Museum sights in Thailand
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Forensic Medicine Museum
While it’s not exactly CSI, pickled body parts, ingenious murder weapons and other crime-scene evidence are on display at this medical museum, intended to educate rather than nauseate. Among the grisly displays is a bloodied T-shirt from a victim stabbed to death with a dildo, and the preserved but rather withered cadaver of Si Ouey, one of Thailand’s most prolific and notorious serial killers who murdered – and then ate – more than 30 children in the 1950s. Despite being well and truly dead (he was executed), today his name is still used to scare misbehaving children into submission: ‘Behave yourself or Si Ouey will come for you’. There are another five dusty museums on…
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Baan Pratubjai
On the outskirts of the town is Baan Pratubjai (Impressive House), a large northern Thai-style teak house that was built using more than 130 teak logs, each over 300 years old. Opened in 1985, the house took four years to build, using timber taken from nine old rural houses. The interior pillars are ornately carved. The house is also filled with souvenir vendors and is rather tackily decorated, so don't take the moniker 'impressive' too seriously.
Pratubjai House is somewhat difficult to find; your best bet is to exit at the west gate of the former city wall and follow the signs, turning right after the school. A săhm·lór here should cost about 60B.
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Ho Chi Minh Educational & Tourism Historical Site
During 1928 and 1929, Ho Chi Mihn used the jungle around Hong Hang village as one of his bases to train soldiers and rally Isan's sizeable Vietnamese community for his resistance against the French occupation of Vietnam. The proud local Vietnamese community has recently built a replica of his thatched-roof, mud-wall house and a big museum. Both buildings were largely empty when we visited, though we were told displays would be coming soon. Check with the tourism office to see if they have. Bâhn lung hoh (Uncle Ho's House), as locals call it, is 10km from Udon. Take sŏrng·tăa·ou 14 (13B, 20 minutes) running south along Mukkamontri street to the junction and then…
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Maha Viravong National Museum
Though the collection at this seldom-visited museum is very small, it's also very good. There's ancient pottery – don't miss sneaking a peak at what's stored in the back – and a variety of Buddha images spanning the Dvaravati to Rattanakosin eras.
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Oub Kham Museum
This privately owned museum houses an impressive collection of paraphernalia from virtually every corner of the former Lanna kingdom. The items, some of which truly are one of a kind, range from a monkey bone food taster used by Lanna royalty to an impressive carved throne from Chiang Tung, Myanmar. Guided tours (available in English) are obligatory, and include a walk through a gilded artificial cave holding several Buddha statues, complete with disco lights and fake torches! The grounds of the museum are equally kitschy, and include a huge golden naga (mythical serpentlike being with magical powers) statue and countless waterfalls and fountains. Truly an equal parts…
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Phi Ta Kon Museum
Wat Phon Chai, the temple behind the big white gate, plays a major role in the Phi Ta Khon festivities, so it's an appropriate home for this museum. It has a collection of costumes worn during the celebrations, a display showing how the masks are made and video from the festival.
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Shadow Puppets
Traditionally, there are two styles of local shadow puppet: năng đà·lung and năng yài. At just under 1m tall, the former feature movable appendages and parts (including genitalia); the latter are nearly life-sized, and lack moving parts. Both are intricately carved from cow hide. Suchart Subsin's puppet house has a small museum where staff can demonstrate the cutting process. Short shows can be performed for visitors for a nominal fee.
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Ubon Ratchathani Art & Culture Centre
The museum in the lower level of this striking contemporary Isan-design tower at Rajabhat University is more scattershot than the National Museum, but there are some interesting cultural displays, particularly of houses and handicrafts. There's also a whole lot of wax sculpture.
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Chantharakasem National Museum
Inside this national museum is a collection of Buddhist art, sculptures, ancient weapons and lacquered cabinets. The museum is within the grounds of Wang Chan Kasem (Chan Kasem Palace), which was built for King Naresuan by his father in 1577.
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Ripley’s Believe It or Not!
Ripley’s Believe It or Not! puts a Disney-esque spin on the world’s oddities and includes high-tech theme rides.
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Nong Khai Museum
This little museum in the former city hall has little more than old photographs, but there's enough English labelling to make it worth a few minutes of your time, and the price is right.
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Chiang Saen National Museum
Near the town entrance, this museum is a great source of local information considering its relatively small size.
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Khon Kaen City Museum
Inside the amphitheatre, the well-done Hong Moon Mung museum provides a good introduction to Isan with dioramas and displays going back to the Jurassic period.
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Art & Culture University Museum
The focus of Khon Kaen University's cultural showcase is the two-storey art gallery, which features monthly installations of both student and professional work. The Educational Museum upstairs and in the back provides a brief intro to Isan culture, but only if you can read Thai.
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Ayuthaya Historical Study Centre
An impressive diorama of the city's former glories illustrates how spectacular Ayuthaya once was. Other features in this open-plan museum include timelines, examples of traditional village life and videos.
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Governor's Mansion Museum
The renovated 1929 French-colonial mansion has more shine outside than in. It's lovely lit up at night.
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Phuket Thaihua Museum
This flashy new museum, set in an old Sino-Portuguese home, is filled with photos and exhibits on Phuket's history. The last room is covered in photos of local dishes – and if this makes you hungry, info on where to find the food stalls is listed.
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Udon Thani Provincial Museum
Filling a 1920s colonial-style building that used to be a girls' school, this museum has an interesting catch-all collection ranging from geology to handicrafts.
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Roi Et National Museum
This interesting museum gives equal billing to ancient artefacts and Isan culture. The 3rd floor features silk weaving, including a display showing the materials used to produce natural-dye fabrics.
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Ancient Cloth Museum
The Ancient Cloth Museum presents a beautiful collection of traditional silks and cottons that make up the royal cloth collection.
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Nan National Museum
Housed in the 1903- vintage palace of Nan's last two feudal lords, this museum first opened its doors in 1973. In terms of collection and content, it's one of the country's better provincial museums, and has English labels for most items.
The ground floor has ethnological exhibits covering the various ethnic groups found in the province. Among the items on display are silverwork, textiles, folk utensils and tribal costumes. On the 2nd floor are exhibits on Nan history, archaeology, local architecture, royal regalia, weapons, ceramics and religious art. Of the latter, the museum's collection of Buddha images includes some rare Lanna styles as well as the floppy-eared local…
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Prem Tinsulanonda Museum
The minute Prem Tinsulanonda Museum is touted as the birthplace of Thailand's 16th prime minister, who served from 1980 to 1988. It's actually a wooden house, built in the '90s, upon the site of Prem's birthplace and is a charming example of a traditional Thai house.
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King Buddhalertla (Phuttha Loet la) Naphalai Memorial Park
King Buddhalertla (Phuttha Loet La) Naphalai Memorial Park is a museum housed in a collection of traditional central-Thai houses set on four landscaped acres. Dedicated to Rama II, the museum contains rare Thai books and antiques from early 19th-century Siam.
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WWII Museum
One of the most eclectic and downright odd sites, this museum houses everything from wartime artefacts to paintings of former beauty queens.
The museum is divided into two buildings. Inside one is a display of Japanese wagons used to transport prisoners, old photographs and unconvincing waxwork POWs. Notes about the area's history are scrawled on the walls, but the translations sometimes go badly awry, with unfortunately comic results. One sign about the victims of an Allied bombing raid reads: 'the bodies lay higgledy-piggledy beneath the bridge'. Another says simply: 'England was pushed into the sea by Dunkirk'.
The larger building resembles a Chinese temple and is far…
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Kamphaeng Phet Regional Museum
The regional museum is a series of Thai-style wooden structures on stilts set among nicely landscaped grounds. There are three main buildings in the museum featuring displays ranging from history and prehistory to the various ethnic groups that inhabit the province.
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