Large concrete object outside British Embassy- what is it?

[harrry]

Wasn't the embassy block sold to Britain in 1922?

[partington]

The area was (and in part still is) owned by the Nail Lert family. This structure is a boundary marker.

This is the only correct explanation I have ever read!

That is exactly what it is: one of the only remaining land boundary markers showing the extent of property owned by a business man and entrepreneur called Nai Lert.

Nai simply means "master", and was an honorary title because he was such a success: Lert Sreshthaputra was his full name.

Born in 1872, he worked for a Singapore soft drinks company, and rose to be a partner by age 22, then opening his own shop in Charoen Krung Road selling various imported goods like fizzy drinks, sewing machines and canned food, all very novel then. He gained fame by importing the first ice making machine Thais had seen in 1910, drawing amazed crowds to see the sight of solidified water.

Seeing that the new motor cars were becoming the playthings of the rich, he applied for a Shell motor fuel concession and opened one of Bangkok's first filling stations. He then started his own bus service, followed by a Saen Saeb canal motor boat service, and imported Fiat cars that he rented out to people hourly with a chauffeur included, that is, he started Bangkok's first taxi service. He also bought boats and luxury hotels.

In 1915, already very rich, he bought 25 acres of marshy empty land from the royal family. This property was bounded by parts of what is now Wireless Road, Ploenchit Road and Soi Chitlom. There was nothing there, not even roads, at that point, so ensure people knew that this bare land on the outskirts of Bangkok was under ownership he placed six huge markers of stone made to look like cannons, bullets and other gun-related objects to mark the boundary corners of his property.

All of them, except the one near the British embassy have subsequently been removed, as the city grew across his land.

Of course it was a good buy, as this land is now bang in the middle of the Sukhumvit area! He sold some of it to the British to build a new Embassy in the 1920s. There is a park named after him Nai Lert Park, near the Swisshotel, and a small Soi leading down to the area near Bumrungrad Hospital is also called Nai Lert.

Source: 22 Walks in Bangkok by Kenneth Barrett, 2013, Tuttle Publishing, page 313.

Edited April 18, 2015 by partington

[rwdrwdrwd]

Isn't that Mark Kent? Might just be the haircut.

Notwithstanding, it's about as much use. Probably has a little red button you press to trigger a robot voice that says 'sorry we can't help with that, that'll be fifty quid'.

Edited April 18, 2015 by rwdrwdrwd

[asdecas]

Isn't that Mark Kent? Might just be the haircut.

Notwithstanding, it's about as much use. Probably has a little red button you press to trigger a robot voice that says 'sorry we can't help with that, that'll be fifty quid'.

Like, like.

[wabothai]

Ask daddy.

[tifino]

it commemorates the good old first day that a camera (a Canon?) appeared in Siam, and

it gave the folks something to point at

Edited April 19, 2015 by tifino

[Familyonthemove]

Wasn't the embassy block sold to Britain in 1922?

Yes. Then half of it sold by the UK Foreign Office to the Central Retail Group in 2008.

[petercool]

A troll post and an off topic reply quoting it were removed

[harrry]

Wasn't the embassy block sold to Britain in 1922?

Yes. Then half of it sold by the UK Foreign Office to the Central Retail Group in 2008.

Thought the place was a little smaller than I remembered it.

[harrry]

http://www.centralretail.com/en/news_popup.php?id=38

is interesting as to what is happening with the rest'

[F4UCorsair]

It's where the British Ambassador keeps his supply of Ferrero Rocher chocolates for all those parties of visiting dignitaries, to stop them melting.

"...all those parties of visiting dignitaries, to stop them melting."

Why would visiting dignitaries melt?

Quite right,they just fade away like British influence.

That's why it's concrete and pile shaped then, Hard to get rid of - unlike the already gone French influence, never successful German "influence", rarely successful American influence and can't even influence themselves Aussies. Influence is far too subtle for the Russians and Chinese influence far too subtle for everyone else. Thais do seem to have a love affair with all things Japanese though, so maybe they like a firm hand when being invaded.

Might be an old air vent, concreted over, from a secret underground passageway the chosen few used to use to avoid the appalling queue at the Consulate. No longer required as queuing is a thing of the past thanks to the ingenious new innovative on-line appointment system.

Now this is becoming personal Baerboxer........ Aussies not able to influence themselves, indeed!

You mention piles, so here's a joke.

Why are Poms like piles?

They come out, won't go back, and are a pain in the ar $ e!!

Tin hat on, and into the trench.

Edited April 19, 2015 by F4UCorsair

[thaibeachlovers]

The area was (and in part still is) owned by the Nail Lert family. This structure is a boundary marker.

This is the only correct explanation I have ever read!

That is exactly what it is: one of the only remaining land boundary markers showing the extent of property owned by a business man and entrepreneur called Nai Lert.

Nai simply means "master", and was an honorary title because he was such a success: Lert Sreshthaputra was his full name.

Born in 1872, he worked for a Singapore soft drinks company, and rose to be a partner by age 22, then opening his own shop in Charoen Krung Road selling various imported goods like fizzy drinks, sewing machines and canned food, all very novel then. He gained fame by importing the first ice making machine Thais had seen in 1910, drawing amazed crowds to see the sight of solidified water.

Seeing that the new motor cars were becoming the playthings of the rich, he applied for a Shell motor fuel concession and opened one of Bangkok's first filling stations. He then started his own bus service, followed by a Saen Saeb canal motor boat service, and imported Fiat cars that he rented out to people hourly with a chauffeur included, that is, he started Bangkok's first taxi service. He also bought boats and luxury hotels.

In 1915, already very rich, he bought 25 acres of marshy empty land from the royal family. This property was bounded by parts of what is now Wireless Road, Ploenchit Road and Soi Chitlom. There was nothing there, not even roads, at that point, so ensure people knew that this bare land on the outskirts of Bangkok was under ownership he placed six huge markers of stone made to look like cannons, bullets and other gun-related objects to mark the boundary corners of his property.

All of them, except the one near the British embassy have subsequently been removed, as the city grew across his land.

Of course it was a good buy, as this land is now bang in the middle of the Sukhumvit area! He sold some of it to the British to build a new Embassy in the 1920s. There is a park named after him Nai Lert Park, near the Swisshotel, and a small Soi leading down to the area near Bumrungrad Hospital is also called Nai Lert.

Source: 22 Walks in Bangkok by Kenneth Barrett, 2013, Tuttle Publishing, page 313.

Thank you for that. I have wondered for many years about the concrete canon in the pavement. I did post about it some years back, but got no replies.

[NickJ]

I have believed it to me some sort of water cistern. Nice to know the truth after all these years.

[jamesjohnsonthird]

I have believed it to me some sort of water cistern. Nice to know the truth after all these years.

Yes. My Thai wife had told me is was a cistern. Urban myth I guess.

[ExpatOilWorker]

The might British Embassy as of December 2021.

 

[mtls2005]

For me most of the linked images fail to load

 

[KhunLA]

On 4/18/2015 at 11:25 AM, gandalf12 said:

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Also stopped the French from taking over Thailand and kicked the Japanese out (others helped of course except Thai)

"Seri Thai were an important source of military intelligence for the Allies in the region."

 

"As a result of the contributions made to the Allied war efforts by the Free Thai Movement, the United States, which unlike other Allied countries had never officially been at war with Thailand"

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Thai_Movement

[Liverpool Lou]

On 4/17/2015 at 12:07 PM, Costas2008 said:

It has been put there so pedestrians can not use the pavement.

...by the British Embassy!

[Liverpool Lou]

3 hours ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

The might British Embassy as of December 2021.

 

Think you'll find that that is the "might" [sic] Central Group, not the British Embassy.