Imagine my surprise when I discovered this letter Uncle Watty (Espy) had written a man in Bangkok, Thailand - Pradit Rattanapone - requesting that they exchange stamps. The third attachment is the reply the Thai gentleman sent to Watty. This area in Bangkok is one I know very well. I was hoping a couple of friends of mine in Bangkok could use the mailing address to track down the man or one of his relatives, and perhaps create one of those " Can you believe this?" moments. Unfortunately, they had no luck. Just imagine what Watty would have done in the Internet age!!!!!
I don't know what became of Uncle Watty's stamp collection. I'm guessing he sold it at some point, the way he did with his autographs. Many years ago he did give a box shoebox filled with used and old stamps to my brother, but they would have been a miniscule amount of what he had.
I think the best way to easily view these letters, if you opt not to save them to your laptop, would be to use the zoom feature in Windows to simply magnify this whole page. E-mail me if you have questions.
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In the area where Mr. Pradit Rattanapone lived in 1960s stands the Democracy Monument. It was built in 1940. When I was living in Bangkok, Kade and I visited that area very often due to its proximity to Khao San Road and the Chao Phraya River. One evening, likely in 2003, I walked out to the monument with Kade and took these images with my brand new camera. Maybe you can tell I was a novice! In the end, though, they look pretty cool.
Kade
from mid-1960s, Source
A few years ago, the Democracy Monument (and other parts of the capital) was the scene of big anti-government protests. Source.
For some insight into the protests, this article is quite good. For more images of the Democracy Monument, click here.
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