Category: Old Photos of Thailand

Jan 02

Traffic Jam in 1950's Bangkok

by Richard Barrow Email

Friday 2nd January, 2009 | 160 words | Category: Old Photos of Thailand | 6 feedbacks »

These old black and white photos of Bangkok in 1950 were taken by Dmitri Kessel for Life magazine. This one is labelled as "traffic jam in Bangkok". It is interesting to look at these old photos. I think it helps you to understand Thai culture better if you can see what life was like for them in the past.

The rickshaws in these pictures are still around today. However, you will no longer see them in Bangkok. The samlors have been taken over by the motorized tuk tuks. Apparently samlors cause traffic jams and so you only see them these days in provincial towns. We have them still in Samut Prakan.

The way these guys are dressed, they are probably "Chinese coolies". This is the poor man's version of a samlor as they are pulled by hand. You don't see these any more. I don't know if they are still there, but I did ride one once in Calcutta in India.

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