Hotels in Silom- Bangkok hotels with a legacy of windmills

Hotels in Silom are the Bangkok hotels in thePatpong, the night entertainment area between
heart of the old Bangrak, a commercial andSilom and Surawongse Roads, was originally the
entertainment area with a long tradition of royalfamily estate of Luang Patpong Panich, a title
connections and a quaint history.awarded to a rich Chinese immigrant. The raunchy
These Bangkok hotels are located with banks,activities in the area have somewhat eclipsed its
commercial buildings, moneychangers, shoppingregal origins.
centers, restaurants, street vendors, nightFor those who wish to have hotels in Silom within
markets and other entertainment that Silom Roada staggering distance from their watering holes,
a hive of activity for both tourists and Thais alike.the Silom Serene and Wall Street Inn would be
Silom, or windmill in Thai, used to be an areaideal.
covered by orchards and yes, windmills to drawDecho Road, further down Silom Road, got its
water from the canals to water the vastname from another nobleman, Phraya Siharaj
orchards. The area is in a very old part ofDecho. The Bangkok hotels around this area are
Bangkok, the Bangrak district, named after aNarai Hotel, Silom City Inn, Sofitel Silom, Tower
huge Rak tree trunk found in one of the canals.and Triple Two Silom.
There're other versions of the origins of thisThe other hotels in Silom closer to the Chao
name. Owing to the many hospitals in the area,Phraya River are
it's believed the name came from "raksa", as inCentre Point Silom, Holiday Inn Silom and Manohra
healthcare. Whatever the reason, the roads inThe Lebua at State Tower Hotel (former Meritus
Silom have a long tradition of royal connections.Suites State Tower) stands above them all,
Silom Road was built by excavating a canal in thetowering over the Chao Phraya.
middle to allow for canal and land movement.What's Silom like today?
Several of the roads in Silom similarly constructedAcross the road from the Dusit Thani Hotel, a
and named after noblemen who were awardedlarge tract of Saladaeng became Lumphini Park, a
royal titles for their contributions to roadgift from King Rama VI to the people in 1925.
construction.Up-market high-rise apartments are sprouting up
The Saladaeng area in Silom was originally royalin Soi Saladaeng, the area behind the hotel.
land. Its name, red-roofed pavilion, was derivedThe subway runs under Rama IV Road, which
from the red roof of the train station built in theused to be a canal as well, stopping at the Silom
area by the Danish railway company. The site ofStation below the busy Saladaeng junction, under
a nobleman's mansion in Saladaeng is now thethe benign eye of the King Rama VI Monument.
Dusit Thani Hotel, one of the prominent hotels inThe subway continues on passing under the Pan
Silom.Pacific Bangkok and Mandarin Hotel Bangkok.
Further on, the Swiss Lodge is nestled in ConventThe red-roofed railway station that gave its name
Road, named after the walled convent establishedto Saladaeng is no longer there, its place taken by
by the Carmelite Order of Nuns.the Saladaeng skytrain station, less the red roof.
Chao Phraya Surawongse Wattanasak gave hisIn the early 1960s, the canal along Silom Road
name to Surawongse Road, a road parallel towas filled up for road expansion. So were the
Silom Road, where the Montien Surawongse andcanals in the neighboring roads like Surawongse
Tawana Ramada are located.Road.
Chao Phraya is also the highest title in ancient ThaiIn Patpong, it's business as usual. The windmills, of
nobility, similar to the Duke in British nobility. Thecourse, are gone.
title is no longer in use. The other titles inBut the hotels in Silom, the commercial areas and
descending order, with their British equivalents inthe pavements in Silom Road are still bustling with
brackets, are Phraya,(Marquis) Phra,(Earl) Luang,life.
(Viscount)and Khun(Baron).