-
Queen's Gallery
This royal-funded museum presents five floors of rotating exhibitions of modern and traditionally influenced art. The building is sleek and contemporary and the artists hail from the upper echelons of the conservative Thai art world. The attached shop is filled with fine arts books and gifts.
-
Rama Ix Royal Park
Opened in 1987 to commemorate King Bhumibol's 60th birthday, this green area, about 15km SE of central Bangkok, it's 81 hectares with a water park and botanic garden. Since its opening, the garden has become a significant horticultural research centre. A museum with an exhibition about the king's life sits at the park's centre. There are resident lizards, tortoises & birds. A flower & plant sale is held here in December. From Th Sukhumvit it's about 7km along Soi 103, after it bends left.
-
Ratchaprasong Intersection Shrines
A crowd in this part of town usually means a bargain market is nearby. But in this case the continuous activity revolves around the Hindu shrines credited for making this commercial corridor a success. It's a fascinating place to come and just watch the way modern Thais have pragmatically adapted their beliefs - and their hopes - to the perceived reality that success breeds success, especially with the deities on your side.
-
Robot Building
During the crazy '80s, when no building project was too outlandish or expensive, architect Sumet Jumsai created his now-famous 'robot building' for the Bank of Asia (now owned by United Overseas Bank). Few were keen on it at the time, but now it seems quaint and retro. It is best viewed from the Surasak Skytrain platform.
-
Royal Barges National Museum
Every foreign country has its famous religious monuments and museums, but how many have their own fleet of royal boats on display? As a former riverine culture, Thailand still maintains the royal barges, once used daily by the royal family for outings and events and now used only for grand ceremonies.
-
Royal Thai Elephant Museum
Thais consider albinism auspicious, so all white elephants are considered royal property (Rama IX keeps one at his palace). Dusit Palace had two stables for keeping white elephants and this museum remembers these lucky creatures with displays explaining the ranks of elephants and their important role in Thai society.
-
Safari World
Claiming to be world's largest 'open zoo', Safari World is divided into two parts, the drive-through Safari Park and the Marine Park. In the Safari Park, visitors drive through different habitats with giraffes, lions, zebras, elephants, orang-utans, and other African and Asian animals. A panda house displays rare white pandas. The Marine Park focuses on stunts by dolphins and other trained animals. Safari World is 45km northeast of Bangkok, and best reached by car.
-
San Jao Sien Khong
One of the city's oldest Chinese shrines, guarded by a playful rooftop terracotta dragon. A former owner of the shrine made his fortune collecting taxes on bird-nest delicacies.
-
Sanam Luang
On a hot day, Sanam Luang (Royal Field) is far from charming - a shadeless expanse of dying grass ringed by flocks of pigeons and homeless people. Despite its shabby appearance, though, it has been at the centre of both royal ceremony and political upheaval since Bangkok was founded. Indeed, the yellow-shirted masses who protested for months before Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted in a coup d'état often used this field to air their grievances.
-
Sao Ching-Cha
It is easy to forget the powers of the Brahmans in Thai Buddhism, unless you happen upon the giant red poles of Sao Ching-Cha (the Giant Swing). During the second lunar month (usually in January), Brahman beliefs dictate that Shiva comes down to earth for a 10-day residence and should be welcomed by great ceremonies (and apparently great degrees of daring) including the acrobatics of the Great Swing.
-
Advertisement
-
Saranrom Royal Garden
Easily mistaken for a European public garden, this Victorian-era green space was originally designed as a royal residence in the time of Rama IV (King Mongkut; r 1851-68). After Rama VII abdicated in 1935, the palace served as the headquarters of the People's Party, the political organisation that orchestrated the handover of the government. The open space remained and in 1960 was opened to the public.
-
Siam Ocean World
Take the plunge into the underwater world of this massive aquarium. The little ones can visit the ocean depths in the glass-enclosed Deep Reef zone or view the daily feedings of penguins and sharks (which aren't invited to the same table).
-
Siam Society & Ban Kamthieng
Ban Kamthieng is an excellent merging of pretty architecture with museum learning. Built in the Lanna style, this 1844 house shows how a northern Thai family lived, complete with thorough explanations of Lanna beliefs, rituals and ceremonies. This is one of Bangkok's best house museums with well-signed displays, video installations and clear descriptions of rituals. Plus you never have to share space with others.
-
Silpakorn Art Gallery
Corrado Feroci, an Italian artist, is credited for importing modern art to the kingdom. He fell in love with Thailand, adopted a Thai name and founded this fine-arts school. The ongoing artistic creations are displayed at the campus gallery, housed in a scenic minor palace.
-
Silpakorn University
Thailand's universities aren't usually repositories for interesting architecture, but the country's premier art school breaks the mould. Partly housed in a former palace, the classical buildings form the charming nucleus of what was an early Thai aristocratic enclave and the traditional temperament still survives. The building immediately facing the Th Na Phra Lan gate was once part of a palace and now houses the Silpakorn University Art Centre, which showcases faculty and student exhibitions.
-
Soi Ma Toom
A surviving example of the old home-and-factory paradigm. This quiet lane, just off of a traffic-clogged artery in Thonburi, across from the Naval Department, is where the ma toom (bael fruit) is peeled, cut into horizontal slices and soaked in palm sugar to make a popular candy.
-
Sri Gurusingh Sabha
A gold-domed Sikh temple best viewed from Soi ATM. Basically it's a large hall, somewhat reminiscent of a mosque interior, devoted to the worship of the Guru Granth Sahib, the 16th-century Sikh holy book, which is itself considered the last of the religion's 10 great gurus. Prasada (blessed food offered to Hindu or Sikh temple attendees) is distributed among devotees every morning, and if you arrive on a Sikh festival day you can partake in the langar (communal Sikh meal) served in the temple.
-
Sri Gurusingh Sabha Temple
This sleek and modern Sikh temple (it's kitted out with elevators and marble throughout) is devoted to Guru Granth Sahib, one of the last 10 gurus or teachers. You'll find it down a little alleyway off Th Chakraphet.
-
Sri Mariamman Temple
Thai Buddhism still honours its mother religion of Hinduism. Built by Tamil immigrants in the 1860s, this Hindu temple is a colourful place of worship in every sense of the word, from the multi-hued main temple to the eclectic range of people of many faiths and ethnicities who come to make offerings. Thais call it Wat Phra Si Maha Umathewi.
-
Tadu Contemporary Art
Emphasising the work of domestic artists, Tadu is a leading exhibition space for those working largely in the realms of performance and installation art.
-
Advertisement
-
Talat Noi
This microcosm of soi life is named after a noi (little) market that set up between Soi 22 and Soi 20, off Th Charoen Krung, selling goods from China. Wandering here you'll find streamlike soi turning in on themselves, weaving through people's living rooms, noodle shops and grease-stained machine shops.
-
Tang Gallery
Bangkok's primary venue for modern artists from China has edged its way to become among the city's top contemporary galleries. Check the posters in the lobby of the Galleria to see what's on.
-
Thailand Creative & Design Center
An edu-tainment museum and resource centre, the TCDC spotlights modern design from famous fashion houses to image-branding products. Past exhibits have included a history of the Finnish company Marimekko as well as a retrospective of cool gadgets. The intention of the centre is to foster and inspire Thailand's fledgling industry of industrial design.
-
Thammasat University
Much of the drama that followed Thailand's transition from monarchy to democracy has unfolded on this quiet riverside campus. Thammasat University was established in 1934, two years after the bloodless coup that deposed the monarchy. Its remit was to instruct students in law and political economy, considered to be the intellectual necessities for an educated democracy.
-
Thanon Maharat
The northern stretch of this street is one of Bangkok's most interesting. On the opposite side of Wat Mahathat's whitewashed walls, the street is monopolised by ancient Thai industries. In the cool season, medicinal bowls of ginger-infused broth are sold from steaming cauldrons to stave off winter colds. Outdoor displays of pill bottles are lined up and dusted daily like prized antiques. Each remedy bears a picture of a stoic healer, a marketing pitch that puts a human face on medicine.
