOUND TO THIS DAY BUT DON'T COMPARE HIM TO MH370.

KEE@FSWMAG.COM

BASED ON MY BRILLIANT PHOTOS OF THE LUSH GARDEN, OUTHOUSES, PAVILIONS, PONDS AND FLOWERING PLANTS, MANY WILL ASSUME JIM THOMPSON HOUSE MUST BE AN HOUR'S DRIVE IN THE PROVINCE...YET IT IS SMACK IN THE HEART OF BANGKOK CITY!

JIM THOMPSON HOUSE IS OPPOSITE THE NATIONAL STADIUM ON RAMA 1 ROAD AND A SHORT WALK FROM THE MAIN ROAD!

IT IS ALSO 10 MINUTES WALK TO MBK CENTRE, ONE OF BANGKOK'S MOST FAMOUS AND BEST SHOPPING MALLS!

SO YOU SHOULD VISIT JIM THOMPSON HOUSE FIRST AS IT CLOSES AT 5 PM AND THEN SHOP TILL YOU DROP AT MBK CENTRE!

ENTRY IS ONLY RM 10 WHICH INCLUDES A COMPULSORY GUIDED TOUR AS YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO WANDER AROUND INSIDE THE HOUSES. AND YOU NEED A GUIDE TO EXPLAIN THE FASCINATING DETAILS AND WORKS OF ART COLLECTED BY JIM THOMPSON FROM DELAWARE, USA!

WELCOME TO THE JIM THOMPSON THAI HOUSE The House that was the Talk of the Town The Jim Thompson House is the home of James H.W. Thompson, a self-made American entrepreneur who was the founder of the world renowned Jim Thompson Thai Silk Company. Thompson's achievements during his 25 year stay in the Kingdom of Thailand have won him much fame as the "Legendary American of Thailand". Jim Thompson in his house, with Cocky, his pet white cockatoo. For his contribution to the development of the Thai Silk industry, Jim Thompson was awarded the Order of the White Elephant, a decoration bestowed upon foreigners for having rendered exceptional service to Thailand.  Thompson's success story in Thailand has become one of the most popular postwar legends of Asia. In 1967, Jim Thompson went on holiday with friends to the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. There he set out for a walk in the surrounding jungle but never returned. Thus began the Jim Thompson legend. Since his disappearance in 1967, little has changed in the home that was the 'talk of the town' and the 'city's most celebrated social center'. Even today, the charming Thai style house continues to be a key stop for visitors to Bangkok. Both the supporting columns and consequently, the walls of the house lean slightly inward adding to the illusion of height and grace. The curved roof ends, characteristic of traditional Thai houses, are probably adaptations of naga (serpent) motifs. The house consists of a complex of six traditional Thai-style houses, teak structures that were purchased from several owners and brought to the present location from various parts of Thailand. Construction of the Thai house was completed in 1959. Original architectural drawings for the house, prepared by Thompson and his Thai architect. During construction, carpenters were brought from Ayutthaya to assemble the old structures. The Jim Thompson House Floor Plan

THESE HISTORIC THAI HOUSES ARE PART OF THE JIM THOMPSON COMPOUND

THE LUSH GARDENS ARE STUNNING

LOVELY

LUSH

GREEN

FASCINATING

CALM

PRETTY PAVILION

OSCAR!

CANNOT BELIEVE YOU ARE IN BANGKOK!

SHOP

THAI ARCHITECTURE AT ITS BEST

SERENE

ALL ASIAN HOUSES SHOULD BE LIKE THESE

SO NATURAL

PERFECT FOR TROPICAL LIVING

CAFE FOR TEA AND SNACKS

SIT HERE FOR BEST VIEW

IDYLLIC

LOVE IT

KEE HUA CHEE ENJOYING THE GOOD LIFE BLESSED BY BUDDHA

KEE HUA CHEE AND FELLOW TOURISTS

LOVELY ORCHIDS

GROUND FLOOR OF MAIN HOUSE

VIEW FROM BALCONY

LUSH!

IDYLLIC

SHRINE

INSIDE THE MAIN HOUSE WHERE JIM THOMPSON BEDROOM IS LOCATED

SEMI ALFRESCO LIVING

SMALL MUSEUM

BIG SHOP!

Jim Thompson or James Harrison Wilson Thompson was born in Greenville, Delaware in 1906. He attended public schools in Wilmington, went on to boarding school at St. Paul's and attended Princeton University, the family university, from 1924 to 1928. Although Thompson had a keen interest in art, he chose to become an architect and went on to study architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a practicing architect in New York City until 1940. Jim Thompson, The Legendary American of Thailand by William Warren With the escalation of the war in Europe in the early 1940s, Thompson volunteered for service in the United States Army, an important turning point in his life. During the Second World War, Thompson was assigned to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), a move which offered him an opportunity to see more of the world. Thompson as a member of an OSS group was assigned to work with French forces in North Africa. His assignments also took him into Italy, France and Asia. To prepare for his mission, Thompson undertook rigorous training in jungle survival. He completed the course successfully. However the war ended abruptly as Thompson and the other OSS men were en route to Bangkok.  A few weeks later, he assumed the duties of OSS station chief. In late 1946, he received orders to return to the States to receive his military discharge. The 'old' Oriental Hotel Thompson was confident that with peace restored and the expansion of air travel, there would be a significant increase in leisure travel to the Far East.  Upon their arrival in the capital, these travelers would need acceptable accommodation. Few hotels in Bangkok could then even be considered of international standard. Only one had an ideal location -- the old Oriental, a former palace overlooking the Chao Phraya River that flowed through the capital. Noel Coward It was a meeting place for travelers and a social center for the foreign community. Charlie Chaplin, Noel Coward and Somerset Maugham were just a few of its famous patrons. Excited by the prospects presented, Thompson became actively involved in the reorganization of the Oriental Hotel. By this time, Thompson had developed a certain fondness for the country and its people. He began to seriously contemplate settling down and going into business in Thailand.  He foresaw a promising future for the country and wanted to be a part of this process. He decided that upon leaving the service, he would return and take up residence in Thailand permanently. Somerset Maugham Somerset Maugham Suite at The Oriental In late 1946, Thompson left for the States to get his discharge.

Soon after his return to Bangkok, Thompson turned his attention to Thai silk.

Jim Thompson and the Thai Silk Company he established, saved a dying craft and transformed it into a world-class designer brand. For Thompson, 'the real measure of the success of the Thai silk industry was not so much the profits of his own company as in the rival companies that began to spring up all over Bangkok.' ' Thompson's development of the Thai silk industry is often cited as one of the great success stories of postwar Asia. Thai Silk, a hand-woven fabric, is noted for its exceptional luster, texture and its striking complement of contrasting colors -- such as emerald green and magenta, or deep blue and shocking pink -- coexisting in perfect harmony. The sharply contrasting colors of Thai Silk coexist in perfect harmony. With his artistic inclination, Thompson instantly found the remarkable beauty and extraordinary qualities of Thai silk, both fascinating and alluring. Traditionally the production of raw silk provided a supplemental source of income for many families in the northeast, most of whom were farmers. The raw silk was sent to Bangkok to supply weavers in the capital but by 1946, the hand weaving of Thai silk had become an ailing cottage industry.  The use of silk was reserved for special or ceremonial occasions and so the demand for silk was small to start with. Traditional handweaving of silk Traditional silk weaving process is a slow and laborious process with the silk being used to make the traditional Thai style of dress.  Despite its rich color, silk faded quickly with repeated washing as natural vegetable dyes were used in the dyeing process. With the advent of industrialization in the early twentieth century, ever rising demand for cheaper machine-made textiles from factories in Europe and Japan, dealt a devastating blow to traditional silk weaving. Families continued to weave silk but it was predominantly for their own use and little attention was paid to its quality. Even fewer families engaged in silk weaving, its further decline seemed inevitable and irreversible. In spite of such a daunting scenario, Thompson was confident that the brilliance, and distinctive qualities of Thai silk would draw significant interest overseas. To assess this potential, he had several lengths of silk in a range of colors woven to his specifications and set off in 1947 for New York to see if he could successfully market the silk and source sophisticated buyers for his extraordinary merchandise.

Jim Thompson was perhaps 'the best known foreigner in Bangkok, and possibly in Southeast Asia'. This picture of Jim Thompson at work in his study was taken in early 1967, just a few months before his disappearance. "In the twenty years before his ill-fated holiday in Malaysia, he had accomplished more than most men in a full life.  He had built a major industry in a remote and little known country whose language he could not speak; he had become an authority on an art that, previously, he scarcely knew existed and had assembled a collection that attracted scholars from all over the world; he had built a home that was a work of art in itself and one of the landmarks of Bangkok; and, in the process of doing all this, he had become a sort of landmark himself, a personality so widely known in his adopted homeland that a letter addressed simply 'Jim Thompson, Bangkok' found its way to him in a city of three and a half million people." Excerpt from 'Jim Thompson - The Legendary American in Thailand', by William Warren.