Mom Rajawongsee Kukrit Pramoj, or M. R. Kukrit for short, (1911-1995) was a writer, scholar, teacher of Thai dancing and prime minister of Thailand from 1975-76.* As a great-grandson of Rama II, he spent time in the Grand Palace in Bangkok during the last years of the absolute monarchy (ended in 1932 by an almost bloodless revolution).
Yesterday afternoon we foolishly walked for over thirty minutes through the Bangkok heat and humidity to reach his home,* comprised of five old teak buildings brought from other parts of Thailand. The buildings, standing on poles and designed to lean in, look very similar to those at Jim Thompson’s, however, Kukrit’s house has not made it onto the popular tourist trail and we were the only visitors in sight.
* Visiting the house was not foolish, but walking for half an hour in the heat was. Mad dogs and Englishmen/women …
M. R. Kukrit studied PPE at Oxford, and was a prolific writer of serious books, poetry and fiction.
Kukrit was an enthusiastic promoter of Thai culture and taught traditional Thai dance in his own house.
Halfway through our visit an elderly white-haired gentleman, reclining on a wooden dais, called out to us in impeccable English. Did we have any questions? Obviously anxious for conversation, he invited us to sit down while he told us his life story.
He was, we realised M. R. Kukrit’s son, named Mom Luang Rongit Pramoj, or M. L. Rongit for short. Born in the 1930’s, at a time when the house we were standing in was surrounded, not by high-rise blocks as it is now, but by paddy fields, he grew up playing with the children of the workers in the rice fields, rather than those of the upper echelons of society. His father had been keen for him to go to public school in England, as he himself had done and was fitting for those in aristocratic circles. However, M. L. Rongit said he didn’t want to go to England as he wouldn’t fit in with the other children.
His father accepted this, but instead, M. L. Rongit was taken to America by his Russian grandmother (where an uncle of his was Thai ambassador). There he did go to school and learned American (he still spoke with a slight American drawl).
M. L. Rongit wanted to study art and was accepted by St Martin’s School of Art in London, a time he especially loved. On his return to Thailand the diploma he gained was looked down upon as a degree was seen as the only acceptable qualification. M. L. Rongit continued to paint and we saw a couple of examples of his work on the walls.
When we came to take our leave, M. L. Rongit insisted we took a couple of books written by his father. As The English editions are out of print, he gave us copies in Thai, telling us to ask a friend to translate them. Any takers?
Quite an extraordinary encounter! I feel we’ve been touched by royalty.
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On another note, we have just exchanged and will be moving to our new house at the end of November, in just over four weeks.
Tortoise Travel 