Apart from giving rise to keyboard warriors and other nuisances, the digital age also has a good side. One thing I love most about today's world is that it has given me easy access to tons of photographs from the distant past. And that, at least to me, is almost like time travel.
The internet is full of old pictures of Bangkok, depicting not only the scenes I used to see in my childhood decades ago but also what the city and its residents looked like long before I even came into existence.
The other day, for example, I found an undated photo of the Victory Monument. To be more exact, it was the picture of a pair of children, a girl and a smaller boy, perhaps her younger brother, posing for the camera on the side of a road with the majestic landmark not so far away in the background.
Next to the kids, on the right side of the black-and-white photo, there's a wide ditch similar to those common along highways. The other side of the ditch is lined with a row of wooden houses -- one of them could be the home of the two children.
Hmmm. Of the four roads that lead to the Victory Monument, which one could this be, I asked myself.
Considering the direction of the sunlight, the road must be either Phaya Thai to the south or Phahon Yothin to the north.
I zoomed in to have a better look at the statues of servicemen on the monument. It was very blurry. I couldn't tell which of the five sculptures the one facing in the direction of the photographer was. However, the sculpture of a navy man holding an artillery shell was unmistakable. The Victory Monument is part of my commute route. I even spent a night at the base of the monument during a political protest a few years ago. I know the navy guy stands on the east side.
So it's likely the photo was taken from Phahon Yothin Road on the north side, which, I think, explains the highway-style ditch and houses. I also compared the photo with several other pictures, old and new, those taken from ground level and aerial shots. I think there's a 70% chance my assumption was correct.
If that's the case, the slight upslope in the old photograph could have the Samsen Nai canal flowing underneath.The waterway runs from the Chao Phraya River eastwards passing the north side of the Victory Monument. It continues through what is now the area between New Phetchaburi and Rama IX roads.
Four decades ago, when I was little older than that girl in the picture, I once swam with my friends in the canal, in the section at the deep end of Soi Sunvijai (now known as Phetchaburi 47). Once was enough for me, because even back then the water was so dirty every pore was filled with black silt when we got out of the water. I also remember seeing and doing bye-bye waving at long-tailed boats filled with farang. Tourists, perhaps.
Back to the Victory Monument photo. You can search for it online and see what road you think it is or what memory or thoughts it brings to mind.
Old photographs, not just this one, can give you a good picture of what the past was like, and that is a great help when you read stories or articles about history. The more you understand the past, the better you can make sense of the present.
I don't know about you but for me it's more worthwhile than watching video clips from the parliament or arguing politics with complete strangers.
Pongpet Mekloy is the Bangkok Post travel editor.