A Pan American Airways film about Thailand in the 1960s

[Jonathan Fairfield]

New Horizons - Thailand, 1960

[ManaoBkk]

Enjoyed that, thanks for sharing....Apart from the cars near the start the whole thing could have been shot yesterday ha ha ha

[monkey4u]

That's a refreshing look at Bkk unlike today

[Fullstop]

Thailand ... Looks good on the surface.

[smotherb]

I was here in the sixties; there was more to it then.

[biplanebluey]

Enjoyed that, thanks for sharing....Apart from the cars near the start the whole thing could have been shot yesterday ha ha ha

Yes those cars------------ Austin A30's---------- man I wonder how many they exported to Thailand.There was a whole street full of them in that one few seconds shot.Surely they were too small to be Taxis-------- and no A/C !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[akentryan]

Making the rounds is another 30-minute video of Bangkok in the 80s. Light traffic on Sukhumvit and great shots of Patpong and Soi Cowboy bars. I arrived in January of 1986 so it brings back a lot of memories for me. Tony's Bar, the Moonshine Joint, Pam's, and a bunch of others. We rarely made it to Patpong but when we did we usually went to the Grand Prix because we liked the owner.

[Boycie]

Making the rounds is another 30-minute video of Bangkok in the 80s. Light traffic on Sukhumvit and great shots of Patpong and Soi Cowboy bars. I arrived in January of 1986 so it brings back a lot of memories for me. Tony's Bar, the Moonshine Joint, Pam's, and a bunch of others. We rarely made it to Patpong but when we did we usually went to the Grand Prix because we liked the owner.

[RichCor]

1:55

Crisscrossing the countryside and running through the city like Venetian streets are hundreds of canals that carry 80 percent of all internal traffic and give tourists an inside look at a unique country. The streams serve as front-yards for aquatic bungalows built on stilts. The rivers that branch off in all directions are highways for large and tiny boats. houseboats, motorboats, steam-launches, but mostly high-stern little paddle boats.

< ... >

3:38

The sea-going farmers who float their produce to market look different from the usual men of the soil, but nearly every Thai farmer owns his own land. Agriculture is about 90 percent of the nations economy. If you just follow the waterways you'll eventually see the whole country.

I've used the smelly Bangkok Klongs, but where are these rivers that branch off in all directions, and the waterways that eventually let you see the whole country?

This must be why they're trying to re-sink Bangkok, to bring back the Venetian tourists?

[Tarteso]

thanks for share. Nice movies,

[Gandtee]

The klongs will soon disappear if and when they build the new promenade.

[thrilled]

I was there in 1971. a lot of the water looked near the same.Most of the boats if I remember had motors.

[chickenslegs]

Looks like Pattaya bay at 6:50 on the video.

It's changed a bit.

[khunPer]

Thanks for sharing...

[Torrens54]

Hi Jonathan,

Many thanks for posting this. I know a whole lot of people will love it.

My daughter can't wait to show it to her teachers and friends at school.

[freebyrd]

Making the rounds is another 30-minute video of Bangkok in the 80s. Light traffic on Sukhumvit and great shots of Patpong and Soi Cowboy bars. I arrived in January of 1986 so it brings back a lot of memories for me. Tony's Bar, the Moonshine Joint, Pam's, and a bunch of others. We rarely made it to Patpong but when we did we usually went to the Grand Prix because we liked the owner.

Thanks for sharing Boycie, great stuff. Took me back to the BKK I remember fondly, particularly the 80's, Sukhumvit with no Skytrain! I worked there in the 90's and had to drag myself from lower Sukhumvit to Pratunam by motorbike taxi every day for 2 years when they were building the Skytrain. Not one of my happier memories.

Soi Cowboy back in the day when it wasn't trying to imitate the awful Nana Plaza like it does now. Girls that smiled, no pot bellies. I remember Trink commenting mid 90's, "Why don't bar girls smile anymore?"

Nana back then only had about 3 bars, a Lebanese restaurant and a restaurant in the right hand corner, The White Rabbit I think, where Hollywood is/was? I haven't been to Nana or Patpong in 15 years and only venture into Cowboy, Tilac, for a couple of beers during fleeting visits these days. In the 80's wild horses couldn't drag me away from BKK, now 3 days and I'm chomping at the bit to head home. Too many IPhones, faces that no longer smile and anaemic Thai girls dressed like Looby Loo - or perhaps I'm just getting old.

All that said, one man's meat.....

[MyFriend You]

I was here in the sixties; there was more to it then.

My first R&R from Vietnam was December 69 in Bangkok, almost went AWOL, and yes there was a lot more toit than the video shows, but it says it was dated in 1960 so ???

[Linzz]

thanks for the movie... I had no idea Bkk was spelled Banckok or is that a G?

Edited June 23, 2015 by Linzz

[LALes]

Looks like Pattaya bay at 6:50 on the video.

It's changed a bit.

[LALes]

Even the updated Pattaya pic is out of date. Can someone upload a recent pic

with all the monster high rises in Naklua?

[freebyrd]

Really interesting Johnathan, thank you for sharing. Had me wishing I had a time machine! Despite what people say, things really did move at an easier pace back then.

[Gandtee]

Thanks for this one Jonathan. The Seafood restaurant on the junction of Soi Asoke/Sukhumvit was where I was enticed by the staff to stock up my trolley to buy more seafood than we could eat and my future wife(twenty eight years yesterday) got hit and missed on sparkling wine and flaked out in the car. She has just denied it of course. Fortunately I revived her enough to find our way home. We even parked outside the restaurant in those days.

[fish fingers]

you older guys are really lucky to have experienced Bangkok's 'heydays'.

What were the girls like then?