SEEKING THE PAST
A top BMA official talks with Life about the recent surge in historical tourism
BELOW One of the houses of nobility located by Khlong Bang Luang.
Narrow alleyways, ancient houses, mansions of bygone aristocrats, temples and mosques, shrines and churches in the old town: The vintage craze has brought about a proliferation of speciality tourism, and it’s enjoying huge popularity while promoting history lessons.
No, this has nothing to do with the never-ending Bupphaesannivas fad and its Ayutthaya connection; this is Bangkok, on foot and in forgotten sois. Using social media to pull in nostalgia hunters and retro seekers, Facebook groups like Rattan ako sin eh a , KhnRak Wang Ban Bo ran and Bangkok Noire have amassed tens of thousands of followers just by posting and sharing photographs of old houses, temples and communities online. In the past few years they’ve become so popular among Thais, in fact, that some groups organise their own walking tours almost every weekend, attracting more and more history buffs and those who love old buildings.
For instance, Bangkok Noire, run by a freelance graphic designer, takes curious locals and urban explorers, for 900 baht, to little-known locations and charmingly dilapidated sites, as well as century-old private houses. Riding through the canals of Thon Buri to visit century-old teakwood houses and abandoned schools and temples, the tour (sometimes riddled with management problems), can be an eyeopener for those who before thought Bangkok was all malls and bars.
Rattan ako sin sin eh a( or literally “Rattanakosin love”) designs tours for which customers pay around 1,000-plus baht to visit old printing shops, mansions and private houses with impressive architecture — sometimes inside the houses, sometimes just from the street. These tours are accompanied by history buffs who provide historical information on each site; it’s worth noting that these tours are frequented almost entirely by Thais.
“I believe it fulfils people,” said Bhusit Indraduta, administrator of the Rattanakosineha page, who works in advertisement and publications.
“When I started doing trips, I understood that there are people who are very shy to do street photography, and they don’t really dare to go out alone. They want to go as a group, they want someone to lead them, they want someone to explain the history to them. For a person who doesn’t have someone to travel with, now they do. Also, around half the people, I’ve noticed, have travelled around the world already, and they like new experiences. So when they realise that there are things in their own country they’ve never known about, they become interested in these tours.”
The popularity of these tours — together with the surge of tourists in Ayutthaya — is boosting the economy of Thai communities while promoting local tourism. Rapeepat Ketkosol, chief of the Tourism Development Subdivision, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA)’s Tourism Division, has been watching this tourism trend and offered his observations. What’s with the surge of interest in these nostalgia tours in these recent years? I understand that there might be two parts to it. I don’t know if I would call it “a trend” since it’s been going on for many years. The world is seeking the past again — the image of the past where it’s happy, peaceful and classic. People feel bored with all the technology and development happening, so within these past 10 years, they’re looking for a traditional society filled with warmth and simplicity. That’s the first factor.
Secondly, locals who live in the old parts of town have started standing up to restore and preserve their own communities. Hence, these locations and destinations are more well known. They’re also ready to receive the public.
If you want a third point, technology and social media have also been a part of it. Whenever someone goes somewhere, they’ll share their story, and people have easy access to it. It’s much easier than reading books or watching TV, so the spread of information and knowledge of these places has increased.
What are your opinions of these selfrun tours?
There are both positive and negative aspects to it. In terms of positive aspects, there are more people who understand the importance of history, art, culture and stories of our home country. Before this, whenever a community was demolished or wiped out, no one really cared. But presently, the knowledge that they got from visiting these places creates an attachment to and understanding of the site.
Secondly, it helps with the local economy — if the tour doesn’t take advantage of anything, of course. If there’s good organisation, the local communities will receive benefits from developing and preserving the old communities.
But the negative aspects — it might just be creating superficial tours just for people’s outer shell. It’s just about taking photographs and showing off to friends — not caring about the story or history, which is the point of the whole thing. It may create damage to the community because people flock there. If they just go for superficial reasons and think, ‘I’m going to dress up and take photos and not listen to you’, the locals will become discouraged.
Speaking of damage, are these tours even legal? Aren’t you supposed to be a certified guide?
This has to be separated into two parts. For me, if it’s a career and it’s your main source of income, you should follow the law. But if they don’t do these tours as a career, and doing it in terms of an activity in order for people to learn about history and culture, it’s technically a community or club. The word ‘community’ currently is borderless. So I feel like it’s just a gathering of a group of people who like the same things and do an activity together by visiting location spots. It’s not appropriate to bring the law into it. The intent of these laws is aimed at business owners — the professionals.
But do you think these ‘activities’ should have a standard?
Yes, but I don’t think we should use the word ‘standard’, as we don’t know which standard they need to be held to [ laughs]. We might have to encourage the positives more than thinking about punishing people. For example, if you want to visit a community, you have to take into account the accuracy of the information and history. Second, let the locals in the community be involved in telling their story. Third, there should be a handbook with references to these stories. There just should be suggestions on what these activities should involve and have one think about.
But the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority has tours as well, right? We don’t run tours, but stimulate and promote communities and local organisations to do it. We help advertise it, help find speakers and help think of activities. It’s like working together with the community — for example, going into the area and looking for walking paths. Once they’re able to do it themselves, we want the community to be the star. We just come in to help if they need it. We fill in the gaps. There are around 30 communities that have been doing good things — like the Huatakhe community, the Ladmayom Floating Market community and the Sangtawan Nong Chok community.
What do you think the future of these tours will be?
I see that it’s going to be sustainable because Thais are starting to know how to travel. Before, they travelled for leisure and entertainment only — which is called recreational travel. But right now they’ve stepped into travelling as education. They want to know about Prince Narai, they want to know about Narai Palace — whereas before they only took photos, searched for places to eat, paid respect to monks and made merit. I don’t think it’s just a trend. When people start travelling like this, they’ll realise, ‘Hey, it’s better than how we’ve travelled before’, and they won’t stop. When people start travelling like this, they become addicted to it. And then they start inviting other people in, so it’s good. It’s a turning point.
PEOPLE FEEL BORED WITH TECHNOLOGY, THEY’RE LOOKING FOR A TRADITIONAL SOCIETY FILLED WITH WARMTH AND SIMPLICITY