Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 273, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 November 1919 — IN BANGKOK [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

IN BANGKOK

AT Singapore the traveler bound for Siam quits the liner and embarks upon one of the small steamers which take the malls to Bangkok. The steamer makes for the low mangrove-fringed shore which marks his destination and presently enters the muddy Bangkok river, writes P. A. Thompson in “Siam.” On. either side stretch salt marshes, soon hidden* behind the luxuriant vegetation. Here on the oozy banks are fern-llke attap and rank tropical growths, half submerged, while rising from the firmer ground behind are the slender trunks and gracefuT fronds of areca and coconut palms. Bangkok is twelve miles, from the coast in a direct so tortuous is the river that it is fully threq hours before we arrive. Here a score of small steamers are anchored in midstream. Others lie alongside the wharfs, together with sailing vessels of all descriptions: merchantmen from Europe, rice boats from up country, and fishing boats from the gulf. Everywhere we see Chinese toiling. Boats ply to and fro between the banks, and every now and then the little vessels are set dancing and plunging in the wash of the steam launches which tear by. At length we, too, draw in to a wharf and land amidst piles of goods. Motley Throng in the Street.

Behind the wharfs and mills which line the river on its eastern side, we come upon a long street, white and dusty in the dry months, and in the rainy seascfti a lane of mud. Here at all seasons a motley crowd of Chinese, Siamese, Malays, Hindus and Mahometans jostle each other, while coolies toil along* at a foot pace with ’rickshaws in the last stages of dilapidation. A crazy gharry, bearing a distant resemblance to a London growler and drawn By a diminutive pony, bumps over the uneven surface, and on one side of the road electric trams, packed with natives, are screeching along the ill-laid track. None of these methods of locomotion appeals to us, nor do we feel inclined to mingle with the throng of pedestrians. However, if we are 1 ucky we may find near bya_ stable, at which we may hire a pair-, horse gharry, a sort of miniature vicr toria. We will not look on while the ponies are being put in, for it is not well to know exactly how much string is used in the composition of our harness. It is certain that the proportion is large? but if only the reins hold out we must be thankful. • • ♦ On either side are rows of onestoried wooden houses. The shops on the ground floor are quite open to the street, and we can see Chinese carpenters. tailors and bootmakers at work Inside, while elsewhere cheap cotton goods and hardware are Now and then we pass a Chinese josshouse with fantastic roof-ridge, and Yhroughthe open door we see an altar decked with tinsel and peacocks’ feathers. * * * Official Quarter and Royal Palace.

Our driver expects us to direct him at every step, so if we say nothing he will keep straight on and we shall presently come to the old city walk whitewashed now, and much disfigured with telegraph wires, but with picturesque battlements shaped like the leaves of the sacred Bo tree. Within we are at once sensible of a great improvement as we bowl over the well-kept surface of a broad avenue, planted with plane trees, and bordered by neat rows of brick houses. As we cross a catfnl we catch a glimpse of trees reflected in the water, and trim lawns, and beyond them pagodas blazing with pure gold in the sunlight. This is the official quarter. • • • Here, too, is the Royal Palace, whose brilliant roofs and iridescent spires are seen over the dazzling Whiteness of the outer wall. ,Just outside the city wall is the Golden Mount, a bell-shaped mounQ, faced with brick, but so overgrown by trees that it has the appearance of a natural hillock. On the summit is a little shrine surmounted by a pagoda, and to it leads a flight of steps, winding about a hill. From here we look down upon a forest of palms and plane trees, through which break the red roofs of the houses. Everywhere rising above the trees are graceful spires and the manifold roofs of temples.

with their tiles of rich .orange or deep purple, great splashes of color against the clear blue sky. To this place we may often return to watch the dawn stealing over the paddy fields, whilst at our feet the palm trees rise through a veil of purple mist; or when at evening the pink rays of the setting sun are shooting halfway to the zenith we may come up here and see the thousand pinnacles of Bangkok, outlined in the rifts between low-lying clouds against a smoky orange sky.

A View in Bangkok.