Just a few minutes' walk from BTS National Stadium sits Ban Khrua, the old community by Saen Saep Canal that decades ago produced silk fabrics for Jim Thompson, who helped promote the Thai material to worldwide fame. After the mysterious disappearance of the legendary American entrepreneur in 1967, family-run silk workshops in Ban Khrua gradually went out of business. But not all of them.
Now 80 years old, Manasnan Benjarongchinda, better known as Uncle Aood, is one of two die-hard silk producers in Ban Khrua who still continue with the trade. He began as a silk dyer at the age of 13.
These days silk yarns are still dyed and woven into cloths with different patterns under the roof of his wooden home which is a stone's throw from the famous Jim Thompson House Museum on the other side of Saen Saep Canal. From dozens of people, his production team now consists of only a weaver and a dyer. The cloths from Uncle Aood's workshop are sold to Naraiphand handicraft stores, a few companies that use silk for their uniforms, and occasionally tourists who venture to this northern side of the canal after visiting the Jim Thompson House Museum.
If you wish to visit his Aood Bankrua Thai Silk workshop, which is not correctly marked on Google Maps, the most convenient way is to take a stroll from the BTS station to Saen Saep Canal either via Soi Kasem San 2 or 3, and cross the narrow bridge to the community.
Once there, simply ask any local for directions or call 02-215-9864. The other surviving silk workshop, called Phamai Baan Krua, is just a few steps away. The phone number is 081-243-9089.
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