Bangkok can be heavy on your ears. In a city overcome with noise, It’s difficult to hear something, anything, even your own thoughts. But If you’re looking for an escape from this urban cacophony, we know just the place.
You don’t need to open your eyes to know, that you’ve arrived at The Siam. You can hear it. As your taxi rolls into the hotel’s driveway, leaving the notoriously busy (and noisy) streets of Thailand’s capital behind, the first of your senses to experience a sense of relief, is your hearing.
At first it sounds like complete silence. Contrasted with the city’s ubiquitous clamor, the sounds at The Siam are barely audible, tricking you into thinking, that all is perfectly quiet. But give your ears a moment to get used to the surrounding calm, listen and you’ll hear it, the gentle soundtrack of The Siam.
First you’ll catch the tune of the fountain situated at the heart of a small sunlit courtyard, which welcomes you to the hotel. The sound of flowing water is known to be one of the most soothing to human ear, and you’ll know it to be true the moment you enter the Siam’s premises, as you feel instantly reconnected with nature.
Walk further in, and while you calm your eyes with the whites, black and greens – the colors dominating the interiors of the lobby designed by no other than the King of tropical design, Bill Bensley – do not stop listening. As the fountain keeps playing its tune, and the birds joyfully chirp their own melody, you will have no trouble tuning into these new surroundings. In fact, the rambling of the city that enclosed you just minutes ago, will soon become somewhat distant, as it fades into the background and becomes just a memory.
But there’s more sounds and sights here. As you walk deeper inside, you realize that though a hotel in name and function, The Siam resembles part a museum, part an art gallery and part a botanical garden. There are artefacts of the past in every corner, pieces of art on every wall, and where there’s none, there are plants. Maybe the most impressive feature of the design is a large-size plants-filled pond at the very center of the hotel, with some of the vegetation reaching two floors up, towards the glass ceiling, which invents sumptuous amounts of natural light to the interior, and gives the whole space a feel of a vintage glasshouse.
If you keep walking, you will come out at the back end of the Siam, the one facing the river, where you will be reunited with the clamor of the city, though in its gentler form, made bearable, even pleasant, by the river breeze. Here, from the hotel’s own quay, you can catch a shuttle boat to explore Bangkok’s riverside attractions.
But don’t go just yet, come back inside and listen some more. Yes, except the delicate sounds of nature, those of flowing water and rustling leaves, there is a more defined melody here. There’s music.
Music is omnipresent in the Siam, both in the realm of sounds and objects. Some, many, maybe most of the antiques collected here, are musical instruments – guitars, violins and other, more exotic. And if you take a closer look at the old photographs hanging on the walls, you’ll notice that many depict musicians. There are tuxedo-clad orchestras, there are jamming jazz bands, there’s even Elvis Presley, but one character that keeps popping up in more pictures than any other, is a handsome man wearing shades and often holding a saxophone. Ask anyone of the hotel’s staff, and they will tell you, that many of the sweet soothing melodies sounding from the audio system, were penned by that very man. His name was Bhumibol Adulyadej, better known as Rama IX, the late King of Thailand.
The Siam. Mae Name Suite, River View Suite – Bedroom
You can spend half a day or more simply exploring the premises of The Siam, traveling from floor to floor, walking along the hallways, taking in local art, getting acquainted with the history of the Kingdom of Siam and modern-day Thailand. You can enjoy authentic Thai cuisine at the hotel’s Chon restaurant, home style meals accompanied by live Jazz at Deco Bar & Bistro or have cup of coffee at the shady verandah of the Café Cha. You can opt for a retreat at the Opium Spa or at the dry and wet saunas, steam showers and Jacuzzi of the Hammam-inspired Bath House – The Siam has it all. All you need to completely forget the outside world. All you need to escape the noise, and immerse yourself in the most precious sound in this deafening city – the sound of silence.
