Published in Chiang Mai CityLife Magazine – December 2003

CHIANGMAI, Thailand – 14 October 2003

Inexpensive Progress became one of Sir John Betjeman’s most famous statements in support of his passions. Written in the 1960s, during Britain’s post-war reconstruction, after years of rationing and austerity, the poem became a required text for high school “graduation” in the Cambridge series of GCE exams during the mid-1970s. In a BBC documentary commemorating his life, it was stated that from that study requirement the environmentalist and conservationist movements of the 1980s and 90s evolved. The activists, thirty-somethings educated in the 1970s, remembered with fondness Sir John’s words, and many (like myself) claim this poem is the only one they can still recite from their school days…

Political Manipulation of Medieval History?

WIENG KUM KAM, Chiang Mai, Thailand, 1 Jun 2003 – Today (20th August 2003) I unintentionally revisited Wieng Kum Kam, specifically that part now named as Wat Phan Lao, and hypothesized as being the AD 1286 palace of King Mengrai.

What I witnessed there has left me extremely disappointed and completely disillusioned regarding current local and national plans to develop the ancient city into anything approaching Sukhothai or Ayutthaya.

What’s Going Wrong at Wieng Kum Kam?
by David Hardcastle & Garry Harbottle-Johnson

WIENG KUM KAM, Chiang Mai, Thailand, 1 Jun 2003 – The Ministry of Culture has announced a budget of 40m baht for the “preservation and improvement” of Wieng Kum Kam, the city founded by King Mengrai (prior to Chiang Mai), the ruins of which lay hidden for years just off the Old Lamphun Road.

Since it was officially “found” in 1984 – and began to attract archaeological and visitor interest – it has also become a cause for concern. Unauthorised buildings have encroached on the site, vendors have commercialised many parts of it, and there are concerns that some valuable artefacts have been removed.

Brothers in Arms – Part 2
Sibling rivalry in Medieval Thailand

CHIANG MAI, Thailand – 22 Mar 2003 - For centuries before the current Thailand was referred to as Siam, the region was a closely linked collection of major and minor kingdoms. At the close of the 14th century, several were consolidating their power bases and borders, whilst at the same time experiencing internal struggles and rebellions similar to those of several west European nations of the period.

Continued from last month …
Thao Yi Kum Kam, ruler of Chiang Rai and elder brother of Cao Phraya Sam Fang Kaen of Chiang Mai, had fled to Sukhothai in the early AD 1400s. Together with the northern prince’s remaining forces, Phraya Sai Lu Thai of Sukhothai raised an army with the aim of capturing Chiang Mai. Thao Yi Kum Kam’s rebellion illustrates the fickleness of allegiances – a century earlier, an undying oath of friendship had been sworn between King Mengrai of Lan Na, and King Ramkhamhaeng of Sukhothai.

Brothers in Arms – Part 1
Sibling rivalry in Medieval Thailand

CHIANG MAI, Thailand – 22 Mar 2003 - For centuries before the current Thailand was referred to as Siam, the region was a closely linked collection of major and minor kingdoms. At the close of the 14th century, several were consolidating their power bases and borders, whilst at the same time experiencing internal struggles and rebellions similar to those of several west European nations of the period.

At that time, the region that became Thailand comprised of several firmly defined major kingdoms, and several minor ones, all with tributary states and “foreign” allies or vassals. In the central region, Ayutthaya was approaching the most dynamic period of its growth and expansion, having pushed the declined Khmer Empire of Angkor Wat back into the Cambodian highlands, and kept the various Burmese kings west of the Kanchanaburi mountains. A little north, the great golden utopia of Sukhothai was beginning its decline from the glory days when its growth shadowed that of Lan Na, its own northern neighbour.

Royalty Returns to Wieng Kum Kam
HM Queen Sirikit opens new Visitor’s Centre

WIENG KUM KAM, Chiang Mai, Thailand, 19 Jan 2003 – Almost 700 hundred years after King Mengrai moved from the Royal City he built before Chiangmai, Royalty returned to visit amid celebrations and festivities.

HM Queen Sirikit, the Crown Prince, and Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra presided over the closing night of the “Enchanted Wieng Kum Kam” Sound & Light show, which ran from 17th to 19th January, the start of a major promotional push to bring the recovered archaeological park into mainstream tourism.