Heritage & Culture: How Siri Sala Private Thai Villa Preserves the Past for the Future [S8.E19]

Greg 00:00:05 On this episode, we chat with Art and Irma, the owners of Serie Sala Private Thai Villa.

Ed 00:00:10 So if you want to learn more about architecture, heritage, culture, hospitality and The White Lotus, you'll dig this episode of the Bangkok Podcast.

Greg 00:00:34 Sawa and welcome to the Bangkok Podcast. My name is Greg Jorgensen, a Canadian who came to Bangkok in 2001 on a cultural exchange when I was traded for his recipe for bamboo. Dang. I'm not sure which country made out better.

Ed 00:00:49 I'm going to go Canada on that one. And I made Canada an American who came to Thailand on a one year teaching contract over 25 years ago, fell in love with the startling depth and variety of Thai cuisine. Even though I tend to order the same three dishes over and over again, so I never left.

Greg 00:01:06 It's funny, I was talking about this with with with our buddy Andrew the today and I said, like Thais and food is such an interesting relationship because like if a Thai person goes for a week without Thai food, like they, they literally start to have their mental health starts to deteriorate.

Greg 00:01:23 That's funny. You know, like, if I never ate a pizza or a hamburger for the rest of my life, I'd miss them, but I'd be fine. But like, you know, they get really angry and upset if they can't get Thai food regularly.

Ed 00:01:35 I do, I do feel that Thai people are very attached to their own because, I mean, that makes sense that they would be, but delicious. You know, when I asked my students, you know, how often do you eat Indian food? They look at me really strange, like, why would we why would we do that?

Greg 00:01:50 Well, there's Thai food all over the place.

Ed 00:01:53 That's right, that's right. I think my students, occasionally I would say, actually, we we did our show on this, of course, but I would say like pizza might be the number one thing that they might have that, you know, that they that's not technically Thai food that they, they eat fairly often I think.

Greg 00:02:08 So you say I'm going for Italian and the order called pizza company in order like a green curry pizza.

Ed 00:02:16 All right. We want to give a big thanks to all of our patrons who support the show. Patrons get every episode a day early, behind the scenes photos of our interviews, a heads up to send questions to upcoming guests, and access to our discord server to chat with me, Greg, and other listeners around the world. But best of all, patrons also get an unscripted, uncensored bonus episode every week where we riff on current events and Bangkok topics. On this week's bonus show, we chatted about my experience buying a locked US phone at WNBC and the saga of successfully returning it. Greg's new hobby of doing paint by numbers canvases, which look surprisingly good. Way better than you would think. Despite being able to still see a few numbers showing through, and more drama from my move, where some wiry Thai movers managed to get my king sized mattress up my narrow stairwell by folding it in half like a ham sandwich, to learn how to become a patron and get all this good stuff. Plus full access to over 800 bonus and regular back episodes.

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Greg 00:03:20 That's right. And don't forget if you have a question about us, the show, or anything else in the universe, send us an email for an upcoming show where we'll answer all your questions. Bangkok Podcast at gmail.com. And also, don't forget if you happen to be out in a boot in the city and see a Bangkok podcast sticker, take a photo, send us three photos and we will send you a nice little gift in the mail. Heck yeah. Heck yeah! All right. On this episode, I was lucky enough to be able to sit down with Art and Irma, owners of Seri Sala private Thai villa. Now, Siri Sala is the first and only private waterfront villa of its kind in Bangkok, a place where you can indulge in the private comforts of a luxury home while still being in the middle of the rich culture of the city. Now, that sounds like advertising copy because, well, it's taken directly from their website, but it's very accurate.

Greg 00:04:03 Now, I met I met Art and Irma through a work event where I visited their property, which is an incredibly beautiful place a few hundred meters from the Chopra on the Bangkok Noi Canal. But I was even more impressed when I met the owners, both because they are super fun and very cool, but also because of the way they talked about Siri Sala, its history, the work they put into transforming it from an abandoned family house into a luxury villa, and what that process and the property itself say about preserving the past and telling a story about Thai culture that connects with the modern day. And hey, a good chunk of season three of The White Lotus was filmed there too. So there's all kinds of stuff to talk about. So here is my very cool conversation with Art and Irma from Seri Sala private Thai villa, which we recorded amid an intense rainstorm outside, which you will probably hear from time to time. All right. I am very lucky to be sitting down here with Art and Irma.

Greg 00:05:01 They are the owners of Siri Sala private Thai villa. Welcome Art and Irma to the Bangkok Podcast.

Art 00:05:06 Hi. Yes, hi.

Greg 00:05:07 It's very, very nice to sit down with you. And I'm surprised when I showed up. I have this ridiculous spread of snacks and food and welcome drinks, and that's very much appreciated. You're not helping me with my diet, but I.

Irma 00:05:18 We love to snack, so, you know. So, of course, you know, you come to our home snack is, you know, it's a must.

Greg 00:05:24 Thank you so much. Well, the reason that I'm excited to have you on the show is because we met only recently through through through work. My my company works with this property. And I love the story of this place. And for a quick background, this is a very, luxurious private villa, the Bangkok Noi Canal, which is sort of on the west side of the Chao Phraya River. And it's an amazing property. But what really got me was the history of it and all the work you did to make it such an amazing property.

Greg 00:05:55 So real quickly. you know, you guys are so fun to talk to. And just tell us a little bit about how you started this and what you were trying to do with it, and how you got it to where it is today.

Irma 00:06:05 Okay. I think I'll start with that one. it started I think if you believe in destiny, the story of series has a lot to do with destiny. So I think it was January 2015. Art and I were just talking about, when we actually first saw the property, I had some relatives visiting, and we took them on a boat trip down the, and when we went down Bangkok Canal, we saw these beautiful Thai houses, these wooden Thai houses on stilts totally floating on the water. And there was a for sale sign on them. And I pointed to it, and I told Art we should buy that. And of course, art being art. He said.

Irma 00:06:45 Are you crazy?

Art 00:06:46 Okay. He was like, he was really like.

Irma 00:06:48 My mind went something else.

Irma 00:06:50 I was uptight, so I thought a flat and mosquito. It was the first thing I saw that that house. Oh, flattened mosquito and Irma, like, turned around. Oh, isn't it beautiful? So on my were in a different place at the same time.

Irma 00:07:03 Yeah. So very luckily enough, I took one blurry snapshot, of the house as we whizzed by and it had a phone number on it, and, Art was totally against it in the beginning. So I went back to, a colleague of mine, a friend of mine. Her name is erotica, and I asked her to call the number behind our back, right. To find out, like, hey, can you find out more about this house I saw? And she called and she said that it was completely like a deadline, like nobody picked up. it wasn't even ringing. So, I put the thought to bed, basically of these two houses. And a year later, we went on all these vacations as a family.

Irma 00:07:41 At that time, we had very young children. Our son was maybe six and our daughter was maybe three. Yeah, three and six. And we realized that the way we travel changed as a family. We stopped looking for very fancy hotels or the newest place in town. And instead it was this evolution. The first thing I started looking for was a kitchenette. Okay. Okay. And it really dawned on me, like when my son was a baby, we were in Hawaii, and I had to beg the Hilton to bring a microwave up to our room. Okay. and it was because, of course, like, he was eating baby food and we were throwing breast milk and all these things. And then we realized that, okay, we had two kids now, and their travel experience mattered even more than ours, if that makes sense at all. We wanted them to learn during their travels. We wanted them to feel culture when they traveled. So when we went to France and Bordeaux, we stayed in a farm.

Irma 00:08:35 Do you remember that? And we stayed in a farmhouse. And it's really funny because, of course, of course, us being adults, we were with another family and we wanted kind of like a fancy house, had an indoor swimming pool, all these things, a billiards table. So, you know, like, you'd think that us as adults, we remembered the indoor heated, heated swimming pool. But actually for the kids, the only thing they remember from that trip was the, farm in the back, and that there was a donkey that they could, like, feed and touch.

Irma 00:09:02 And every day they would go out to the garden to meet the donkey. And it was just, you know, and we have pictures with the donkey. And that is the most magical moment for them.

Greg 00:09:09 It's so funny what the difference is because you're like, look at all this. Look at the thread count here. There's the heated swimming there. Like we don't care.

Irma 00:09:14 Yeah, they don't care.

Greg 00:09:15 There's an ass out back that we're into.

Greg 00:09:16 You know, it's totally a totally different appreciation of what what what's on offer.

Art 00:09:21 It's true. So the way.

Irma 00:09:21 We traveled as a family really changed. We looked for places that had a garden they could run or a staff that was more welcoming for families and children.

Art 00:09:30 Right.

Irma 00:09:30 Or would take multi-generational. So sometimes we travel with arts family or we would travel with a nanny, for example. So we needed places that had multi rooms and we could still stay together. So with that knowledge, when we came back, I told Art that Arduino Bangkok is a beautiful city with the most beautiful hotels in the world. Honestly. And I said, but what it doesn't have is a house where people can get together in groups or children can run free.

Irma 00:09:54 And I think that's an important bit, you know, because, as we take kids around the world, we still seek luxury, but luxury is different. I don't want to be in a hotel where I have to admonish them, please, kids, don't run.

Irma 00:10:09 We will bother other guests. Please be quiet. Don't touch. And I feel like, you know, those are not conducive for them to explore. so therefore, it's not that we don't seek luxury, but luxury change. And it's become more meaningful. It's become shared between us and our kids. And in fact, to this day, ask my daughters what of the things that she remembers is about these trips? She remember one time we stayed in the all the growth in Tuscany and where we picnic outside, and we learn how to do cold press and make our olive oil. And we get to eat our own olive oil. Or when. Yeah, it's just stuff like that that I find is so precious because it connects us to, to, to the place. And we learn and we share and that freedom. I think that is a new luxury that we want to give it to our children, right? That we can explore together, enjoy together and be, be, be careful together as a group, not just, you know, just us.

Irma 00:11:10 Yeah. So we came back to Thailand with this new, let's say, definition of travel and new definition of luxury. And I told our art, you know, Bangkok has all these beautiful hotels, but what they don't have is like a villa, strangely enough. Okay. Like you can find a villa in Phuket and, you know, like all these islands, but there's not in Bangkok. And so this time, with his blessing, he said, go, go look again.

Art 00:11:32 For those like Thai houses.

Irma 00:11:34 So I didn't have to do it behind his back anymore. So we we did a search, this time looking for, any kind of, like, still wooden river house that was still for sale in Bangkok.

Art 00:11:46 Okay, I like that introduction. Yeah. And,

Irma 00:11:49 This time our Google search found these houses, these wooden houses that were for sale, but they were in a slightly different area. They were deep down in Thonburi, in one of the canals in Thonburi, and this time with again a girl who helped me the year before.

Irma 00:12:04 I said, let's go visit these places. And when we went to go visit, we could not find them on Google Maps. We were getting hopelessly lost and the owners told us, okay, don't follow Google Maps, just here's our instructions. And when we arrived at the place, when I stepped in, all the hair and my arms stood up because I realized instantly it was the same house I saw.

Art 00:12:23 For me, it was this place. Yes. Oh, it was exactly.

Irma 00:12:27 The same place. And I went to the owners, who at that time was just a mother in her 70s and a son in his 30s. And I said, what happened to you guys? We tried to contact you last year, and they said that last year they decided to sell. But they changed their minds pretty fast. And they threw away the SIM card and the when when I said that if you believe in destiny that year that I decided to look again, that week was the very same week that I looked and they decided to list again, and I was the first person to come see them.

Greg 00:12:57 Okay, that does sound a lot like destiny to me.

Irma 00:13:00 He was so excited when she came home. Of course, she didn't invite me because she doesn't know what I, how I going to react to to to to to it. So she came home and she said you wouldn't believe it. You know, it's a sign. Yeah. You know, I saw this property. It's the same one that we saw last year, the one that you can't say no to. And now it's back. And you know what I told Kumba? The, the the old ladies that please, you know, don't show it to anyone. I will covet my husband this Saturday. And you know, we can take care of your house and you know we're going to buy it. I say. What do you say? So.

Art 00:13:39 Wow.

Irma 00:13:40 Anyway, so Saturday we went. It was, magical because I feel like I walked into some place that is like, you know, it's it's not what I thought. Everything seemed to be stuck in time.

Irma 00:13:53 And I met this wonderful lady, and she told me she's a math teacher. She's retired. And, you know, her family was there since King Rama the sixth. It's been generation for five generations, and they're all live here. But the great flood of 2011 just makes it too difficult. And her son now is in his 30s and she wanted to give it to him, but at the end it was a burden that she gave. That's why they go back and forth in the year earlier. They want to sell, but she doesn't want to sell. So at the end, she said they finally decided just last week that now we're going to sell. And then I can unburden my son.

Greg 00:14:30 Right. So. So it must have been Quite the project then to refurbish this abandoned, waterlogged property into this amazing retreat. So that I mean, I can't imagine what what that must have been like. Like daunting is an understatement.

Irma 00:14:49 There's a saying that be careful what you wish for. It just might come true.

Art 00:14:53 Okay.

Irma 00:14:54 And I think it really happened here. and Art and I, we're just. We're just regular people. Neither of us is an architect or interior designer. And in a way, we bit off more than we could chew. Because actually, we wanted very much in our hearts to preserve what we could, and continue this sharing of a Thai life by the river. And so it took us years, actually, it took us years to think in our minds. What can we save? What should we save? What part should we continue to show? What part should modernize? And that was a very long and lengthy debate.

Irma 00:15:32 Five years, in fact, because at first Irma's intention. Because at that point Irma has been in Thailand for, I say, 17 years, 16, 17 years and then.

Irma 00:15:43 15.

Art 00:15:43 15.

Irma 00:15:44 Yeah. And she always told me that, you know, every time I come to this canal, it seems like this steel house is, you know, become less and less.

Irma 00:15:53 is it wonderful if we can preserve and take care of it for the next generations? So that's what's the intention when we bought it. And obviously, like Irma said, this is not what we know. we're not architect, we're not engineer. So we did eventually consult afterwards with architect and engineer. And after they did their studies, they come back and say, Irma, I'm so sorry to inform you that you cannot quite preserve this built house as it was, because we bought it in April. And that said, told us that the flood in the rainy season would be very bad. You have to take them all out. You have the dam have to be built. The land have to be lived by 1.5m, and then you have to rethink of what you're going to do. So the difficulty is that what we thought is a preservation project. One of the things Emma told me is that actually I want to do with justice. I want to know how we can take it up to a house in a way that is respectful.

Irma 00:17:01 So after we assemble teams of architect, interior, what have you, and contractors. She insists that we did a grand tour of the type Master Builders. So we went to Rothbury Pet Brewery, Ayutthaya, all the places where, you know, the master lived and the Thai house exists and we learn the different styles from them. And one of the biggest lessons is that when we go to this house, the architecture, integrity and authenticity is there. It's so beautiful, but it's a remnant of the past. The people want to interact like a museum piece where they go, observe, appreciate, but don't not participate and engage. So one of the things we talk about is that if we want to really preserve tie House, we have to really evolve. How is a place that, you know, give comfort? You know, if we're going to bring our young children here, they want to be comfortable and sleep in. And, you know, how can we preserve the integrity of Thai architecture and evolve as Thai lives change, lifestyle change.

Irma 00:18:20 And we see examples in many great cities. You see a lot in Europe that old houses has been transformed but yet preserved. And people live in Japan in some area. The old house has been transformed, but there's something done to it. So I said, we have to evolve. But how? And that is a long, long, winding lesson and discovery process.

Greg 00:18:47 Well, that's what's so fascinating about this place and art. You mentioned that a lot of countries are working to to modernize but retain the traditions. And I think Bangkok is sort of a tug of war between these things, because the more you explore the city, the more you realize just the gargantuan number of of structures here that are not being used, that are abandoned, that are empty, that have been sitting there for years and years. And you also realize that a lot of times there's a real lack of appreciation for that heritage, and they just steamroll over it and build something new. The old Scala movie theater And Sam Square still makes me mad.

Greg 00:19:26 You know, something beautiful like that is just knocked down, and they build a whatever next to it. Kind of soulless. So the idea of modernizing but retaining the the history and the stories is, is is a fine line to walk. And it's not easy. And this place is so impressive because every thing, every picture on the wall, the every walking stick I'm looking at over there or or artifact on a bookshelf or decoration, as far as I know, most of them anyway. They're they were specifically chosen by you guys or your team. There's a story behind them and there's a purpose why they're here and what they represent.

Art 00:20:02 Yeah, you're totally right.

Irma 00:20:03 And, Greg, I'm glad you mentioned that because the house we're in right now. Okay, I know your your viewers, they can't your listeners, they can't see it. Right.

Art 00:20:11 But we have.

Greg 00:20:12 Some photos on there for on the website and for.

Art 00:20:14 Patrons. Yeah.

Irma 00:20:14 We are in a what's called a run panel. Okay.

Art 00:20:17 I'm I'm sure. Yeah. There you go. I mispronounced that, okay.

Greg 00:20:20 How ridiculous.

Art 00:20:21 Yeah. How ridiculous. Yeah.

Irma 00:20:22 And it's really interesting because this style of house for Thai people is considered not the most beautiful. Okay. And actually, when I told you that we bought these three wooden Thai houses on the river. Right. One is this style and the other one was the.

Art 00:20:39 More beautiful.

Irma 00:20:41 Style.

Art 00:20:41 Ayutthaya style sweeping.

Irma 00:20:43 Ceiling that most people identify as a Thai house.

Art 00:20:46 Okay. Okay.

Irma 00:20:47 But it was built later than this house that we're in. And Art and I made the conscious decision to save this house. the because.

Art 00:20:55 It.

Irma 00:20:55 Was the very first one built by the family on the river. Okay. It was this style, central Bangkok style. And it's funny because when we made a decision, even our architects came to us and said. Are you sure?

Art 00:21:06 Okay. They kept telling us this.

Irma 00:21:07 House is not worth saving. This style is not too common.

Greg 00:21:10 So this this is like the redheaded stepchild of of of what was here and sort of lesser appreciated.

Greg 00:21:16 But that's what holds the. That's why the value comes.

Irma 00:21:19 Correct. So most homes in Bangkok were built in this style, which has a squat roof. Okay. It's okay.

Irma 00:21:25 By the river.

Irma 00:21:26 You still see it all throughout the city too. And it's really interesting because most people who have this style of house will knock it down and sell the wood for for money. But to them, it's not worth saving this style of house. And so Art and I made a very conscious decision that this is exactly the house we're going to say. Interesting, because it belongs to this region, and it does have that story to tell. Like one of the things, if you look in front of you, do you see how many front doors we have.

Greg 00:21:50 In this structure?

Irma 00:21:51 Yes.

Greg 00:21:53 Three.

Irma 00:21:53 At least three. Yeah. One house with three front doors. And people, I always ask the question, why do you think we have three front doors?

Greg 00:22:01 it wasn't subdivided into little rooms or anything.

Irma 00:22:03 Yes it is.

Irma 00:22:03 So that's the beauty of a Thai house other than being built without any nails. The idea is that you could slot the wood together almost like a Lego piece. Right. Okay. And if you see these poles, there are two sets of poles and it corresponds. There were these wooden, panels that you could use on these. And this structure in. Could be a one bedroom, a two bedroom or a three bedroom.

Greg 00:22:26 That sounds almost Japanese with the paper walls between rooms.

Irma 00:22:30 Interesting, right? And if it was a three bedroom, everybody would have their own front door.

Greg 00:22:33 Oh, cool.

Irma 00:22:34 Okay. It's a very interesting style.

Greg 00:22:36 This is also the building where they filmed a significant portion of The White Lotus season three, which was partly filmed here. I'll talk about that later on in a little bit. But talk to me about rebuilding the front of the property, which fronts onto the khlong on Bangkok Noy. you said it needed to be raised by a few meters and build a build a retaining wall and stuff.

Greg 00:22:56 That must.

Irma 00:22:56 Have. Yeah. Let me mention, because one of the things that I insisted and I think is like, make all the difference is that because we want to preserve, we could not. But Irma told us that we have to put everything in the storage, every piece of wood in the house that we want to, you know, rebuild. We have to mark everything. Every project can whatever random like even recycle a Coca-Cola bottle from like 40 years ago. So keep everything. We don't know how to use it. And one of the things that I appreciate is that, from the very beginning, I have this notion of icon preserved first. And let's see, how are we going to reimagine? We don't have the end in mind. And the second that I would like to mention is that the team was so accommodating because in reality, you know, architects and builders, they want to finish a job and they want to build a new because it's easy. But here they have to sort to, oh, woods which piece can use, which piece cannot use.

Greg 00:24:10 So you were like difficult clients.

Irma 00:24:13 we are I think we all of us are self-censoring each other because at the end, we have a contractor that equally passionate and architect that equally passionate and at times the reason it was so slow because we go back and forth, sometimes it's done and we say, oh, this is not domestic enough, it's too much like a hotel, and sometimes it's too elevated. It's not. So we go back and forth all the time. And if you see one of the, the, the, the walls outside, you know, you have this beautiful, what do you call it, the, the, the top of the cornice. You know, the, the, the contractor did a beautiful, you know, top the cornice beautifully sharp. The edge is, you know, perfect, wonderful precision. And then the architects say that this is too perfect. I want you to knock it down. Oh, no. And please mold it by hand. Use the old technique because now you make it like a cake where you have a template and you just drag it and you have this sharp edges to modern, to perfect.

Irma 00:25:26 To.

Greg 00:25:26 Perfect.

Irma 00:25:26 To preserve. So even the sensitivity of not only the look but how it is achieved. So he said that, okay, can you find a cement guy who can do hand molding?

Greg 00:25:41 Wow.

Irma 00:25:42 He said, I'm not sure where to find it. Okay, I gotta find a YouTube. And can he do a workshop on this? And at the end do hand molding. So even though it's done, we knock it off and hand mold again. So throughout the properties that decisions by all stakeholders try to not only present the end look that is inherently tie, but also even the way to achieve it. Sometimes we go and, you know, do it in a way that authentic to the past, right?

Irma 00:26:14 Really, I'd like to give a shout out to our architects and interior decorators and engineers and all these things, because during this project, I really realized it's much harder to draw in bathroom doors that are made from non-standard, old wooden doors because no two are alike. They had to measure everything and make sure that this bathroom stall could fit this and that.

Irma 00:26:39 And it took so much more effort. And actually it took a lot. I would say that in the building process, that's one of the things that I encountered, is that most of the people we met in the early days wanted to knock everything down and just start new.

Greg 00:26:52 Oh yeah. Right.

Irma 00:26:52 Yeah. Okay. Totally 100. They said they said, please don't encumber us with old things. Just let us start a new.

Greg 00:26:59 Oh so frustrating.

Irma 00:27:00 And that took, like I would say, almost a year to find the right, to find the right people who would say that? Let's try to preserve what we can. Let's try to work with the old.

Greg 00:27:09 It's common in in properties like this. And people like yourself and myself and the who are focused on not just what it is, but why it is like that, how it got to that point and what it represents, you know, so sorry. Back to the back to the river. So you built the wall.

Irma 00:27:27 That is a government, flood wall.

Irma 00:27:29 So shout out to the government too, because actually, ever since we moved in, there has been no flooding.

Irma 00:27:34 Amazing. Yeah, really?

Greg 00:27:35 Right on Bangkok.

Irma 00:27:35 Canal.

Irma 00:27:36 But that lead to another problem because we used to have a pier, the old pier that connects to the river, as does, as did our neighbors. But because of this, flood wall, you know, that disappear and we have to redo it. But anyway, so the government did a good job, and we are protected. And, you know, that's how we started.

Greg 00:27:57 Good, good. For years, I've long wanted to get someone on the podcast from the government to talk about the water management system in the city, the clogs and things like that. It's incredible. And no one, like no one knows how it works. Certainly least of all foreigners who come to live in Thailand. So I'd love to learn how they do it.

Irma 00:28:13 But it's very tricky because life is along the river and our neighbors, a lot of us, used to have to be able to access river freely so as we are protected by flood, you know, of course, with global warming we need to be protected.

Irma 00:28:33 But how to balance with livelihoods? So it's a difficult process. Some cope better than others, like our immediate right to us used to be a little place that help maintain boats. So the boat might come in, change oil and the boat. You know, because of this floodwall, the boat can not just come into the property to be serviced. So obviously they didn't fare as well.

Irma 00:28:58 Oh, by the way, Greg, I'd like to mention, like, of course with modern problems come modern solutions like the flood walls. And some queen things from the past are lost, right? Like, you know, I was just thinking that one of the stories of the the people that used to live here, that we bought the house from was the mom. She said that she used to just like fish for shrimp and prawn right below her house here. Yeah, she was just she was just like, grab it from down below. And she said that when she would go to school, she would swim with the books on her head to cross.

Irma 00:29:33 What? Yeah. And this is not that long ago. And you know what this story has been corroborated by? Believe it or not, the White Lotus is, oh. She also grew up in a water home by, you know where the house is now?

Irma 00:29:49 Yeah.

Irma 00:29:50 Yeah, that's where she grew up. And she herself said she used to catch shrimp. She used to catch prawn right below.

Greg 00:29:57 Wow. Yeah. So years ago, I interviewed a guy, who who worked who lived in a in a, a community next to a temple down on by stoppin Texan. And he told stories when he was a little boy. This is an old man. But when he was a little boy he used to race water buffalo. Where State Tower is along along Siloam Road there. Yeah. You know, so those stories are they're they're increasingly rare and they're easy to lose.

Irma 00:30:23 Yeah. And actually, a funny story, it's really funny. If you ever take a boat trip down to, Royal Barge Museum.

Irma 00:30:30 Do you know where that is? It's just a couple hundred meters from where we are. There's still a wooden house that's completely floating on the river right in front of them. Okay. And a couple of years ago, I went by on a boat and I saw that there were about three dogs swimming right below them, circling their property. And I told my long tail boat, stop, stop. I said stop. And I started shouting, hello. I was like, your dogs, you're drowning! Okay, so I flagged down the people in the house. I said, your dogs, they're drowning. And then they came out. They looked at me and they were like, what are you talking about? He said they were fishing. He said that those dogs jump into the water to go fishing. Wow. And I think it's just so interesting. And that's that's today. That's still happening today.

Greg 00:31:14 That's amazing. And part of the reason that this neighborhood is so special as well, because I think a lot of our listeners probably know, but maybe not.

Greg 00:31:21 But the route that the child Prairie River takes today is not the original route of the river, the one that the boats go up and down by the Grand Palace and all that stuff. Those were shortcuts dug hundreds of years ago by hand. when. When power was more centered up north. So the original route of the Chao Phraya River is now what we call Bangkok Noy, the khlong that goes way around, around or around. So as a result, all of the communities and houses and old generations, old families and things like that on the on the canal used to be the original Bangkok back when that was the river. So there's a there's so much history here that's just there's just great to see. properties like you. Like people like yourself in properties like this. That like to treasure those things and remember those things and celebrate them.

Irma 00:32:07 Oh, absolutely. So one of our impetus for even buying this land is like, I like to imagine my mind's eye. All the envoys that would, like sail past on the way to Ayutthaya.

Irma 00:32:16 Can you imagine? Okay, 1500 1600s. Okay. How many people sailed right in front of our house? Yeah. To go up, to pay respects to how.

Irma 00:32:26 Many kings.

Greg 00:32:27 And warriors and.

Irma 00:32:28 Historical figures.

Irma 00:32:29 And you're correct. This is like a forgotten history of Bangkok. That the Bangkok Canal was the original route of the Chhabria. Right. And another thing that's much forgotten is that whatsoever, which is right across from us is at least 300 years older than the foundation of Bangkok. Right. Because at the time that people were sailing to Ushuaia, they would make a stop at this temple. And, you know, like in some of my research, I actually saw that when the capital moved down to Bangkok, they actually used this temple across from us as a royal temple while what was being built. Oh, and it's so crazy now because now this temple is, like, quiet, very private. of course it's getting some fame now because the murals, they're murals from The White Lotus is now gaining traction.

Irma 00:33:14 Sure. Yeah, but.

Irma 00:33:15 To think that they've been around for, I'm guessing 600 years now, 500, 600 years. And in Bangkok years. That is a long time.

Greg 00:33:24 Yeah, especially for me, coming from Canada, where my whole country is like, there's bathrooms in Thailand older than Canada, you know, and it's just the history is mind blowing. And that temple is stunning. I love it, I love it, I've long loved it. We stopped there on bike rides. Look at the look at the murals years and years ago. But it's it's, it's great that it's it's still here. It's still here. So as we're sort of nearing the end of our discussion here, jumping into the modern era, Siri Sala played a pretty pivotal role in The White Lotus season three. In fact, the rumor we're sitting in right now was where they filmed the confrontation between Goggins character and the old man. I don't want to give away too many spoilers, and I can't remember the character's names right now, but that little confrontation scene happened right over there.

Greg 00:34:10 And, what was what was that like filming for such this, this iconic, mind bending media circus?

Irma 00:34:21 Actually, you know, I think the the whole process is very interesting. it's went back years ago when, somebody I forgot who recommended. And we hosted Mike white for lunch.

Greg 00:34:35 For the creator of the creator of White.

Irma 00:34:37 Lotus.

Irma 00:34:38 the creator of, and, you know, because we thought, oh, he cannot do some, program in Thailand. So at the time and, you know, as, I just want to show him Thailand. So I said, okay, let's let's cook him some food. And apparently he's vegetarian. So we try to do our best vegetarian. And at the end, after lunch, we show him the temple. What's the one around the cross? We take a boat across, so we show the living quarter. And then he told us that, you know, I haven't written anything yet. After lunch with you guys today, I kind of go down to pocket and start writing.

Irma 00:35:16 So when White Lotus came along and we saw the opening credit with the mural of Botswana, and as we watch and see some of the scenes from Botswana around here and the talk of the monk and Buddhism, we are very gratifying that, you know, Bangkok now and, you know, was part that we are part of that journey as Mike white discovered Thailand, because I think he meet a lot of people and talk to a lot of people over Thailand. And regarding the filming, I think Omar can tell us more because Irma was more on site than I was.

Irma 00:35:51 Well, first of all, let's just say that we have nothing but gratitude and respect for the HBO team that came, especially Mike white. There have been filming at Cristela before, but we're super proud of The White Lotus because it exemplifies and embodies the best of Thailand. And when they came here, their script, I think, is really respectful of the house. And, you know, the things that happen here and the people that lived here and even their set designers, they had these Italian set designers they built around the existing design, which to me was an amazing thing to do.

Irma 00:36:25 Right? Instead of just using us as a, like a, a box and they could do anything. I mean, honestly, they could have changed this den to look like, a New York penthouse, for example, or whatever it was. But they didn't. They they really replicated it to feel the same way as you're you're here today, and we we were so happy that it came out that way.

Greg 00:36:46 That's one thing. My big takeaway from White Lotus Season three was that I really liked season one. I really like season two, but while they were set in different places and those places played a role in the plots, I think season three took a particularly big chunk of its of its inspiration and storyline, from Thai culture, from the local culture, I think much more than they did in Sicily or Hawaii. I think Thai culture really influenced the dialogue and what the characters did and things like that. So it was really, really nice for me to see. And it's always great as a local.

Greg 00:37:23 When you see, I know that spot, I know that, you know, I just did the same thing with the alien Earth, show that they filmed out at, at the university. And you're like, I've walked on that walkway and and things. So it was really special to see on screen and in a way that didn't whitewash it or cover it over and just sell it, you know, you'd use the natural beauty of what the place is.

Irma 00:37:44 Yeah.

Irma 00:37:44 You know, behind the scenes. I mean, I don't have the exact number, but we first met Mike white in early 2023, and The White Lotus didn't come out until 2025, so that's two years. Yeah, they filmed in the summer of 2024, and between 2023 and 2024, their team came many times to see what the house would be like at sunset.

Irma 00:38:06 Or.

Irma 00:38:07 In the afternoon or in the evening. They put so much thought like you would not imagine.

Greg 00:38:12 There's so much work that goes into making a TV show. People have no idea how much, how much pre-production, effort goes into it.

Greg 00:38:18 Well, it's really cool. And I know you guys are busy, so I'll let you go. But thank you so much for sitting down. And, this is such a fantastic property and the and the work you've put into retaining the the essence of Thai culture, I wish that it was more common. I wish that people would, when they see these old dilapidated properties, they wouldn't just knock it down and build new, that they would realize the history that's there and and work to retain that and what makes it special. so if someone wants to come and, and have a very, very nice family, family holiday in Bangkok, where, where can they find out more about series?

Irma 00:38:54 Okay. Thank you. Greg. That's a that's a perfect thing. actually, to tell you the truth, we are really excited to say that starting November 2025 series, Sala will become a small luxury hotel SLA member. And we will become one of the smallest, hotels by the river. We will be opening up for five bedrooms and your guests and anybody really could come experience you sala, by staying in one, two, three, four, five rooms.

Irma 00:39:21 Okay. And on top of that, we're also retaining our private model, which means that if you need the entire villa, you can privatize it. And the all six bedroom villa could be just entirely for your group. So I'd encourage everybody to find out more by going to IG at Sala official or visiting our website WW.

Greg 00:39:42 Com okay, we'll put all the links in our show notes and everything like that.

Irma 00:39:45 Thanks.

Greg 00:39:46 All right. Well, fantastic to see you guys. And thank you so much for taking time. I know you're very busy today and thank you for this food and,

Irma 00:39:52 Thank you. Our pleasure.

Greg 00:39:53 Yeah. Maybe the portentous lightning storm outside. The gods are agreeing and with the power of what we're saying or something like that. But thank you, guys. A pleasure to sit down. Always good to see you. And, for our listeners, check out Siri Sala online.

Ed 00:40:13 Well, Greg, you know the coolest thing about Siri Sala? I know you talked about a lot of cool stuff, but what's even cooler is I could walk there from my place.

Greg 00:40:22 Yeah. You could. It's about ten minutes away. And,

Ed 00:40:25 That's right. I mean.

Greg 00:40:26 You were busy the day we were did the interview, which is a shame.

Ed 00:40:28 Yeah, unfortunately, I couldn't make it. maybe they should put that in on their website.

Greg 00:40:33 Copy close to Ed's house.

Ed 00:40:36 Walking distance from co-host of the Bangkok podcast.

Greg 00:40:40 Do you think that would be like an asterisk next to lo? Filming location of The White Lotus, also close to.

Ed 00:40:45 Is also also close to where half of the Bangkok Podcast is recorded.

Greg 00:40:53 No, it was a great it was a great conversation with those guys and when I met them, I was just like, I was like, these guys are fun and they're cool. They've got such good stories and I got to get them on the show. So, it was great to be able to sit down with them, and it's such a beautiful property. and it's, it's like you go down this little tiny soi and then you're like, this is a dead end.

Greg 00:41:11 Oh, no. It turns left. Oh, this is a dead end. Oh, no. It turns right. And then you come out into this little parking lot and this beautiful property that looks out across the the the canal.

Ed 00:41:21 You know, until you told me about it, I was basically completely unaware of it. But I have seen the sign for it, but I just didn't know what.

Greg 00:41:28 Oh, interesting.

Ed 00:41:28 You know, because it's it's very close to my place, you know, down in San Juan. So I've, I've seen the sign for before. I'd had no just I had no idea what it was. And then you told me about it and said it was closed. And so then I, you know, did the Google Maps thing. I went to the website and it is beautiful. It is?

Greg 00:41:44 Yeah, yeah. It's great. And the story is what really captured me. Like I said, like I said in the interview, you know, like when you're sitting there, you're looking on the wall and there's like a statue and there's a doorknob and there's a window frame, and you realize that, like, it's like filming a movie, everything is there has been put there on purpose for a specific reason.

Greg 00:42:03 And there's a story behind all of them. And they, they did such a, such a good job in preserving the, the spirit and the intention and the history of the original property and the family that lived there. And, you know, it's it's it's it's really nice to see that, especially in Bangkok, which is just like it's tripping over itself to knock down old buildings and build condos and malls and stuff like that. So it's really cool.

Ed 00:42:25 All right. Well, here's the million dollar question. Okay. Did you convince them to let us do our Bangkok podcast meet up there for free?

Greg 00:42:35 I, I think we need to invite a couple of hundred more people than we normally Good.

Ed 00:42:40 But, well, no, wait. Maybe. No. If we scheduled the meet up there, then a couple hundred more people would want to come.

Greg 00:42:46 You might be right. It's a chicken and egg situation. It's also really cool because it's just across the khlong from what Sawan, which also was where parts of White Lotus were filmed.

Greg 00:42:54 And it's got those these beautiful murals that were used in the opening credits of The White Lotus. So.

Ed 00:43:02 Oh, that's oh, that's right. That's where the murals were. We talked about that before.

Greg 00:43:05 Yeah. That's right, that's right. There you go to that. You can use that for free close to Ed's house. So you can just.

Ed 00:43:10 Close Ted's house. Although precisely where I live is so modern, you know, I'm right next to a Foodland across from a macro. So where I am, where I am, it looks very well. To be honest, it doesn't look 2020s. It looks more like 1980s. Like, to be honest, but it doesn't look like 1880s, let's put it that way.

Greg 00:43:31 I haven't seen Ed. Where has he been? Oh, he was thrown in jail. He got some stickers printed up that said Close to Ed's house. And he was slapping him all over a temple.

Ed 00:43:37 He Hey, that would be a good way to promote the podcast.

Greg 00:43:42 Yeah. Well, thank you very much, Art. And for coming on the show. Always fun to to to catch up with you guys. And thank you so much for taking the time to tell us about your great place. And everyone. If you want a, if you want to kick things up a notch and you want a first class stay in Bangkok, check out series a lot online. Yeah, it's really nice for sure.

Ed 00:43:58 Thank you.

Greg 00:43:59 All right, well, we ask our listeners to send us a voicemail using the little microphone button on our website if they have something to say. And this week we heard from Jo. Jo is very kind. He checks in every couple of months with a with a nice voicemail. So it's always nice to get a message from him. What did you have to say, Jo?

Joe 00:44:14 Hey, this is Jo.

Joe 00:44:16 I'm listening to this episode about cemeteries. You mentioned how wild it must have been to be an expat back in the day. I would hear as many episodes about that as you can produce.

Joe 00:44:27 I'm sure that's going to be some deep dive research on your part, but if you can make it happen, that'd be great.

Ed 00:44:33 Man, I gotta say, I think I'd like it.

Greg 00:44:36 Yeah. You know, I, I love old stories of Bangkok and, you know, guys like, like Joe Cummings and these super old timers come on the show. That's right. You know, years ago we had Roger Crutchley on the podcast, too. He wrote a surprisingly readable and very interesting book called The Long Winding Road to Knock on Nowhere. And he's been here for decades and decades, and he had great stories, too. But I gotta say, I'm always a little bit reluctant to get old people on because I'd say it's really interesting to get people who are here from the 80s, but it's easy for old guys like us to remember. Editor like, that was 45 years ago.

Ed 00:45:11 Yeah. But that. Yeah. No doubt. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. The 80s to find people from the 80s.

Ed 00:45:15 That's not easy.

Greg 00:45:16 Yeah. So they came here, say when they were 30 years old, they were getting up in there to their 80s. Yep. You know, and and people in their 80s are sometimes not as spry or nimble conversation tellers that they used to be.

Ed 00:45:30 True that. True that.

Greg 00:45:32 Yeah. But I do love hearing some old stories, too. And if we're out and about, out and about, and we find someone who will be a good fit for that, then dad, definitely. So we share your passion, Joe. We love hearing about old stories.

Ed 00:45:43 Good idea. Good idea.

Greg 00:45:45 Although I do find most of them start with there was no sky train and the taxi's never had aircon.

Ed 00:45:51 That's right. Yeah.

Greg 00:45:52 Kind of like the basis.

Ed 00:45:54 Well, you know, you know, the traffic seems to be a classic thing. They talk about it, you know. Of course people still complain about the traffic today, but old timers are like. You have no idea.

Greg 00:46:04 That's right. That's right. It's like old timers in Canada. Uphill both ways. In the snow.

Ed 00:46:08 Yeah. It's funny.

Greg 00:46:10 Thanks, Joe.

Ed 00:46:11 All right. Thank you. Joe. All right. A final thanks to our patrons who support the show. Patrons get a ton of cool perks and the warm, fuzzy feeling knowing that they're helping in our never ending quest for cool content. Find out more by clicking support on our website and connect with us online or Bangkok podcast on social media. Bangkok Podcast on the web or simply Bangkok Podcast at AL.com. We love hearing from our listeners and always reply to our messages.

Greg 00:46:39 True that. You can also listen to each episode on YouTube. Send us the voice mail through our website. We'll feature that on the show. Hit me up on blue Sky. I'm Greg. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we'll see you back here next week, no doubt.

Irma 00:47:15 This is the living water.

Greg 00:47:22 I saw that flash outside. Yeah.

Irma 00:47:25 And so we show the man a living quarter.

Irma 00:47:28 And then he told us that, you know.