Original subtitles

I'm in Southeast Asia with my 1913 Bradshaw's handbook,

published at the height of European imperialism.

My 100-year-old guidebook will lead me on a railway adventure

through archipelagos and peninsulas dotted with hills,

forests and paddy fields.

I'll tour towering megacities 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.

My railway journey in Thailand continues.

My 1913 guidebook says of the constitution of old Siam,

that it is, "An absolute hereditary monarchy.

"But actually, the sovereign appoints his successor."

The Bradshaw traveller would have been familiar

with absolutist rulers in Europe.

But within a decade, the Russian Tsar had been murdered,

the German Kaiser driven into exile,

the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy broken up,

and the Ottoman sultanate overthrown.

Thailand today is ruled by the tenth king of the Chakri dynasty,

established in 1782.

A remarkable record in a volatile world.

I'm beginning in the capital city founded by that dynasty, Bangkok.

I'll enjoy the vitality of its streets and canals and then take

the southern rail route round the coastland of the Gulf of Thailand,

or Siam, as it was called in 1913.

I'll stop in the cultural centre of Phetchaburi.

I'll visit the country's oldest beach resort, Hua Hin,

where railways and royalty drew visitors from around the world.

On my travels I'll snack in Bangkok's biggest floating market.

You can get street food almost anywhere,

but canal food, has to be Bangkok.

Discover the impact of a royal railway gift.

Queen Victoria sent King Rama IV, King Mongkut, a train set.

And I think that inspired a lot of people.

And take my life in my hands in one of the city's iconic tuk-tuks.

You certainly feel every bump in the road, but in Bangkok's

notorious traffic, it sneakily finds its way through.

Today, I'm one of the 60,000 train travellers

who arrive in the heart of Bangkok every day.

The terminus is a fine, airy construction

in Italian Neo-Renaissance style.

Well, there's nothing Thai about the architecture

of Hua Lamphong, Bangkok's main station.

In fact, the king, Rama V, had been in Frankfurt, in Germany in 1907,

and he ordered for his capital a European-style station,

to be a symbol of modernity.

The king's preference was for a broad, curved roof

with stained-glass windows, designed by a European architect.

And while I'm still admiring his work,

I'm reminded of his royal patronage.

MUSIC PLAYS: THAI NATIONAL ANTHEM

It's Thailand's national anthem.

This isn't a special occasion, but a twice-daily observance.

ANTHEM CONTINUES

Every morning, in every public place, this display of devotion

to the monarchy is repeated.

It was Rama V's great grandfather, King Rama I,

who created the Bangkok that we know today.

He moved the city, in 1782, to the east bank of the Chao Phraya River,

and established the astonishing royal complex

that dominates Bangkok.

His descendants have blended traditional Thai culture,

with modern Western ideas and technology.

To find out how the Thai monarchy used railways to transform

the nation, I've accepted an invitation to his beautiful home

from one who shares family roots with the royal dynasty.

Hello, Michael.

Sah wah dee khrap. Sah wah dee khrap.

Please come in, a very warm welcome to our house.

Oh!

What a lovely place.

You're very kind.

Poomchai Chumbala is an interior designer and historian.

He built this exquisite house with teak rescued

from very old dwellings that had fallen into ruin.

It's a gorgeous re-creation, and much of Bangkok

would have looked like this at the time of my Bradshaw's guidebook.

This is the original plan drawing off the Bangkok station.

and as you can see, it's the most beautiful European architecture

built in brick and stone.

And this must have been something so extraordinary

in the minds of the local people.

And interesting to me, this is all written in Italian? Italian.

HE SPEAKS ITALIAN

"Etc", so that's because the architect is Mr Tamagno.

Who was the Italian architect working in Thailand at the time.

Hua Lamphong was the first of the public buildings, you know.

There was no such a thing before.

So this was a building to be enjoyed by everybody.

You and me, we can just go up to this building and enjoy it.

Buying things, you know, enjoying the restaurants there,

and that itself was a novelty.

So it had quite an important social as well as economic impact?

That's the fact, yes, and people were amazed by it.

What are these things here?

Ah, it shows the inside of the first railway in 1893.

This says the interior of the third-class saloon.

And actually, it looks marvellous.

Makes you wonder what the first-class saloon was like.

Of course, the only way to travel before the train was by the river

and the canals, or on carts on land.

So the train was such a novelty, to be able to travel from A to B

in such a good speed.

Until the arrival of steam-powered railway engines,

the people of Thailand relied on transport driven only by oars,

sails or animals.

And it seems that they have Queen Victoria to thank for the change.

Queen Victoria sent King Rama IV, King Mongkut, a train set,

which was a working train set.

It was steam and moved, you know,

the way that the real train would move.

And I think that inspired a lot of people, including the king

and the young King Chulalongkorn,

that this would be the way people should travel in the future.

That is absolutely fascinating.

Do you know whether that working steam model is still around?

It's still around because I saw it only a few years ago

at the National Museum.

Inspired by his love of steam engines,

the young prince, who ascended the throne as King Rama V,

at the tender age of 15, launched an extraordinary programme in 1891

to modernise Thailand.

Rama V was a visionary king.

And I think he wanted the very best for his people and country.

He experimented and he wanted to bring the latest in technology,

the latest in city planning, transportation, so that Thailand

could evolve into a modern and vibrant country.

Give me some examples of the technology that was introduced,

the reforms. He introduced the latest of everything,

electricity,

telegram, postal service,

modern medication,

a new educational system,

a new court system that people could rely on.

And the most important thing, I think, that King Rama V did

was to end the slavery, because Thailand had suffered so much

under the slavery system for hundreds of years.

And I think King Rama V and his contemporaries thought

that it would be the time to move forward and be rid

of that feudal, er, system.

I'm journeying down to Hua Hin.

Do you have memories of that?

A lot, because Hua Hin was my happy childhood memory.

We had a beach house,

a family beach house In Hua Hin, right

from the beginning of this century.

It brings so much happiness to think about Hua Hin.

And of course, to go there by train would be the best way to travel

in those days.

The trains were notoriously unreliable, so you could

have been stuck on a track for hours, you know,

in the middle of nowhere!

But it didn't matter because the landscape was so pretty.

Lily ponds everywhere, palm trees everywhere.

And for the royal family, too, in that area?

Yes. Hua Hin definitely had a great royal connection

because, right from the beginning, members of the Thai royal family

bought a few plots along the beach.

And as you know, Hua Hin was built as a train destination, as a resort,

the first resort town that we have in Thailand.

And everybody went down and had a good time.

Poomchai can trace his family's arrival in Bangkok to 200 years ago,

the period when this royal dynasty was established.

Is your family

the royal family or strongly connected?

The ancestors became the royal family of Bangkok.

Yes. So, what would your relationship be to the present

King Rama X? Are you a cousin or...?

I'm his loyal subject!

I'm crossing the Chao Phraya River to Thonburi on the west side

of the city.

King Taksin, who expelled the Burmese,

established his new capital here in 1767.

But he was deposed and murdered.

When King Rama I came to the throne in 1782, and moved

the capital across the river,

he left behind a watery world.

Thonburi remains an older, simpler and calmer version of the city,

with its own distinctive way of life, and of transport.

Bangkok today is a city of glass skyscrapers and elevated highways.

But until the end of the 19th century, the main way of getting

around the city was by canal,

by klong, and their banks were crowded

with low-rise, wooden buildings.

Time for me to recreate as best I can,

the experience of the Bradshaw traveller.

My guide is Picha Ya Sirungan, known as Pich.

Pich, this is not what I expected when I knew I was coming to Bangkok.

It's so historic, so ancient.

And what's more, on a hot day like today with the breeze

on the boat and the coldness of the water,

it's lovely. Yeah! It's lovely and peaceful.

Every houses here, they try to grow some plant in front of their house

to make it more green.

This is, like, the most green area in Bangkok.

Here are some lovely old houses.

Is this how Thonburi, how Bangkok would have been in the old days?

Exactly. You know, I would say that, you know, this side of Bangkok

is just like the current Bangkok, the modern town,

back, like, in about 60, 80 years ago.

The original name of this area was "Bangkok", which means

"the village of the wild plum".

When the capital moved east, the name went with it, but locals

use different names.

The name we usually use in our daily life, that's called

Krung Thep Maha Nakhon. It's a combination between the Pali

and Sanskrit language.

But the full name of Bangkok in Thai is the longest city name

in the world, they wrote on the Guinness Book Record.

So when people saying they actually thinking, they put a region

in a name so people can recognise it.

But I'm not very good thinking, but I can try.

OK. I tell you now it's called

Krung Thep Maha Nakhon

Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara

Ayuthaya Mahadilok

Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom

Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan

Amon Piman Awatan Sathit

Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit.

What? That's it!

You cannot be serious! That cannot be the name of the town.

Exactly. But it's not only one word, it's combined from many words,

you know, to be, like, a name of Bangkok.

We are getting closer, you know, to the floating market.

So this one is the biggest floating market in Bangkok.

That's called Khlong Lat Mayom Floating Market.

That's the name of the main canal in the market.

I love the boat, you know, they're cooking the food in the boat

and selling out of the boat, the food from their own farm.

Yeah, maybe we can stop, you know, to buy something from the boats?

It sounds very good fun.

OK.

So busy.

Very busy, because the markets are only open on the weekend,

Saturday and Sunday, so everyone's looking forward to come here.

It's kind of like a food market, you know.

In the market, you can buy, like, a variety of Thai dishes.

Thai, like, authentic dishes, yeah, very nice.

Sawadee ka.

One.

This is fresh coconut from their own farm, you know, in this area.

It's very fresh.

Thank you.

That's great.

I don't think I've ever bought anything when in a boat,

from another boat. Hm-mm.

A first for me.

Really? That's good experience for you.

Yeah.

Yeah, I think, you know, you never tried this one before,

it's a Thai fishcake.

So they cook it fresh, you know, in the boat.

So they use that banana leaf, you know, to wrap it here.

Thank you.

It's a bit spicy as well.

Be careful, it's going to be very hot.

Thank you very much.

Thai people eat all the time, and we eat a little bit of everything.

It's lovely, very good.

Thank you. Thank you.

I'm ending my day at one of Bangkok's oldest and most

sumptuous hotels, the Mandarin Oriental.

And I reach it as travellers would in 1913, by boat.

When Siam was opened up to international trade,

Western seafarers needed somewhere decent to stay in Bangkok.

And the first Oriental hotel built on the banks of the river,

burnt down in 1865.

But other seafarers quickly replaced it.

In 1888, that sailor and author Joseph Conrad arrived here

after a four-day voyage from Singapore.

He stayed at the Oriental.

By then, most of his crew had been taken sick, which may be why

he referred to Bangkok as "that unhealthy place".

Evidently, conditions have improved dramatically.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, beautiful.

Thank you.

At the start of the 20th century, Thai King Chulalongkorn,

chose the Oriental to host the future tsar of Russia,

Crown Prince Nicholas.

Good evening, good evening, good evening.

Ah, the old hotel as Joseph Conrad would have known it.

Very elegant and with its shutters, proof against

the fierce heat and humidity.

And those who choose to, can wallow in nostalgia here.

Many celebrated names have been welcomed to the Oriental

during its close to 150 years.

The roll call of leading writers particularly strikes me.

Joseph Conrad,

Graeme Green,

W Somerset Maugham,

Norman Mailer, and the spy writer John le Carre, have all stayed,

and some wrote important work here.

For Noel Coward, the Oriental was a favourite place to enjoy a cocktail.

Good evening. Good evening.

My name is Michael Portillo, may I know yours?

Ann.

Ann, I'm in Bangkok for a couple of days

and then I'm journeying by train down the coast to Hua Hin,

Could I have a cocktail to send me on my way, please?

Certainly.

So, the cocktail I'm going to make represents the sea and the beach.

So I'm going to put the gin.

Good long pour of gin.

And vermouth with aloe vera.

Vermouth and aloe vera? Yes.

And then eucalyptus...

..with sea salt syrup.

Eucalyptus and sea salt syrup, so that's giving me

the taste of the sea?

Yes.

Please enjoy.

Mm.

That's delicious, thank you so much.

I take my rest with Noel Coward's words much in my mind.

IMITATES COWARD: "It's a lovely place and I'm fonder of it than ever."

One ticket, 30 baht.

Thank you. Thank you.

This morning, I'm using the metro system to explore.

Because of its swampy ground, Bangkok's metro railway

was constructed in the air, not underground.

And it opened in 1999.

The Skytrain is a retro fit installed when everything else

was already here.

And so it's been threaded like a piece of plumber's pipe

above the existing streets, bent through right angles

through the skyscrapers.

So far, it has just two lines and 44 stations,

and snakes its way for more than 50km

through some of the busiest parts of the city.

The Skytrain is almost as good as its name.

It's certainly quite high, and like all elevated railways,

it gives you a wonderful view of the city.

You're kind of spying on the neighbourhoods as you go by.

Looking down on the life of the streets.

I'm heading to the city's main attraction.

"One of the chief sites of Bangkok..." says my Bradshaw's,

"..is the Grand Palace, to which a pass may be obtained

"through the consul."

"The monuments and temples within are of the finest."

And I must say that is very evident.

When King Rama I, the founder of the Chakri dynasty,

seized the throne from King Taksin in 1782,

you might say that he hit the ground running.

He immediately transferred the capital from Thonburi in the west,

to Bangkok in the east, and on the 6th of May that year,

began construction of the palace, which has grown

over the centuries into this magnificence.

The Grand Palace is a complex of royal, political

and religious buildings, over 100 in all.

At the time of my guidebook, it was both King Rama V's residence

and the administrative and religious centre of the country.

It was crowded with thousands, ministers, courtiers, soldiers,

servants, a city within a city, with its own laws and customs.

If I set out from these gates and were to try to circle

the boundary wall, I'd have to walk nearly 2km.

Fortunately, there's a quicker way.

Sawadee ka.

And with not so much as a roar as a splutter, we're off!

I defy anyone to walk around the Grand Palace.

It's so big, you have to take a tuk-tuk.

I find it a thrilling way to travel,

as long as you don't mind traffic fumes and noise.

The tuk-tuk, so named because of its two-stroke engine,

which makes that tuk-tuk sound,

is not actually indigenous to Thailand.

It was introduced by the Japanese after the Second World War,

but it certainly seems to have flourished in its new environment.

Hi.

In this three-wheeler, you certainly feel every bump in the road,

but in Bangkok's notorious traffic, it sneakily finds its way through.

Tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk.

Next time, I wrestle with one of Thailand's deadliest animals.

OK, I've got this snake.

Oh, my goodness.

Whoa!

Visit a restoration project after my own heart.

So we're trying to revive the original colours of it,

the palace, which is quite a task, because there's many of them.

And learn how to box by imitating a snake.

When you say, "cobra", Michael, "cobra".

ALL: Yay.

Come on, Michael, come on.

CHEERING