Besides The Cinema, How Is Siam Square

[TheItaliann]

I have heard mixed reports and I have not seen any photos of any destroyed buildings besides the Cinema. Please confirm what has been damaged in Siam Square.

[yeeowww]

It is with misty eyes that I sit here and write this. I was heartbroken when I read that SIAM Theatre had been gutted. A little part of me was gutted upon hearing that news. You see, I lived here in the late 60's and early 70's from the time I was 9 until I was almost 16. My memories of that time growing up in Bangkok are some of the best in my life. Besides belonging to a Saturday morning bowling league at Siam Bowl, I spent any time I could at SIAM theatre, watching movies on their first run release such as Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, 2001 A Space Odyssey, Hello Dolly, Oliver!, Yellow Submarine, The Party, Mackenna's Gold (which by the way ran there for over a YEAR!, I caught it at least 4 times), Scrooge, The Magic Christian, etc... as well as classics that were in re-release which I was introduced to for the first time, Gone With The Wind, A Man For All Seasons, Ben Hur and so many, many others... the list could go on and on.

On my first visit back to Thailand in the mid 80's, one of the first places I went was to Siam Square to relive those memories. The uniquely shaped Siam Intercontinental Hotel which was directly across the road was still there and seeing it made me smile. I always thought it was the coolest looking building ever. As I approached the facade of the SIAM Theatre, my heart started to pound and I couldn't believe I was actually back! I had a warm fuzziness run thru me and I can't describe the wonderfulness of how I felt that moment. Things had grown all around the theatre but the basic floor plan of the space was virtually unchanged after all that time. It was like an old friend giving me a hug to welcome me back home. I don't recall what was on the bill that day but I couldn't help but head to the ticket counter and ask to pick out my reserved seat (another thing I had missed tremendously as the USA doesn't have it together enough to do this). The price had gone up to 70 Baht (I think) which was a far cry from my traditional 10 Baht seat near the front which is where I always sat back in the old days. In those days the seats were in a tiered pricing with the cheapest towards the front and the priciest furthest the back. I always liked the front anyway and 10 baht was all I could afford so it worked out fine. As I entered the waiting area upstairs I was hurled back in time, the room had remained 100% unchanged! Memories and feelings of all those wonderful times of the anticipation of waiting to enter the theatre came flooding back into my mind, it was almost palpable! My God, what a feeling! As I stood there all smiles, the door man just kind of looked at me and smiled back. He opened the door and welcomed me back in for the thousandth time and I walked swiftly to my designated spot near the front. As I sat down a sense of calm and happiness flowed over me. The theatre darkened and the show began.

After the obligatory commercials, I was surprised to find the tribute to the King commence prior to the screening. In the 60's and until I left Thailand it always had taken place at the finale. No mind, as I stood there looking at the stoic picture of the wonderful King, a feeling of immense pride and love washed over me and I almost choked up with the feeling of how much love I had for this country and the wonderful people and the simplified way of living. It was then that I knew that someday I would return for good. I moved back to Thailand for good at the end of 2005... unfortunately little did I know that my elated emotions were soon to be sabotaged by it's hideous political leader and his lust for power and greed. I got a very bad feeling from this guy the minute I first heard him speak, he reminded me of a "snake oil" salesman of old, or a televangelist in America, brainwashing the masses to stuff his pockets while his flock hinged on his every word. I could only see trouble ahead from this guy, knowing full well what he was up to... but with NO idea to what extent his grasp for power and money would extend. I saw people hypnotized by him on a daily basis, all the way to my wife's family. I warned them that this guy was no good, but of course they wouldn't listen.

As all of these events have unfolded over the past 4 years, my heart skips a beat every time another brick in this wall of ignorance, selfishness and terror is laid. My dream of spending the rest of my life here with my Chiang Mai wife and our little arts & crafts shop is all but shattered. I've never hated anyone in my life, but I think I know what it feels like now for the first time. It's such a horrible dark feeling, I must find a way to expel it. I feel sorry for the brainwashed individuals who weren't smart enough to see thru Thaksin's evil agenda and inevitably were the ones who carried out his vendetta to destroy the country that had exposed him for what he really is. And in all of the many, many casualties... I've lost a small piece of my heart, a simple thing that always made me happy. The Siam Theatre.

I'm glad I haven't lost a loved one and my heart cries for those who've lost an innocent victim to this wargame. It is blood that is ultimately on Thaksin's hands. May he burn in hel_l for a thousand eternities for the destruction he's brought. And the worst thing is... it didn't have to happen. And it accomplished nothing. Such a waste.

[321niti123]

Facts not confirmed, just stories from friends

Central world thoroughly burnt, 9 hours on fire.

Paragon burnt, first two floors-not sure about the fishes in the basement.

Theatre Collapse.

[canardo]

ZEN burned down and office tower next to it (not Ogilvy tower) total damaged, Central World burned out, Isetan Ok.

Siam Square partly burned out and damaged, Hard Rock Cafe untouched, but many small tunnel shop totally fuc_ked...

Siam Paragon and MBK all good, could not see any damage from outside, ame for Siam Discovery and Siam Centrer...

BigC Ratchadamri burned long time, guess heavy damage...

Gaysorn untouched...

walked by this morning and took a lot of photos, sorry I am not a Twitter type...

[Rumblecat]

It is with misty eyes that I sit here and write this....

That was a (genuinely) interesting post, loved hearing about your return to the place you remembered so well as a child. And slightly jealous you got to watch Ben Hur on the big screen as well.

[mausplan]

Canardo , thank also for the update , I don't have the memories of Scala Theatre like Yeeowww but I stayed at the old Intercon with its great grounds complete with peacocks and ducks when I first came here to work.

You know , sometimes good things come from bad, I have seen some stirrings of a desire to create a community spirit in some media such as Twitter already and maybe out of this mess there will be something positive in the same way as seems to have happened in New York.

[mausplan]

Here is a list of 36 burned places ( from Nation) just released.

http://bit.ly/8ZoNq1

[canardo]

Here is a list of 36 burned places ( from Nation) just released.

http://bit.ly/8ZoNq1

Still can not confirm Siam Paragon, as I passed it this morning it looked quite normal, must have been (if so) a small fire or on the backside of the building...