The Dok Kham Tai Rama - Dok Kham Tai, Payao, Thailand

From cinema to karaoke hall, the Dok Kham Tai Rama Theater is testament to the evolution of entertainment in this corner of the world. While the operational costs for theaters like this outweigh the profits, there is money to be made in Karaoke - a more interactive and stimulating past-time than film for the average person of today.

A twenty minute bus ride from Payao city will bring you to the suburb of Dok Kham Tai; an unassuming little town, which culminates aesthetically in a tree lined canal that snakes through its center. Sound interesting? Well it's really not. I couldn't think of a more perfect example of how our love for conveniences (the home entertainment center) detracts from our cities and towns (no more movie theater). For Dok Kham Tai, it's the difference between having and not having a cultural venue. These are the things that add spice to life.

The lifeless auditorium, in the past one of Dok Kham Tai's most important social spaces, now all but forgotten by a culture-less town.

This was the first time I've encountered a projector still in the theater. Generally they are sold off along with the sound system and seats. The label on the back says Peerless, but apparently the Peerless company, based in Melrose Park, Illinois in the USA, only manufactures projector mounts and related equipment, not projectors themselves. Whatever make and model the projector is, it's at least 20 years old, as that's when the theater closed down.

I'm guessing that this projector is actually much older than 20 years. If you look in the opening you can see that it required a carbon rod for its light source. I'm no expert, but I don't think that style of projection is used much anymore.

The Dok Kham Tai Rama Theater: it opened in 1974 and closed in 1989.

"The Golden City Theater" - Payao, Thailand

Monumental is a suitable word to describe the Meuang Thong Rama Theater. It may not be the most ornate, or beautiful movie theater in this part of the world, but it's shear size and the presence it has over its surroundings made it a memorabe place to visit.



Despite its grandiosity, the Meuang Thong Rama only had 800 seats, significantly fewer than some of the smaller theaters in Thailand, though it was ostensibly built with a mind towards the comfort of the theater patron, not how many of them could be squeezed in.

The Meuang Thong Rama Theater was completed and in opened in 1975. Soon thereafter, Payao city's only other theater - the Payao Rama (see two posts prior for more details) - closed its doors, yielding to the modern comforts provided by the Meaung Thong Rama.

Storage room on the second level.

A solidly built example of 1970's contemporary design, the Meuang Thong Rama served as Payao's only operational theater for nearly 30 years. It is now used as a storage depot for plastic recyclables.

Cinematic remnants in a storage room: a reel of film.

The Meuang Thong Rama Theater is now owned by Kongsak Taranisorn (pictured above), but it was the brainchild of Kongsak's father, who designed and built it with the intentions of creating the best theater that money could buy. His dream was realized and for many years the Meuang Thong Rama was the province's premiere movie theater. Its large size, however, eventually contributed to its demise, as electricity costs for such a megalith began to exceed revenue, and audiences opted for the convenience of home viewing over the big screen.

But being the proud inheritor of the Meuang Thong Rama, Kongsak still has hope for a revival of the family gem, albeit with slim prospects. "The people of Payao," he explained, "are a hard sell. They wouldn't support the occasional independent film, or any other kind of alternative performing arts show, which would give the theater some life. I know there are those who would support it simply because of its 'retro' style. If [the Meuang Thong Rama] were in Bangkok, or even Chiang Mai, I'm sure that an audience could be found."

"It's a shame that a great old theater like this can't survive," he added. "I'd love to put it to better use."

The Meuang Thong Rama Theater: a movie theater fortress of yesteryear hoping for new life.

(Meuang Thong translates to Golden City)

The Payao Rama Theater AKA Thana Payao Cineplex - Payao, Thailand

Cinema has not been completely eliminated from the list of things to do in Payao city. Thanks to the Thana company, the Payao Rama Theater, a city staple for at least 40 years - 50 by one account - continues to show movies. But that wasn't always the case. In the mid-70's a second, even larger theater opened up in town and put the Payao Rama out of business. It remained vacant until the second theater itself closed down 6 years ago. Then the Thana company, seeing a niche that needed filling, bought the Payao Rama, rehabbed it and gave it a second life as the Thana Cineplax.

Built at a 45 degree angle from the street, the old Payao Rama is the lone place to watch a film on teh big screen in the entire province of Payao at the moment.

Original signage pivoted at a 45 degree angle from the rest of the building to face the street.

Thana has done a great job with this old theater. The interior was tastefully remodeled in the last five years, complete with comfy reclining seats, a new sound system and top-notch projection. The lobby looks like it's likewise had a makeover.

Posters for upcoming films

View of the lobby just before showtime.

The manager was hesitant to let me take any photos of the Thana Cineplex, as is company policy. It took an explanation as to my intentions and letting her see some photos of other theaters I'd photographed before she changed her tune, and only then if I shot from afar. Under no condition, however, was I allowed to bring the camera into the theater during showtime. I left it at the ticket booth.

Night shot of lobby

The lobby after the movie let out and all the customers had gone home. I like this photo a lot.

Another reason I love these old theaters: modern multiplexes in Thailand are seldom ever built in the middle of the town. On the occasion that they are, like a number of them in Bangkok and one in Chiang Mai, they are atop shopping malls and generally designed with the intention of having viewers drive into a parking garage to get there. In other words, the moviegoer doesn't have to touch the streets to get to the theater. Here, on the other hand, after watching the beautifully shot gore fest of Meat Grinder (a Pranakorn Films production, which is a subsidiary of the Thana company) I left the theater and was immediately deposited in the center of a deserted city. The walk back to my hotel, past shuttered shops and restaurants, through the empty streets of Payao, gave me the opportunity to digest what I had just seen unburdened by the responsibilities of driving. As contrived as it may seem, that solitary stroll, amplified by the lingering effects of cinema, was both exhilarating and sobering at the same time.

For the 60 baht price of a ticket I was given a theater going experience that I'll never forget.

The Chiang Kham Rama Theater - Chiang Kham, Payao, Thailand

Nobody I spoke with was sure whether Chiang Kham had ever been home to a movie theater prior to the opening of the Chiang Kham Rama Theater. If there had been it long ago departed the collective memory of the Chiang Kham population. 40 years ago, however, soon after American aid began pouring into Thailand to ensure that a communist insurgency didn't erupt in the hinterlands, Chiang Kham got its first brick and concrete theater - the Chiang Kham Rama.

The rapid growth of single-screen movie theaters in Thailand, particularly in more remote places like Chiang Kham, came in conjunction with the central government's policy of "Accelerated Rural Development Schemes" beginning in 1962. The idea was to build up rural areas of the country, including roads, schools, hospitals and other infrastructure to both raise the living standards for local people and ensure that communist insurgents, who were then trying to build a rural support base, would have fewer places to hide. The bulk of the funding came from the US government. Some of that development money trickled down to the entertainment business and led to the construction of hundreds of movie theaters across Thailand. By the mid-1970's there were between 700 and 900 hundred screens throughout the country.

The entrance to the snooker hall which now occupies the theater is around the side. The brown boxes protruding from the walls are covering old fans, used to keep air circulating in the theater.

The Chiang Kham Rama Theater has been closed as a movie theater for many years. Now the building houses a snooker hall.

When I walked through the door and asked if I could take some photos I braced myself for a pool cue across the brow, a knee to the groin and to be thrown back out the door. Thankfully, my stereotype was way off and the owner very willingly allowed me to take some photos of the interior.

On the far wall are the projection booth (center) and what looks like a soundtrack room on the right. Interesting that Chiang Kham would have a movie theater with a soundtrack room. It doesn't seem like the type of town that would have had enough of a foreign population to warrant having a soundtrack room in the theater, but it is possible that in the 1960's there was. It's a question that requires further research. Was there a foreign, maybe military presence in Chiang Kham, or was the soundtrack room just part and parcel of movie theater technology of that era? If anybody has any information, feel free to write in.

Sound proofed walls and an industrial fan therein, evidence of the snooker hall's past function as a movie theater.

A pile of old wooden seats

The owner of the snooker hall didn't know much about the Chiang Kham Rama Theater, thus leaving me with scant data. He did know that it was a product of the 1960's and that its closure took place about 15 years ago. Judging by its large size, the Chiang Kham Rama Theater probably had close to 1,000 seats. It was very possibly the first ever theater in the little city of Chiang Kham.

The Prasopsuk Rama Theater - Chiang Kham, Payao, Thailand

From the town of Pua in Nan province I traveled towards the setting sun, to Chiang Kham in Payao province, cultural center of the Tai Lue people in Thailand. For 4 hours the bus meandered through a steep mountain range separating the two provinces. Weary and weak from the gut-wrenching ride, I exited the bus in Chiang Kham and set out - zombie-like - to seek what I had come for. Minutes later that increasingly familiar form caught my eye, and like a moth to a candle in the black of night, I was drawn in.

Down an alley...

...over a bridge...

...the Rasopsuk Ram Theater rots, while the encroaching jungle slowing reclaims old territory.

The Rasopsuk Ram Theater was the last place to watch a film in the city of Chiang Kham, Payao. Aside from an electronics store salesman whose shop was at the front of the alley, there was hardly anybody around to talk to about the place. The salesman told me that it was only built between 25 and 30 years ago by Mr. Rasopsuk, whose name the theater has inherited. The Thana company purchased it from Mr. Rasopsuk some time ago, but poor box office sales led to its closure in 2007. It now sits vacant in a peculiarly situated pocket of town. The kind of place you almost expect to find a corpse lying in the weeds.

Vines creep up the front steps towards the door.

Day by day the vines get closer.

Soon this theater will be strangled in vines.

Front door and ticket booth

The above image of the outdoor restrooms is a little bit unnerving, no?

Remains of Thana's days as the operator of the Prasopsuk Rama.

The idle screen in an empty auditorium. I didn't get any statistics on the theater, but the auditorium was relatively small and couldn't have had much more than a few hundred seats.

The Rasopsuk Ram Theater: slowly being reclaimed by the jungle.