Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • i'm in southeast asia with my 1913 bradshaw's  handbook published at the height of european  

  • imperialism my 100 year old guy book  will leave me on a railway adventure  

  • through archipelagos and peninsulas dotted  with hills forests and paddy fields i'll tour  

  • towering mega cities and magnificent mosques i'll  encounter golden buddhas and jewelled temples  

  • and experience some of the world's most  spectacular and notorious railways as i travel  

  • through the diverse nations of this vast region  i'll learn how they asserted their independence  

  • against the british french and dutch empires to  become the economic tigers and dragons of today

  • i am in the kingdom of thailand formerly siam  for which 1913 the date of my guidebook was  

  • a moment of political dramanominally independent kingdom  

  • recently shorn of much of its territory owing to  french aggression as a protective measure in 1909  

  • four tributary states were transferred to british  southern teeth everything seems to point to a  

  • french protectorate of siam in the near future  but that never happened most exceptionally for  

  • a country in southern asia it never passed  under colonial rule i'm here to find out why

  • my quest will take me from the city of chiang mai  in northern thailand south through the once vast  

  • teak forest of lampang on my way to the old  capital of ayutia to the west of today's capital  

  • bangkok i'll make a stop at the meiklong railway  market before ending close to the border with  

  • myanmar at kanchanaburi on the journey i find out  about one of thailand's great monarchs king chala  

  • long gone is up to today michael uh venerated for  i'm saving thailand from this colonial threat take  

  • cover in an umbrella factory how do i look wow  you look like an astronaut and discover the potent  

  • ingredients of thai cooking so this is a shrimp  paste really yeah you can check the smell and um

  • i'm beginning my thai adventure in  the city of chiang mai thank you thank  

  • it you once the capital of a medieval  kingdom with connections to burma and laos  

  • and today is the largest city in northern thailand

  • the guidebook tells me that the railway  was about to be completed to chiang mai  

  • in 1913. now that was politically significant  because the french and british colonial powers  

  • were sniffing around this autonomous  region and now it will be connected to  

  • bangkok the royal capital of siam not just  by the ping river but by a permanent way

  • chiang mai is still the northernmost  point on thailand's rail network  

  • it was a royal city founded in 1296  where art and culture flourished

  • today it's a sprawling laid  back place with a walled  

  • old city of about one square mile at its heart  

  • in olden times the city was often attacked  

  • besieged and occupied so when they came to  build the fortifications they constructed not  

  • only a wall but for good measure a moat chiang  mai chiang mai so good they ringed it twice

  • i'm beginning inside the old city attemple which houses some of chiang mai's  

  • most impressive buildings what pressing and even  my western eyes can appreciate its enormous beauty  

  • and i sense its spirituality but i need  to understand what it means for thailand  

  • buddhism is centuries older than christianity  the year 2020 in the buddhist calendar is 2563

  • and this temple has housed since 1367  a.d a very revered statue of the buddha  

  • it's said that more than 90 of thais are  buddhist which would mean 60 million people  

  • one of the biggest populations of buddhists  in the world and just before my guidebook  

  • was published the king rama v created a supreme  council for the sangha that is the monastic order  

  • that originated with the disciples of the buddha  and with that act he brought together the king  

  • religion and the people inbond which is the thai state

  • i'm not a religious person but it's  impossible not to be affected by this  

  • glorious architecture of this ancient building  its faded murals the center of the candles  

  • and of the flowers the golden buddha and i'm  born along by the melodic chanting of the monks

  • to understand more about this temple  and this northern region of thailand  

  • i'm meeting guide noon udom sin

  • noon hello pleased to meet you michael pleased  to meet you and in such glorious surroundings  

  • this wonderful temple might i see something like  this anywhere in thailand this temple especially  

  • the elegantly decorated assembly  hall that you can see behind us  

  • is actually typically lana what was lada okay lon  in thai means a million and na means rice field  

  • lana is the name of the kingdom which chiang mai  was the capital chiang mai was an independent  

  • kingdom until the early 20th century how did that  position of independence come to an end at the  

  • turn of the 20th century chiang mai was annexed  by the kingdom of siam to be part of the kingdom  

  • of siam and for what reason for two reasons the  most important reason being the presence of the  

  • british empire in neighboring myanmar siam seeing  this colonial threat decided to annex chiang mai  

  • as a butt first date along with other uh provinces  in the north of thailand the second reason being  

  • the teagwood business which was one of the most  valuable natural resources in this region the  

  • guidebook which i'm using my branch guide  yes describes thailand as being surrounded  

  • by a burma by malaysia by indochina do you think  that's the way that thailand felt that it was  

  • surrounded yes uh very much king chala long  gone is up to today michael uh venerated for  

  • um saving thailand from this um colonial threats  king rama the fourth so king jalal ghan's father  

  • he already had this visions you know this  maybe we can call this fear of european  

  • expansionism because um during his reign he  invited a british lady on a leonovens and anna  

  • leo nolans actually taught king rama the fifth to  speak english so he was quite a westernized king  

  • anna's account of her time at the royal court  was turned into a novel a musical and a film  

  • the king and i but actor yul brinner's portrayal  of the scholarly king rama iv as a childish  

  • tyrant caused great offence in thailand the  film was banned and remained so to this day  

  • rama the fourth's adoption  of western ideas shaped siam  

  • when his son tuna long gone king rama v came  to the throne he began to modernize his country  

  • building a railway network reforming the law  and striking deals with european colonial powers  

  • here in chiang mai the british built a consulate  which they used to promote their interests

  • a very very grand house for a british consulate  what use did they make of the building  

  • well apart from the consulate prerogatives it was  also the center for british social life this is  

  • the center for sport and society polo for example  uh cricket as well so you'll be surprised to hear  

  • about the consular elephants elephants yes yes  i'm surprised what were they where the british  

  • kept the king's polo elephants four of king  george v elephants were stabled at the consulate  

  • their duties included bearing luggage for the  consul when he toured the remote northern regions  

  • how did the british use this building to exert  their influence the british actually had a lot  

  • of privileges here british banks were established  here commerces and also i have to mention  

  • about the the monopoly of teagwood exploitation  that was granted by king julien himself  

  • the guidebook leads me to believe that a french  protectorate in sam is imminent why does it not  

  • happen king julia long gone was an astute diplomat  you know he played this game in to moderate  

  • tensions between france and britain this piece  of ground was granted by king julia long gone  

  • to britain and just opposite the road  another piece of ground was given  

  • to france so he keeps the balance between  the british and the french he did he did

  • king chulalongkorn's shrewd deal-making  kept the rival colonial powers at bay  

  • and thailand was left as a buffer zone  between their two southeast asian empires  

  • my bradshaw's prediction of an imminent french  protectorate didn't come to pass although the  

  • british never annexed chiang mai they used the  social life of their consulate ruthlessly to push  

  • for their influence and their commercial interests  in the process giving an elbow to the french  

  • sometimes garden party diplomacy can  be as effective as gunboat diplomacy

  • at the time of my guidebook this region was being  drawn into the country now known as thailand  

  • but it has always retained its own identity its  lana heritage is rich in artisan crafts so i've  

  • come to the village of bosang just east of the  city in search of something to keep the monsoon  

  • off my breadshores the inscription tells us that  a monk called pra intar was one day visiting  

  • the border with burma for a meditation and he  saw the procedure by which umbrellas were made  

  • wrote it all down and brought the technology  back to his village ever since which people  

  • have been making the umbrellas here now this  may be true or it may simply be a cover story  

  • the rombo sung umbrella factory is  one of many workshops in the village  

  • where these glorious items  are painstakingly made by hand

  • these beautiful pieces all cut exactly  to a length that's all bamboo but the  

  • structure is held together with pieces of  beautifully crafted sandalwood at the top  

  • and the bottom huge skill is required from  carving the handle to threading the ribs  

  • these hand and foot crafted umbrellas are works  of art then look at this we end up with something

  • very lovely a moving piece where pieces of  bamboo wonderfully carved are just held together  

  • with cotton now what that needs  is a bamboo shaft and a cotton top

  • all umbrellas here are made from mulberry paper  or cotton traditionally a symbol of high status  

  • the more decorative parasols are  intricately painted by hand i don't know  

  • good to see you so is this almost  the last stage of the umbrella making  

  • almost yeah one more step from here then  we finished and what is this uh paint or  

  • die that you're applying this is uh oil  color painted we make the umbrella for  

  • good for sun and rain waterproof would it be  possible for me to have a go at that mirror kiss

  • how do i look wow you look like an astronaut

  • pretend that you do the dishwashing  

  • dishwashing one yes i have to remember how to  do that wow well done you want to work here

  • perfect come rain or shine

  • arts and crafts are a huge  part of this region's culture  

  • but here as in the whole of thailand identity  is also expressed through food i've come up  

  • into the hills 30 kilometers northwest of chiang  mai in search of the secrets of northern cuisine  

  • this is ascended into the clouds and intosort of heaven here i am amongst the flowers  

  • and down below the curly green terraces heavy with  vegetables clearly the mists bring great fertility

  • yui is a chef who lives and teaches in the area

  • yui hello hi michael i'm yuri very good  to see you now what are you cooking today  

  • i am cooking soup we call djapak it's a northern  dish that was using local vegetables in the season  

  • may i help you yes please what should i do i'm  just about chopping the shallot and the garlic  

  • and then i need someone to help me for pounding oh  yes what is different about the northern cuisine  

  • what are its characteristics we don't have much  dry spice and we have more like fresh herbs and  

  • that is we use as mainly in our cooking in  the north and the water base no coconut milk  

  • ah yes because many people think of thai food as  involving coconut milk but not in the north this  

  • is more like in the south yes beach so this isshrimp paste really yeah you can check the smell

  • very good with the pounding this is the work  of the thai woman who do it for every meals  

  • such a work that we are so strong then we're  gonna put this in the water so this is i called  

  • slimy spinach slime in spinach it doesn't name my  name it myself you have a way with words so lana  

  • was from time to time occupied by burma is thereburmese influence in the cooking yes i have a lot  

  • i can see that i've been in myanmar  and i've seen ingredients there  

  • like the one i used in chiang mai so they brought  their ingredients here when they moved here  

  • and we went there we brought our ingredients  there like we're blending together to be one union

  • i say while we've been cooking the mist has  lifted i had no idea there was that lovely  

  • row of mountains there isn't it beautiful here  yes it's adding to our food for more flavor  

  • all right excellent we're putting  the view into our food somehow  

  • time to serve yeah that looks  nice it does look nice so colorful

  • isn't that great yes do you think the food is  really one of the best things about thailand  

  • yes i think so that's the reasoncould not move away from thailand

  • i'm heading back to chiang mai station  my journey will continue south if you've  

  • been anytime in thailand you notice the  courtesy and perfect manners of the people  

  • here is a notice upon receiving an impolite  service please notify station master um please

  • all correct thank you

  • passport needed to buy a ticket

  • the special express to bangkok how exotic  does that sound but i'm going just about  

  • two hours to lampang around 14  trains a day leave chiang mai  

  • and with just one railway line they  all head in the direction of bangkok

  • this is stunning landscape and a region of great  fertility we've passed paddy fields here would  

  • have been the teak forest water by the river ping  and other waterways descending from the himalayas  

  • but it was unbelievably remote before the  coming of the railway the journey from  

  • bangkok to chiang mai would have taken weeks  and building the line was clearly no mean feat

  • between chiang mai and isnarrow belt of steep mountains  

  • the construction of a railway through  this terrain came at great cost  

  • we're now passing through the kuntan  tunnel the longest in thailand at 1.35  

  • kilometers this was built roughly during the  first world war by german engineers it said  

  • that a thousand men died in its construction  

  • from malaria from attacks by tigers from fighting  amongst themselves and from addiction to opium  

  • this may not have been a colonial province but  the disdain for human life was positively imperial

  • thailand's railway network extends across four  thousand kilometers the majority of which is  

  • single track and the procedure for avoiding  collisions hasn't changed in a century on a single  

  • track line a train can only occupy the track if  it has a token a large piece of metal and with  

  • no time to lose the oncoming train will hurl the  token onto this pole without stopping a good trick

  • faultlessly done and we're  on our way with the token  

  • my next stop is the city of  lampang also known as nakon lampang

  • hello um can i have a lime juice please  

  • so yeah that's a good idea so yeah thank  you the sun is out the humidity is up

  • and that is wonderfully refreshing fruit  juices with a touch of salt thank you

  • once surrounded by vast teak forests on  the river wang lam pang was in the late  

  • 19th and early 20th centuries a world center for  logging in that period a charming town emerged

  • lampang turns out to be an unexpected  gem an almost tourist-free town full  

  • of gorgeous teak buildings some like this  old temple are now substantially decayed  

  • but it's only grown more beautiful as it has  faded a thought with which i often console myself  

  • the elegant houses all across town tell  of the boom years over a century ago

  • a beautifully historic street full of wooden  houses from the start of the 20th century in a  

  • great variety of styles but all of them opulent  because here the people sapped the world from  

  • the forest and with every shipment of teak that  went down the river they logged up new profits  

  • to get a better look i'm using a form of  transport particular to this city thank you

  • travelling by a horse carriage known locally as  a rottweiler is a good opportunity to see if some  

  • of the larger teak houses in the suburbs some of  them are positively palatial the city is nicknamed  

  • horse carriage city the first one made locally was  known as a queen victoria but actually introduced  

  • only in 1916 and they reached their height  of popularity in the 1950s i suppose because  

  • they were a sign of prestige at a time when  speed was not important the legacy of the teak  

  • trade is everywhere and i'm meeting a direct  descendant of turn of the century loggers  

  • kitty chai watananikon's father and  grandfather worked as forest administrators  

  • thank you very much hello sword decap welcome to  this video lovely to see you i've seen in lampang  

  • the teak makes beautiful houses and here is  another but why were the europeans are interested  

  • in teak at that time in the 19th century due to  the depletion of oak teak became more and more  

  • important in the ship building industry and why  is teak good for ships because it is durable it  

  • is decay resistance it is termite resistant  it is easy to work with it is lightweight all  

  • this property make teeth valuable that's why the  european company began to do business with cheek  

  • of the foreign countries that became involved  in teak here which had the biggest share the  

  • biggest power that came to saiyan was the british  companies the british had already developed a  

  • large teak industry in india and neighbouring  burma and soon set their sights on northern  

  • thailand too chulalongon king rama v feared they  might try to annex this teak rich region and in  

  • 1873 signed what's become known as the chiang mai  treaty awarding them generous logging concessions  

  • who lived in this house this house  belonged to luis t leonoven he was  

  • the sons of anna jillian of an english teacher  in the royal palace of king lama fourth of saiyan  

  • and luis was the representative of the british  borneo company in 1884. what has happened to the  

  • teak industry in thailand the locking industry  was banned in 1989 because of deforestation so  

  • there is no more teak industry in thailand nowaday  between the colonial powers there was in southeast  

  • asia a sort of balance of power with the british  in burma and malaysia and the french in what we  

  • now call laos vietnam and cambodia and so both  were content to allow siam what we now call  

  • thailand to be nominally independent as far as  the british were concerned two things mattered one  

  • keeping the french out and two their incredibly  lucrative privilege for the exploitation of teak  

  • next time in thailand i'll discover the  splendors of the former capital of siam  

  • i was one of the wealthiest cities  in asia let alone southeast asia  

  • i'll be sized up by a gentle giant she's  just getting used to me now and have a close  

  • encounter with another astonishing railway  i think i might lean back at this point

  • it's just a massive crash on mumbai's  commuter trains squeeze in on the world's  

  • busiest railway at eight here over on bbc  four and later here on bbc two an unlikely  

  • friendship as good and evil take a ride  through history good omens continue at nine

  • you

i'm in southeast asia with my 1913 bradshaw's  handbook published at the height of european  

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it