imperialism my 100 year old guy book  will leave me on a railway adventure  

through archipelagos and peninsulas dotted  with hills forests and paddy fields i'll tour  

towering mega cities and magnificent mosques i'll  encounter golden buddhas and jewelled temples  

and experience some of the world's most  spectacular and notorious railways as i travel  

through the diverse nations of this vast region  i'll learn how they asserted their independence  

against the british french and dutch empires to  become the economic tigers and dragons of today

i am in the kingdom of thailand formerly siam  for which 1913 the date of my guidebook was  

a moment of political drama a  nominally independent kingdom  

recently shorn of much of its territory owing to  french aggression as a protective measure in 1909  

four tributary states were transferred to british  southern teeth everything seems to point to a  

french protectorate of siam in the near future  but that never happened most exceptionally for  

a country in southern asia it never passed  under colonial rule i'm here to find out why

my quest will take me from the city of chiang mai  in northern thailand south through the once vast  

teak forest of lampang on my way to the old  capital of ayutia to the west of today's capital  

bangkok i'll make a stop at the meiklong railway  market before ending close to the border with  

myanmar at kanchanaburi on the journey i find out  about one of thailand's great monarchs king chala  

long gone is up to today michael uh venerated for  i'm saving thailand from this colonial threat take  

cover in an umbrella factory how do i look wow  you look like an astronaut and discover the potent  

ingredients of thai cooking so this is a shrimp  paste really yeah you can check the smell and um

i'm beginning my thai adventure in  the city of chiang mai thank you thank  

it you once the capital of a medieval  kingdom with connections to burma and laos  

and today is the largest city in northern thailand

the guidebook tells me that the railway  was about to be completed to chiang mai  

in 1913. now that was politically significant  because the french and british colonial powers  

were sniffing around this autonomous  region and now it will be connected to  

bangkok the royal capital of siam not just  by the ping river but by a permanent way

chiang mai is still the northernmost  point on thailand's rail network  

it was a royal city founded in 1296  where art and culture flourished

today it's a sprawling laid  back place with a walled  

old city of about one square mile at its heart  

in olden times the city was often attacked  

besieged and occupied so when they came to  build the fortifications they constructed not  

only a wall but for good measure a moat chiang  mai chiang mai so good they ringed it twice

i'm beginning inside the old city at a  temple which houses some of chiang mai's  

most impressive buildings what pressing and even  my western eyes can appreciate its enormous beauty  

and i sense its spirituality but i need  to understand what it means for thailand  

buddhism is centuries older than christianity  the year 2020 in the buddhist calendar is 2563

and this temple has housed since 1367  a.d a very revered statue of the buddha  

it's said that more than 90 of thais are  buddhist which would mean 60 million people  

one of the biggest populations of buddhists  in the world and just before my guidebook  

was published the king rama v created a supreme  council for the sangha that is the monastic order  

that originated with the disciples of the buddha  and with that act he brought together the king  

religion and the people in a  bond which is the thai state

i'm not a religious person but it's  impossible not to be affected by this  

glorious architecture of this ancient building  its faded murals the center of the candles  

and of the flowers the golden buddha and i'm  born along by the melodic chanting of the monks

to understand more about this temple  and this northern region of thailand  

i'm meeting guide noon udom sin

noon hello pleased to meet you michael pleased  to meet you and in such glorious surroundings  

this wonderful temple might i see something like  this anywhere in thailand this temple especially  

the elegantly decorated assembly  hall that you can see behind us  

is actually typically lana what was lada okay lon  in thai means a million and na means rice field  

lana is the name of the kingdom which chiang mai  was the capital chiang mai was an independent  

kingdom until the early 20th century how did that  position of independence come to an end at the  

turn of the 20th century chiang mai was annexed  by the kingdom of siam to be part of the kingdom  

of siam and for what reason for two reasons the  most important reason being the presence of the  

british empire in neighboring myanmar siam seeing  this colonial threat decided to annex chiang mai  

as a butt first date along with other uh provinces  in the north of thailand the second reason being  

the teagwood business which was one of the most  valuable natural resources in this region the  

guidebook which i'm using my branch guide  yes describes thailand as being surrounded  

by a burma by malaysia by indochina do you think  that's the way that thailand felt that it was  

surrounded yes uh very much king chala long  gone is up to today michael uh venerated for  

um saving thailand from this um colonial threats  king rama the fourth so king jalal ghan's father  

he already had this visions you know this  maybe we can call this fear of european  

expansionism because um during his reign he  invited a british lady on a leonovens and anna  

leo nolans actually taught king rama the fifth to  speak english so he was quite a westernized king  

anna's account of her time at the royal court  was turned into a novel a musical and a film  

the king and i but actor yul brinner's portrayal  of the scholarly king rama iv as a childish  

tyrant caused great offence in thailand the  film was banned and remained so to this day  

rama the fourth's adoption  of western ideas shaped siam  

when his son tuna long gone king rama v came  to the throne he began to modernize his country  

building a railway network reforming the law  and striking deals with european colonial powers  

here in chiang mai the british built a consulate  which they used to promote their interests

a very very grand house for a british consulate  what use did they make of the building  

well apart from the consulate prerogatives it was  also the center for british social life this is  

the center for sport and society polo for example  uh cricket as well so you'll be surprised to hear  

about the consular elephants elephants yes yes  i'm surprised what were they where the british  

kept the king's polo elephants four of king  george v elephants were stabled at the consulate  

their duties included bearing luggage for the  consul when he toured the remote northern regions  

how did the british use this building to exert  their influence the british actually had a lot  

of privileges here british banks were established  here commerces and also i have to mention  

about the the monopoly of teagwood exploitation  that was granted by king julien himself  

the guidebook leads me to believe that a french  protectorate in sam is imminent why does it not  

happen king julia long gone was an astute diplomat  you know he played this game in to moderate  

tensions between france and britain this piece  of ground was granted by king julia long gone  

to britain and just opposite the road  another piece of ground was given  

to france so he keeps the balance between  the british and the french he did he did

king chulalongkorn's shrewd deal-making  kept the rival colonial powers at bay  

and thailand was left as a buffer zone  between their two southeast asian empires  

my bradshaw's prediction of an imminent french  protectorate didn't come to pass although the  

british never annexed chiang mai they used the  social life of their consulate ruthlessly to push  

for their influence and their commercial interests  in the process giving an elbow to the french  

sometimes garden party diplomacy can  be as effective as gunboat diplomacy

at the time of my guidebook this region was being  drawn into the country now known as thailand  

but it has always retained its own identity its  lana heritage is rich in artisan crafts so i've  

come to the village of bosang just east of the  city in search of something to keep the monsoon  

off my breadshores the inscription tells us that  a monk called pra intar was one day visiting  

the border with burma for a meditation and he  saw the procedure by which umbrellas were made  

wrote it all down and brought the technology  back to his village ever since which people  

have been making the umbrellas here now this  may be true or it may simply be a cover story  

the rombo sung umbrella factory is  one of many workshops in the village  

where these glorious items  are painstakingly made by hand

these beautiful pieces all cut exactly  to a length that's all bamboo but the  

structure is held together with pieces of  beautifully crafted sandalwood at the top  

and the bottom huge skill is required from  carving the handle to threading the ribs  

these hand and foot crafted umbrellas are works  of art then look at this we end up with something

very lovely a moving piece where pieces of  bamboo wonderfully carved are just held together  

with cotton now what that needs  is a bamboo shaft and a cotton top

all umbrellas here are made from mulberry paper  or cotton traditionally a symbol of high status  

the more decorative parasols are  intricately painted by hand i don't know  

good to see you so is this almost  the last stage of the umbrella making  

almost yeah one more step from here then  we finished and what is this uh paint or  

die that you're applying this is uh oil  color painted we make the umbrella for  

good for sun and rain waterproof would it be  possible for me to have a go at that mirror kiss

how do i look wow you look like an astronaut

pretend that you do the dishwashing  

dishwashing one yes i have to remember how to  do that wow well done you want to work here

perfect come rain or shine

arts and crafts are a huge  part of this region's culture  

but here as in the whole of thailand identity  is also expressed through food i've come up  

into the hills 30 kilometers northwest of chiang  mai in search of the secrets of northern cuisine  

this is ascended into the clouds and into a  sort of heaven here i am amongst the flowers  

and down below the curly green terraces heavy with  vegetables clearly the mists bring great fertility

yui is a chef who lives and teaches in the area

yui hello hi michael i'm yuri very good  to see you now what are you cooking today  

i am cooking soup we call djapak it's a northern  dish that was using local vegetables in the season  

may i help you yes please what should i do i'm  just about chopping the shallot and the garlic  

and then i need someone to help me for pounding oh  yes what is different about the northern cuisine  

what are its characteristics we don't have much  dry spice and we have more like fresh herbs and  

that is we use as mainly in our cooking in  the north and the water base no coconut milk  

ah yes because many people think of thai food as  involving coconut milk but not in the north this  

is more like in the south yes beach so this is a  shrimp paste really yeah you can check the smell

very good with the pounding this is the work  of the thai woman who do it for every meals  

such a work that we are so strong then we're  gonna put this in the water so this is i called  

slimy spinach slime in spinach it doesn't name my  name it myself you have a way with words so lana  

was from time to time occupied by burma is there a  burmese influence in the cooking yes i have a lot  

i can see that i've been in myanmar  and i've seen ingredients there  

like the one i used in chiang mai so they brought  their ingredients here when they moved here  

and we went there we brought our ingredients  there like we're blending together to be one union

i say while we've been cooking the mist has  lifted i had no idea there was that lovely  

row of mountains there isn't it beautiful here  yes it's adding to our food for more flavor  

all right excellent we're putting  the view into our food somehow  

time to serve yeah that looks  nice it does look nice so colorful

isn't that great yes do you think the food is  really one of the best things about thailand  

yes i think so that's the reason i  could not move away from thailand

i'm heading back to chiang mai station  my journey will continue south if you've  

been anytime in thailand you notice the  courtesy and perfect manners of the people  

here is a notice upon receiving an impolite  service please notify station master um please

all correct thank you

passport needed to buy a ticket

the special express to bangkok how exotic  does that sound but i'm going just about  

two hours to lampang around 14  trains a day leave chiang mai  

and with just one railway line they  all head in the direction of bangkok

this is stunning landscape and a region of great  fertility we've passed paddy fields here would  

have been the teak forest water by the river ping  and other waterways descending from the himalayas  

but it was unbelievably remote before the  coming of the railway the journey from  

bangkok to chiang mai would have taken weeks  and building the line was clearly no mean feat

between chiang mai and is a  narrow belt of steep mountains  

the construction of a railway through  this terrain came at great cost  

we're now passing through the kuntan  tunnel the longest in thailand at 1.35  

kilometers this was built roughly during the  first world war by german engineers it said  

that a thousand men died in its construction  

from malaria from attacks by tigers from fighting  amongst themselves and from addiction to opium  

this may not have been a colonial province but  the disdain for human life was positively imperial

thailand's railway network extends across four  thousand kilometers the majority of which is  

single track and the procedure for avoiding  collisions hasn't changed in a century on a single  

track line a train can only occupy the track if  it has a token a large piece of metal and with  

no time to lose the oncoming train will hurl the  token onto this pole without stopping a good trick