LANDSCAPES OF CONSUMPTION AND HIDDEN HERITAGE: CASE STUDY OF SUKHUMVIT ROAD By M.R. Pumin Varavarn A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Architectural Heritage Management and Tourism (International Program) Graduate School SILPAKORN UNIVERSITY 2007 The Graduate School, Silpakorn University has approved and accredited the thesis title of “Landscapes of Consumption and Hidden Heritage: Case Study of Sukhumvit Road” submitted by M.R.Pumin Varavarn as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Architectural Heritage Management and Tourism. ……………………………….. (Associate Professor Sirichai Chinatangkul, Ph.D.) Dean of Graduate School ……./…………./……. The Thesis Advisor Professor Ross J. King The Thesis Examination Committee ………………………………….. Chairman (Professor Trungjai Buranasomphob, Ph.D.) ………/……………/……… ………………………………….. Member (Professor Ross J. King) ………/……………/……… ………………………………….. Member (Professor William S. Logan, Ph.D.) ………/……………/……… 45056961: ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE MANAGEMENT AND TOURISM KEYWORDS: CONSUMPTION/CULTURAL HERITAGE/THAI IDENTITY PUMIN VARAVARN: LANDSCAPES OF CONSUMPTION AND HIDDEN HERITAGE: A CASE STUDY OF SUKHUMVIT ROAD. THESIS ADVISOR: PROF. ROSS J. KING, 170 pp. Bangkok’s southeastern growth corridor, starting at Rattanakosin Island, is built around a road that begins as Rama I, becomes Phleonchit, and ends as Sukhumvit. Sukhumvit, as an area, is over-built, congested, chaotic, and represents Bangkok in its most urbanized developed form, for better or worse. It also has the region’s heaviest concentration of western tourists, hotels, bars, prostitutes and represents Bangkok in its most venal state. This thoroughfare is both urbane and vulgar and a very recent manifestation: until the 1960s, the Sukhumvit area was rural and quietly suburban. In 1857, Rama IV (King Mongkut) built Wat Srapathum along with his vacation palace, Srapathum near the end of Rama I Road. The dissertation approaches Sukhumvit as overlaying and inter-weaving layers of reality. Initially, there is the Sukhumvit of memory, perhaps most easily understood as a history of the area at its simplest level: the various kings and their legacies, the wats, the palaces and the few remaining khlongs, survivors of an older, aquatic realm. Second, Sukhumvit is an area of consumption – of constant change, an area of refurbishments and reinventions used to attract the tourist dollar, contemporary Sukhumvit at its cosmopolitan, tolerant, inventive best. Third, though not quite as conspicuous, is the Sukhumvit of the intellect, as a place for scholarly speculation as academics from East and West strive to make sense of an urban realm that does not seem to conform to the comfortable stereotypes of urban space. Finally, there is Sukhumvit as a field of discourse, home of a million lives and a million stories. It has its writers, its Buddhist scholars, its philosophers and administrators, its poor stall-holders and rich investors expressing views and desires all of which create a rich cacophony that matches the life of the street itself. The fundamental institution of Nation, Religion and King is revered and respected but the triad becomes less foundational in the limited awareness of immigrants and visitors who lack a profound knowledge of local lore and history. It is necessary to communicate a Thai interpretation of the area and to note Thai people’s understanding, or lack of understanding, of Thai cultural heritage. Sukhumvit, it seems, is a place of appropriation – of the past existing in the present, of diverse cultures continuously absorbed into a metamorphosing Thai culture and heritage, and of the tolerated farang (western foreigner). Any interpretation of Sukhumvit and, by implication, of Thai urban space, must involve a process of explaining this appropriating, hybridizing nature of Thai culture. This will be revealed in the form of a discourse on literary writings, pertinent discussions, and inter-textual analysis, to analyze the significance of surface in a Thai view of the world and the significance of this characteristic, critical to any understanding of Thai responses to globalization. Architectural Heritage Management and Tourism Graduate School, Silpakorn University Academic Year 2007 Student’s signature……………………………………………….. Thesis Advisor’s signature……………………………………….. c Acknowledgements I would like to extend my most sincere and highest regards to the abbot of Wat Prathumvanaram Phra Rachabundit and also to Luangta Lek and Phra Yindee for all their help. First, I would like to express my gratitude to the principal of the School of Architecture, curriculum: Architectural Heritage Management and Tourism at Silpakorn University, Professor Dr. Trungjai Buranasombhop. She has pioneered this international study these past five years and has worked very hard in tracking our progress in this study. Secondly, my gratitude goes to Professor William S. Logan of Deakin University. He is teaching the subject of “Asian Pacific Heritage Management” and his vast knowledge has led me to believe I received a ‘quality impact’ in this subject. Finally, I would like to extend my most humble regards and respect to Professor Ross J. King from the University of Melbourne. Through patience and perseverance, he has inculcated into his students the desire to fully investigate a subject to its minute detail. The extent and range of his knowledge is such that I would never miss attending one of his workshops. My appreciation also extends to my classmates: Assistant professor Dr. Sompong Amnuay-Ngerntra who endlessly showed me various texts to read. Khun Sunanta Chutinan, who continuously offered institutions in which to teach. My sincerest thanks also go to those who helped me transform this document into a work that I am proud to cherish as my own contribution to this field of study. They are the officers from the Graduate School at Silpakorn University and Tina, Bee and Jan. Many thanks also go to Novotel Siam Square Hotel, J. W. Marriot Sukhumvit Hotel, the Grand Hyatt Erawan Hotel on Ratchdarmri and Phleonchit Road, Suk 11 Hostel Sukhumvit soi 11 and the Ideal Today Agency. Many thanks are also extended to ajarn Udomsri and also to the instructors of Chulalongkorn and Srinakarinviroj University and to the officers at Siam Society. For raison d’etre I dedicate my education and highest education experiences to my parents M. C. Hajjakorn (ม.จ. หัชชากร) and Mom Somhathai (หมอม สมหทัย) who guided and nourished me to be healthy in body and mind. Their love and profound insights will therefore flow through me to be a benefit to society. My gratitude and appreciation also extends to my sister, M.R. Sasichuthapa Varavarn Lochaya who has given me moral support all these years. I hope that someday my teenagers and still infant grand and great grandchildren find their dreams and reality through the benefits of higher learning. At present this gemological tree includes: Justin, Ana-Lisa, Jadet, May, Pin, Pun, Poey, Ton and his brand new brother Theng (b. 19/8/2007), Sasorn, Korn, Archi and Benny. All my thanks and love go to my wife Khun Vanida and my son Kevin, who have allowed me the endless hours required to write this manuscript without complaint and finally I apologize in advance for any mistakes I may have made in this dissertation and promise in advance to respond in writing to those who take the time and effort to critique my work. d Table of Contents Page Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….c Acknowledgement ………………………………………………………………………………………………...d List of Figures ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….h List of Maps …………………………………………………………………………………………………………...i Chapter 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................1 The scope of study …………………………………………………………………………..2 The issue …………………………………………………………………………………………2 Research questions ………………………………………………………………………….3 Research objectives …………………………………………………………………………3 Methodology …………………………………………………………………………………...4 The problem of writing …………………………………………………………………...5 Structure of dissertation ………………………………………………………………….6 Map 1 of Khlongs in 1950s …………………………………………………………….7 2 Sukhumvit as a Field of Memory …………………………………………………………….8 People impacts of 1950s to 1960s ………………………………………………….15 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………………..17 3 Sukhumvit as a Field of Consumption ……………………………………………………18 Map 2 of 1952 ………………………………………………………………………………. 20 Figure A1, aerial photograph …………………………………………………………21 Map 3 of 1974 ………………………………………………………………………………. 25 Figure A2, aerial photograph ………………………………………………………… 26 Map 4 of 1987 …………………………………………………………………………….. …31 Figure A3, aerial photograph ………………………………………………………….32 Map 5 of 2001 …………………………………………………………………………………35 e Chapter Page Figure A4, aerial photograph ………………………………………………………….36 The train and the population …………………………………………………………...42 The present situation ……………………………………………………………………….42 Map 6 of 2006 …………………………………………………………………………………44 Map 7 of 2006 by Google Earth ……………………………………………………...45 Consumption venues ……………………………………………………………………….46 Map 8 (figure 15) Nancy Chandler Map and the Novotel Siam Square, Erawan Grand Hyatt and Imperial Queen’s Park .………..48 Map 9 (figure 16) map of old homes, pak-soi and Sirikit Centre ……49 Rama I, Phleonchit and Sukhumvit in the present ………………………….50 Pivotal area I ……………………………………………………………………………. 51 Pivotal area II……………………………………………………………………………..54