Embassies, Spirit Houses and Rain Trees: Exploring Bangkok’s Wireless Road

(46 reviews)

Bangkok audio tour: Embassies, Spirit Houses and Rain Trees: Exploring Bangkok’s Wireless Road

This is a 1.5mi walking tour

It takes an average of 60 mins to complete.

Bangkok

Thailand

$7.99

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About the Tour

Explore Bangkok’s greenest neighborhood, Wireless Road, and gain amazing insights about history and culture that will change the way you look at everything in Thailand. Walking this tree-lined, vibrant road, you’ll learn about how Bangkok developed, what spirit houses tell us about Thai beliefs and the importance of food, color and appearances in Thai culture. Your guide will surprise you with the stories behind embassies, rain trees and convenience stores, and you’ll discover the uniquely Thai significance of motorcycle taxis, royal insignias and even the number nine. If you are new to Bangkok or have lived here awhile, you will see Wireless Road, and Bangkok in a new whole new light.

Tour Producer

Paul Jorgensen

1 tour

Paul Jorgensen is fascinated by the details of Bangkok. After only a few months living on Wireless Road, Paul screated this tour to put the many details of this wonderful neighborhood into perspective. He provided this tour to the U.S. Embassy and agencies, private groups and families for several years, always gathering new information along the way. An amateur historian (and full-time lawyer), Paul also authored a U.S. Embassy history of the home of the American Ambassador and created watercolors of both that home and the U.S. Embassy.

Preview Location

Location 6

Home of the American Ambassador

Keep going.

You'll soon see through the fence on your right a khlong surrounding the American Ambassador’s house. This beautiful estate was built by British engineer Horatio V. Bailey.

Bailey designed Bangkok buildings, founded the Siam Motor Works and imported silver f... Keep going.

You'll soon see through the fence on your right a khlong surrounding the American Ambassador’s house. This beautiful estate was built by British engineer Horatio V. Bailey.

Bailey designed Bangkok buildings, founded the Siam Motor Works and imported silver for the Thai royal family. By 1914, he was wealthy, had three Thai wives and enough race horses to fill a stable which stood on the island, without the trees, that you see in the water inside the fence. The horses ran at the nearby Royal Bangkok Sports Club.

Bailey put British Tudor half-timbering on a Malaysian stilted design, included teak floors and shelving, electric lights and fans, one billiard room, two kitchens, one for him and one for his wives, as well as a bathing house, a windmill, an aviary and a garden.

When Bailey died in 1920, his solicitors sold the property to the Thai government, who rented it to advisors until 1939. As we'll discuss later, Japanese troops occupied the house during the second World War.

In 1947, U.S. Ambassador Stanton and his wife Josephine arrived at the U.S. consulate across town. Josephine did not appreciate the lack of privacy in the consulate and began looking for a new residence. When she and her husband drove off the still dirt Wireless Road toward the ruined house, Stanton warned: “there is no way the State Department is going to pay to repair this house." “Leave it to me” replied Josephine.

She called the Thai government, boldly stating that the U.S. would rent the property and that the Thai government would renovate it. Apparently impressed by her bravado, they agreed. After 6 months of hard work that Josephine oversaw, the Stantons moved in and loved the house, remarking that more diplomacy happened in the peaceful gardens of the house than at the Embassy.

Also on the property is a guest house, built for a 1954 visit from the U.S. Secretary of State. After that visit, which took place during several ideal December days, the Ambassador requested of the Secretary that the house and embassy get air conditioning. Don’t be silly, the Secretary replied, it never gets that hot in Bangkok. The house and the U.S. embassy did not get air conditioning until 1967.

One more note. In this khlong and others that you see around town, you’ll see a device agitating the water. The original inventor of this device, called a Chaipattana Aerator, was King Rama IX. The King wanted to help Thai farmers to have usable water. Because he obtained a U.S. patent on this device February 2, 1993, each February 2 is Inventor's Day in Thailand, and in Lumpini Park, you’ll even see a statue to the device. By the way, besides this patent and two others the King held for rainmaking, King Rama IX was an accomplished jazz musician.

Keep heading south on Wireless. Read More

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Major Landmarks

BTS Ploenchit (Soi Nai Lert)
Central Embassy
Erawan Shrine
Embassy of the Netherlands
Embassy of the United States of America
Glasshouse
Lumphini Park
Benchakitti Park
All Seasons Place
Hotel Indigo Bangkok Wireless Road
Embassy of Vietnam
Park Venture Ecoplex
Dean & Deluca

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Getting There

Route Overview

VoiceMap tours follow a route from a set starting point. It’s how we give turn-by-turn directions and tell a story greater than the sum of its parts.

Start location
860-866 Thanon Phloen Chit, Khwaeng Lumphini, Pathum Wan, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10330, Thailand
Total distance

2km
Final location
Unit 104, 1st Floor, Park Ventures Ecoplex 57 Wireless Road Khwaeng Lumphini, Pathum Wan, Krung Thep Maha Nakhon 10330, Thailand
Distance back to start location

125.98m

Directions to Starting Point

By BTS: Take the BTS Sukhumvit Line to Phloen Chit station. Exit the turn styles toward Exits 1, 2 and 5. Start the tour right after you exit the turn styles.

By foot outside: Take the stairways from the road at the intersection of Phloen Chit and Wireless Roads to the platform of the BTS Phloen Chit station. Start the tour just outside of the turn styles near station Exits 1, 2 and 5.

By foot inside: From inside the Central Embassy Mall, Park Ventures building or Wave Place (Home Pro) building, follow the signs to the exit towards the BTS Phloen Chit station and exit the building. From Park Ventures, take the escalator up to the BTS Phloen Chit station. From Central Embassy Mall or Wave Place, walk up the platform stairs to the BTS Phloen Chit station. Start the tour just outside of the turn styles near station Exits 1, 2 and 5.

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Tips

Places to stop along the way

If you are thirsty, there are several markets and coffee shops along the way. I also recommend a quick meal (after the tour) at the enormous indoor street food market Eat Thai in the basement of the Central Embassy Mall, or a vegetarian bite at Broccoli Revolution in the Open House section (6th Floor) of the Central Embassy Mall. Afterwards, explore Lumpini Park – an entrance is on Wireless Road just below where the tour turns at the half-way point.

Best time of day

The walk will be coolest in the mornings, although you will love the shade from all the beautiful trees along the way. If you want to see the Wireless neighborhood at work, take this tour on a weekday (with the busiest times between 11:30 am to 1 pm). If you want a quieter, slower experience, take this tour on a weekend morning.

Precautions

This is a very safe neighborhood. Please watch for uneven or moving pavement that can trip you up. Also be very careful at driveways: cars and motorcyles enter and exit and do not usually stop for people, especially if guards have waived the cars and motorcycles on.

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“Great app. walk around at your own pace, stop where you want, move on or speed up when you want. Read the script before you go or during the commentary, speed it up or replay it. Repeat the tour whenever you like.”