Abandoned Bangkok

The Old Cambodian Embassy

2011-01-03T03:12:00.000-08:00

Along the bustling street of Ratchadamri between the Ratchadamri BTS and Lumpini park is the site of the former Cambodia embassy. The land was bought by developer Raimon Land who will build yet another Condominium (sorry, a luxury lifestyle living accommodation) in Bangkok. I don’t want to turn this blog into the abandoned former embassies on Bangkok, but the Cambodian embassy was a beautiful building, former site of protests, and another example of the city’s changing landscape.

I entered the plot of land, saw the guard and made some polite chit chat before showing him my camera and making click click sounds. He nodded and I went in. The building is gone and reclaimed by grass. There are still some beautiful trees in the embassy grounds. Hopefully the real estate developer won’t feel the need to uproot them. Towards the back of the former compound (and the noodle shop near the back entrance is excellent), there’s a tree accompanied by a spirit house while further on two guards sit by a low barricade. The guards are a mixture of suspicion and boredom, watching over an empty lot, and protecting it from passersby who could care even less.

Although Lumpini park is nearby, it would be nice to keep this space green. It’s almost eerily quiet, and a visit at dusk has an element of spooky despite being outside. I wish I had pictures of the embassy before it was torn down, hopefully the quiet field serves of a reminder of what was once there.

Ekamai and Bangkok Graffiti

2009-12-04T03:52:00.000-08:00

At the end of Soi Ekamai there's a set of stairs leading up to an area of abandoned shops overgrown with plants and splattered with art and graffiti. The ground is a mix of broken tiles, glass, garbage, and spray cans, and a spirit house cements the sense of loneliness. Destitute looking stuffed toys are lurking around some of the shops and the bar in the back has a squatter's bed amid the columns. It looks like they started to take the place apart with sledge hammers but for whatever reason left it to rot instead. Walking around there are several nice pieces of graffiti and then stunningly several unique pictures painted on the wall. All of sudden I'm in a hidden art space. There are some gems, and my faith in over-commercialized Bangkok is slightly restored. The area is sunny, and I feel we could reclaim this space, set up some chairs and have drink or a story or two.

Feeling satisfied, I go to check out the downstairs area, a few dogs sleeping in a unused, small parking garage backed by an old bar in the back. I enter the back bar area and it's dark enough to make the hairs raise on my arms. After a few minutes my eyes have adjusted but it's still creepy, there are two pitch black rooms where I can make out piles of junk. Around the side, and next door there is an abandoned lot/lumber yard with a rusted tin roof split and raining down around me. There are two spirit houses and a Khlong in the back, the walking here is a bit more difficult, and the trees and vines have begun to snake and reclaim the area.

Here are the rest, a lot of graffiti, random pictures.

Scouting the city

2009-09-29T07:05:00.000-07:00

Life and work have kept me busy but buzzing around the city. There are a few large towers scattered about, left vacant after their developers ran out of funds during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. Not sure if I'll be able to walk right in, but there is a decaying tower overlooking the river by the Saphan Taksin BTS station. It's absolutely massive with balconies protruding from its body.I think it was meant to be a hotel or perhaps apartments. I can take my time, it's been empty for ten years, and I don't think it'll be going anywhere soon.

Smack in the middle of the Pratunam Intersection there is a multi-story shopping plaza. Sprouting from its rooftop parking area are empty towers. From surrounding hotels you can peek at the building which is topped by arches and a view of the city. Again, not sure when I'll be able to go, but hopefully soon.

Empty plots - The British Embassy

2009-09-20T08:12:00.000-07:00

When I was a boy, the Ploenchit Fair was held every year on the grounds of the British embassy. It was the one time a year when we could enter to walk around the trees and laze about the embassy grounds. A few years ago, amid some controversy, the British embassy sold the portion of their land along Ploenchit Road. Real estate developers envision an endless street of malls in Bangkok. The beautiful gardens of the Siam Intercontinental became the Siam Paragon shopping complex, and this former parcel of the British embassy will continue the stretch of malls from Siam Square, through Ratchaprasong, past Chidlom.

Where the entrance of the British Embassy used to lie is now an empty lot. The trees have been torn down, some permanently, others with their roots wrapped are lined against a wall waiting. Where trees have been dug up are now small polluted pools discolored shiny blue.

There are two small structures here, the abandoned guardhouse and a storage shed. The shed is a small square building filled with mixed debris, behind it lies a truck on ramp used for projecting advertisements over the walls of the ground. Close by there is a large satellite dish as well. The walls still have spikes and over the far wall a hint of the embassy can still be seen.

Littered with fallen trees and overgrown grass, the space is in decay. Stray dogs lay here while the rest of the city passes along the sidewalk outside. The fallen trees are browning, but there is one tree still planted, I hope the let it stay standing.

British Embassy

Asoke-Din Daeng Road - Graffiti in Bangkok

2009-09-13T03:56:00.000-07:00

A short walk from the Petchaburi MRT station, close to the intersection of Asoke - Din Daeng Road and Kamphaeng Phet 7 Road lies two sets of abandoned buildings. The main skytrain station linking the city center to the airport is across the street and due to open later this year, making this land all of a sudden very valuable. As cars spit out of of the expressway, I realize I've passed these buildings numerous times when traveling into the city. They've been gutted, and have yet to be fully torn down for whatever will come next (I guess a hotel or shopping complex).

If you build it they will come, and if its abandoned....people will come again. A small clothing bazaar has taken over the first and second floor of the first set of buildings. Used clothes are for sale and the upper levels of the four story structures are blocked off by the squatters.

The second set of buildings are mostly empty of people although I did see an older couple painting a poster advertising an upcoming muay thai match in one building. These buildings are filled with broken glass and wood chips and it's possible to enter and climb through the various floors.

These buildings have been here for awhile, and graffiti artists have left their tags and throw-ups on most of the available wall space. The floors of some rooms are littered with empty spray cans, but in general the rooms with graffiti are devoid of the rubble and glass that cover the rest of the space. Some of the work is quite good, by poking around through broken walls and dusty floors I was exposed to one of Bangkok's hidden urban art troves. More Bangkok graffiti can be seen here.

I climbed through one building, the back of which is now cluttered with trash, as I walked through there was a man sleeping on the fourth floor, I thought it best to let him be. Others around the ground floors of the buildings were quite friendly and had no problem with my walking about.

Photo Gallery, mostly shots of the graffiti

Graffiti Bangkok Abandoned Album2

Behind Chulalongkorn and by Sam Yan

2009-09-10T08:33:00.000-07:00

I was walking in the area behind Chula looking for a place to eat when I saw a field of rubble. Another set of shop houses torn down to build what will likely be another office building, mall, or another structure of glass and steel lacking character.

There is a set of Chinese shop houses still standing. The three story structures have had their stairs knocked away along with the upper floors allowing a view of the sky from the bottom.Many of the houses are littered with knick knacks indicating their former owners including spirit shrines, masks, and banners. One shop house used to be a design studio while others were restaurants and homes.

A short walk away along Phaya Thai Road across from the Sam Yan MRT stop is a 4 story abandoned building. Some of the street vendors store their carts here and it's easy to walk up a few of the floors. You can see the temple across the street and there was a mattress and a few mats on the floor. Hanging, twisted re-bar and broken wood strewn about along with sparse graffiti mark the space.

Rest of the photos on an album...

Abandoned Sam Yan and Chula