Sights in Thailand
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Hall of Opium
One kilometre north of Sop Ruak on a plot of about 40 hectares opposite the Anantara Golden Triangle Resort & Spa, the Mah Fah Luang Foundation has established the 5600-sq-metre Hall of Opium. The goal of this impressive facility is to become the world's leading exhibit and research facility for the study of opiate use around the world. The multimedia exhibition includes a fascinating history of opium, and examines the effects of abuse on individuals and society. Well balanced and worth seeing.
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Baiyoke II Tower
Thailand’s tallest tower soars to 88 storeys (85 of them above ground), the upper of which are often clad with some truly huge advertising. The main attraction here is the 84th-floor revolving observation deck. The views are as impressive as you’d expect (unless it’s too smoggy) but only just compensate for the tacky decor, uninspiring restaurant and inconvenient location.
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Kukrit Pramoj House
Author and statesman Mom Ratchawong Kukrit Pramoj (1911–95) once resided in this charming complex now open to the public for tours. Surrounded by a manicured garden famed for its Thai bonsai trees, five teak buildings introduce visitors to traditional Thai architecture, arts and to the former resident, who wrote more than 150 books (including the highly respected Four Reigns), served as prime minister of Thailand in 1974 and ’75 and spent 20 years decorating this house. The last tour begins at 4.30pm.
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Wat Ko Kaew Sutharam
From the clock tower on Th Matayawong, look for signs leading to the Ayuthaya-period Wat Ko Kaew Sutharam (Wat Ko). The bòht features early-18th-century murals that are among the best in Thailand. One panel depicts what appears to be a Jesuit priest wearing the robes of a Buddhist monk, while another shows other foreigners undergoing Buddhist conversions. There is also a large wooden monastic hall on stilts - it's similar to the ones at Wat Borom and Wat Trailok but is in much better condition.
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Huay Teung Thao Reservoir
Thais love lounging by the water and this sizeable reservoir, at the northwestern foot of Doi Suthep-Pui National Park, has become more than just a piece of infrastructure. The banks are dotted with floating bamboo huts (10B per person), where Thais come to snack on fried bugs (another reservoir pastime), share a bottle of whisky and perfect the art of relaxation. The reservoir is about 12km northwest of the city. Travelling by car or motorcycle you can reach Huay Teung Thao by driving 10km north on Rte 107 (follow signs towards Mae Rim), then west 2km past an army camp to the reservoir.
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Hellfire Pass Memorial
A better understanding comes from a visit to the excellent Hellfire Pass Memorial, an Australian–Thai Chamber of Commerce memorial and museum dedicated to the POW labourers, 75km north of Kanchanaburi. A crew of 1000 prisoners worked for 12 weeks to cut a pass through the mountainous area dubbed Hellfire Pass. Nearly 70% of them died in the process. An interactive museum is enhanced by several short films. Below the museum is a walking trail along the track itself and through Hellfire Pass.
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Matsayit Chiang Mai
A remnant from the days when Chiang Mai was a detour on the Silk Road is the Thai-Muslim community along Soi 1 off Th Chang Khlan, near Chiang Mai Night Bazaar. The 100-year-old Matsayit Chiang Mai, also known as Ban Haw Mosque, was founded by jeen hor (‘galloping Chinese’), the Thai expression for Yunnanese caravan traders. Within the past two centuries, the city’s Muslim community has also grown to include ethnic Yunnanese Muslims escaping unrest in neighbouring Laos and Burma.
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Wat Yai Suwannaram
Wat Yai Suwannaram was originally built during the 17th century and renovated during the reign of Rama V (r 1868–1910). Legend has it that the gash in the ornately carved wooden doors of the lengthy wooden săh·lah dates to the Burmese attack on Ayuthaya. The faded murals inside the bòht date back to the 1730s. Next to the bòht, set on a murky pond, is a beautifully designed old hŏr đrai (Tripitaka library), though these days it’s home only to pigeons.
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Kaeng Krachan National Park
At 3000 sq km, Thailand’s largest national park is home to the stunning Pa La-U waterfalls, and includes long-distance hiking trails that snake through forests and savannah-like grasslands, past cliffs, caves and mountains. Two rivers, Mae Nam Phetchaburi and Mae Nam Pranburi, a large lake and abundant rainfall keep the place green year-round. Animal life includes wild elephants, deer, tigers, bears, gibbons, boars, hornbills, dusky langurs, gaurs, wild cattle and 400 species of birds.
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Ajahn Fan Ajaro Museum
Luang Pu (Ajahn) Fan Ajaro, a famous student of Ajahn Man, lived at Wat Pa Udom Somphon in his home district of Phanna Nikhom from 1964 until his death in 1977. His museum, inside a chedi with a triple-layer lotus design, commemorates his life with the usual display of relics, photos and worldly possessions. This is a strict forest meditation monastery. The temple is 40km from Sakon Nakhon towards Udon Thani on Hwy 22, then 2km north of Ban Phanna Nikhom on Th Srisawadwilai.
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Thailand-Burma Railway Centre
The pick of the museums is the Thailand-Burma Railway Centre, where interactive exhibits, short films and clear descriptions provide the context of the Japanese aggression in Southeast Asia, detail their plans for the railway and describe the horrors faced by those prisoners who worked and died constructing it. Give yourself a full hour to read through the museum, and stop for a coffee upstairs for sweeping views across the cemetery. Ex-POWs and their families get special treatment.
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Wat Ban Na Meuang
Wat Sa Prasan Suk, as it's also known, stands out from other temples in many ways. Most famously, the bòht sits on a boat: a ceramic-encrusted replica of King Rama IX's royal barge Suphannahong, complete with a sculpted crew. The wí·hăhn also has a boat-shaped base, this one resembling the second-most important royal barge, Anantanagaraj; and it's surrounded by an actual pond. These were not just artistic endeavours: the water represents our desires and the boats represent staying above them.
The commissioner of these creations, Luang Pu Boon Mi, died in 2001 and his body is on display (they're waiting to finish building a museum before cremating him) in the săh·lah…
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Chae Son National Park
In Amphoe Meuang Pan, about halfway between Wang Neua and Lampang, is the 593-sq-km Chae Son National Park. Elevations in the park reach above 2000m. Jae Sawn has six drops, each with its own pool; close to the falls are nine hot springs. Small huts house circular baths, recessed into the floor and lined with clay tiles, that are continuously filled with water direct from the spring. For 20B you can take a 20-minute soak, preceded and followed by an invigorating cold-water shower.
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King Prajadhipok Museum
This collection uses modern techniques to relate the rather dramatic life of Rama VII, while neatly documenting Thailand’s transition from absolute to constitutional monarchy. The museum occupies a grand neocolonial-style building constructed on the orders of Rama V for his favourite firm of Bond St merchants; it was the only foreign business allowed on the royal road linking Bangkok’s two palace districts.
The exhibitions reveal that Prajadhipok did not expect to become king, but once on the throne showed considerable diplomacy in dealing with what was, in effect, a revolution fomented by a new intellectual class of Thais. The 1st floor deals with the life of Queen…
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National Museum
Thailand’s National Museum is the largest museum in Southeast Asia and covers a broad range of subjects, from historical surveys to religious sculpture displays. The buildings were originally constructed in 1782 as the palace of Rama I’s viceroy, Prince Wang Na. Rama V turned it into a museum in 1884.
The history wing presents a succinct chronology of events and figures from the prehistoric, Sukhothai, Ayuthaya and Bangkok eras. Despite the corny dioramas, there are some real treasures here: look for King Ramkamhaeng’s inscribed stone pillar (allegedly the oldest record of Thai writing, although this has recently been contested), King Taksin’s throne and the Rama V…
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Talat Mai
With nearly two centuries of commerce under its belt, ‘New Market’ is no longer an entirely accurate name for this strip of commerce. Regardless, this is Bangkok’s, if not Thailand’s, most Chinese market, and the dried goods, seasonings, spices and sauces will be familiar to anyone who’s ever lived on the mainland. Even if you’re not interested in food, the hectic atmosphere (be on guard for the motorcycles that squeeze between shoppers) and exotic sights and smells culminate in something of a surreal sensory experience.
While much of the market centres on cooking ingredients, the section north of Th Charoen Krung (equivalent to Soi 21, Th Charoen Krung) is…
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Doi Pha Hompok National Park
This Park has a hot springs complex bòr nám rórn (bor náam hórn in northern Thai) that lies about 10km west of Fang at Ban Meuang Chom, near the agricultural station, off Rte 107 at the end of Rte 5054 (the park is sometimes referred to as Doi Fang or Mae Fang National Park). On weekends there are frequent sŏrng·tăa·ou carrying Thai picnickers from Fang to the hot springs. Also around mid-day, tour groups from Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai crowd the pools.
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Wat Traimit (The Golden Buddha)
Wat Traimit, also known as the Temple of the Golden Buddha, is home to the world’s largest gold statue, a gleaming, 3m-tall, 5.5 tonne Buddha image with a mysterious past and a current value of more than US$40 million in gold alone. Sculpted in the graceful Sukhothai style (notice the hair curls and elongated earlobes), the image is thought to date from the late Sukhothai period. But if it is possible for a Buddha image to lead a double life, then this priceless piece has most certainly done so.
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Wiang Kum Kam
These excavated ruins offer an easy trip into the country. Climb aboard one of the horse-drawn carriages (200B) and relax into the mellow pace of an old-fashioned conveyance. The driver typically passes pleasantries with the locals who live among the old ruins, which are mainly half-buried brick foundations spread out over 3 sq km. The actual ruins are of more historical importance than spectacle but it is the peaceful surrounding village that completes the attraction.
Wiang Kum Kam was the earliest historical settlement in the Chiang Mai area and was established by the Mon as a satellite town for the Hariphunchai kingdom. It was occupied by Phaya Mengrai in 1286 and used…
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Chansoma
By far the most famous weaving centre is Ban Tha Sawang, where Chansoma makes exquisite brocade fabrics (pâhyóktorng) incorporating threads coated in silver and gold. The weaving process is mighty impressive. Four women, including one sitting a floor below the others, work the loom simultaneously and can produce no more than 4cm a day. Sŏrng·tăa·ou (17B, 20 minutes) run regularly from Surin’s market, and a túk-túk should cost about 100B.
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Prasat Ban Pluang
The 11th-century Prasat Ban Pluang is 33km south of Surin. It’s just a solitary sandstone prang with most of its top gone, but some wonderful carvings (including a lintel above the entrance with the Hindu god Indra riding his elephant, Airavata) make it worth a stop. A U-shaped moat rings the prang. The site sits 600m off Rte 214; the turn-off is 2.5km south of Hwy 24. Any vehicle bound for Kap Choeng or the border can drop you nearby (25B, 30 minutes).
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Tham Pla Forest Park
This provincial park, 16km north of Mae Hong Son, is centred around Tham Pla, or Fish Cave, a water-filled cavern where hundreds of soro brook carp thrive. The fish grow up to 1m long and are found only in the provinces of Mae Hong Son, Ranong, Chiang Mai, Rayong, Chanthaburi and Kanchanaburi. The fish eat vegetables and insects, although the locals believe them to be vegetarian and feed them only fruit and vegetables, which can be purchased at the park entrance.
A 450m path leads from the park entrance to a suspension bridge that crosses a stream and continues to the cave. A statue of a Hindu rishi called Nara, said to protect the holy fish from danger, stands nearby.…
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Khao Luang
About 4km north of town is the cave sanctuary Khao Luang, which has three caverns filled with dozens of Buddha images in various poses – some of them originally placed by Rama IV – and several souvenir stalls. The best time to visit Khao Luang is around 5pm, when the school groups should have gone and the evening light pierces the ceiling, surrounding artefacts below with an ethereal glow. A săhm·lór from town costs about 80B return; a motorcycle taxi is 70B.
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Wat Si Ubon Rattanaram
The bòht at this important temple resembles Bangkok's Wat Benchamabophit, but it's the 7cm-tall topaz Buddha inside that most visitors come to see. Phra Kaew Butsarakham, as it's known, was reportedly brought here from Vientiane at Ubon's founding and is one of the city's holiest possessions. It sits behind glass high up the back wall, all but out of sight; bring binoculars if you have them. The image directly in front of the largest Buddha is a copy.
The temple has turned a beautiful old wooden săh·lah into a museum of religious items. The highlight is the collection of 18th-century đoô prá đraiЪìdòk, gorgeous boxes used for storing sacred palm-leaf texts. If…
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Sala Mai Thai
The Sala Mai Thai is a silk-weaving museum on the campus of Khon Kaen Industrial & Community Education College where you can learn about the entire silk-making process, and even take a turn at a loom. Besides showing the simple wooden contraptions devised to spin, tie, weave and dry silk, there’s an exhibition hall upstairs that catalogues traditional mát·mèe patterns and a couple of typical northeastern wooden houses. It’s 1km west of town on Rte 229.
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