Recommending Tourist Sites

[12is12]

For those interested also in sightseeing between bouts of debauchery, I recommend 4 sites which are beyond the main tourist destinations. For discriptions-explanations, please google. I'll make do with hopefully-enticing photos.

[I wanted to post 30 of them, but I found out each one has to be uploaded separately, so I'll make do with only 1 of each site. If any of you are interested, I'll gladly whatsapp more photos.]

The first 2 are in BKK, not too far from Silom: Jim Thompson's, and very close to it - the free Culture and Art Center.

The other 2 require riding south: Erawan Shrine-Museum, and Ancient City - a huge open air museum of traditional Thai architecture and sculpture.

I humbly submit Erawan and Acient are MUST SEE.

Enjoy

(-: 

 

[joshhb]

By ancient city I presume you refer to Ayutthaya. It’s a great day out. For $50 there is a tour that departs from Sheraton. Coach up to Ayutthaya. See the old city and palaces and then a river cruise with lunch back to Bangkok. 

I’ve been to Bangkok so often in the past 2 years to be with my BF I feel I have exhausted all the obvious things to visit so any new ideas would be welcomed. 

[Boy69]

I had been in Ayutthaya many years ago lovely city and very friendly people there in my upcoming trip on February I am planning to visit there again for three nights.

[Jasper]

19 minutes ago, joshhb said:

By ancient city I presume you refer to Ayutthaya. 

No it’s not Ayutthaya.

Ancient City is a outdoor museum park where you can see scaled down replicas of temples, palaces and other Thailand famous architectural monuments.

 

 

[joshhb]

I'd rather do the real thing. Ayutthaya is quite amazing. Rough at the edges, but I don't want Disneyland Thailand.

[12is12]

It's neither Ayutthaya nor Disneyland. It's hardly scaled down.

Do yourself a favour: google it, and view photos. You won't regret it.

[vinapu]

Ancient City / Muang Boran / can be visited  on foot ( not recommended because it's quite vast site ), by bicycle (not sure if it's still included in foreigner price but at one point it was ) or by taxi, which it was what i did when last time there,  there was some permit for few hundred baht and taxi I took from Silom to get me there actually was allowed to go to grounds.

My favorite is replica of Preah Vihar temple which is actually on Cambodian side of border but Thais still like to claim it as theirs   and did good job  making a hill so replica has proper setting.( original is very high in mountains )

Visitors to Jim Thompson house can take a khlong ( canal) boat from pier nearby to tour canal and visit GoldenMount temple on Bangkok's only hill of size, 

[thaiophilus]

Erawan Museum and Muang Boran are two of Khun Lek Viriyaphan's legacies, the third being the Sanctuary of Truth at Pattaya.

All are sui generis and well worth a visit, though IMO the S of T is overpriced.

BACC (National Stadium) has interesting free exhibitions though some are perhaps a bit predictable.

As for  "beyond the main tourist destinations", I bet some of the regular posters could recommend many more, but the margin of this post is not big enough to contain them . Here are a few from my eclectic collection:

There are other preserved/restored old houses in Bkk: MR Kukrit's house in Sathon, the Siam Society's Kamthien House on Sukhumwit, Suan Pakkad Palce in Pathumwan, the Bangkokian Museum on Charoen Krung 43.

For an inexpensive day out take the Chao Phraya Express to Nonthaburi and lunch at a riverside seafood restaurant. Or take the Mahachai Shortline from Wong Wiang Yai to Samut Sakhon.

For a night or two away from the crowds, stay at the Bangkok Tree House in Bang Krachao (short taxi ride from BTS Bang Na.) 

Looking for  a peaceful green oasis in the middle of Sathon? visit the Teochew cemetery.

Interested in bronze statues? have a wander down Captain Bush Lane.

And if you want to visit somewhere really obscure with a view, how about the Chee Chin Khor Moral Up-Lifting for Benefiction Foundation [sic]? You've probably seen it from the river, but few  people get  close enough on foot to enjoy the view from the top. Or, heading east, the eccentric edifice of Wat Dhammamongkol off Sukhumwit 102?

 

 

 

 

 

[llz]

1 hour ago, thaiophilus said:

Erawan Museum and Muang Boran are two of Khun Lek Viriyaphan's legacies, the third being the Sanctuary of Truth at Pattaya.

.....

..... Or take the Mahachai Shortline from Wong Wiang Yai to Samut Sakhon

Erawan Museum and Muang Boran can now be easily reached by the BTS extension (Sukhumwit Line), just avoid peak hours.

As for the train line, you will stop at Samut Sakhon (Mahachai) but should then cross the river and take another train to Samut Songkhram (better known as Mae Klong) where the train passes through the Market. You can be back on the same day with careful planning, or you can overnight in Mae Klong for a taste of real thai life.

[lotus123]

I second the BACC, which is easily combined with the Jim Thompson House. They're within 10-15 minutes' walk of one another, and both are near Siam Square and MBK if you also want to do some shopping or catch a movie. Apart from art exhibitions, the BACC also has some quirky shops and eateries on the lower floors. There's also a reading room with a lot of English-language books, mainly about art and design, in the basement. As for the Jim Thompson House, if you don't want to pay for the tour, there's a gallery with quarterly free exhibits above the shop, and you can also eat and/or drink in the café.   

I'm also a fan of Chinatown (Yaowarat). Now that the MRT extension is up and running (or will be soon?), you can emerge at surface level right next to Wat Mangkon, one of the capital's biggest and most important Chinese temple-shrine complexes. Wat Traimit with the giant golden Buddha and the Chinatown heritage museum is within walking distance, as are several other Chinese temples and shrines and the Chinatown gate. There's also lots of good food to be had on Yaowarat Road, which is Chinatown's main drag. In the evening, food vendors set up on the sidewalk up and down the street, and also in some of the side streets. I've written about spending an evening in Chinatown on my blog: https://lotusandpersimmon.com/lpshop/blog/57_a-yaowarat-evening.html . If you're interested, there are other posts about Bangkok and Thailand on the blog. 

[Guest]

On 11/25/2019 at 5:25 PM, joshhb said:

By ancient city I presume you refer to Ayutthaya. It’s a great day out. For $50 there is a tour that departs from Sheraton. Coach up to Ayutthaya. See the old city and palaces and then a river cruise with lunch back to Bangkok.

Ayutthaya is also easily reached via the train from Hua Lamphong.     I prefer the experience of travelling by train and it's going to be a lot less than $50 as well.

[Boy69]

Ayutthaya deserves more then one day tour I had been there many years ago and enjoyed the ancient ruins and the lovely people I am planning a 3 nights visit to Ayutthaya on my upcoming trip in February.

[vinapu]

4 hours ago, z909 said:

Ayutthaya is also easily reached via the train from Hua Lamphong.     I prefer the experience of travelling by train and it's going to be a lot less than $50 as well.

and at railway station there  is  easy to get taxi / tuk tuk for  a private tour. All drivers are equipped with tour plan complete with pictures. That way one can spent as much or as little time at attraction as opposite to being herded on the organized tour.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, vinapu said:

and at railway station there  is  easy to get taxi / tuk tuk for  a private tour. All drivers are equipped with tour plan complete with pictures. That way one can spent as much or as little time at attraction as opposite to being herded on the organized tour.

Or even hire a bicycle.  

Not being herded on an organised tour is, in my view, quite an advantage.     

Also, if you pay $50 to go on a bus, I suspect it will be mostly full of overseas tourists, as very few Thais would pay that price when the cheapest train ticket is probably under 100 baht return.      Travelling on the train, you might actually encounter some Thai people.

 

 

 

 

[Moses]

On 11/27/2019 at 1:31 AM, llz said:

As for the train line, you will stop at Samut Sakhon (Mahachai) but should then cross the river and take another train to Samut Songkhram (better known as Mae Klong) where the train passes through the Market. You can be back on the same day with careful planning, or you can overnight in Mae Klong for a taste of real thai life.

Siamroads does tours to Mae Klong in one day...
Only Mae Klong if tourist chooses train-ferry-train path. Mae Klong +Ampawa floating (Fri-Sat-Sun) if tourist chooses private car.

[lotus123]

An alternative to Ayutthaya is Lopburi. It takes a little longer to get there, about 2.5-3 hours by ordinary train from Hualomphong Stn, but it's cheap and easy to do because the Lopburi train station is right in the centre of the town. From there, you can easily walk to the sights, but tuktuks are of course available at the station, too. There are Angkorean temple ruins to see, as well as the remains of the palaces of King Narai of Ayutthaya  and his chief minister, who was a Greek adventurer named Constantine Phaulkon. They came to Lopburi seasonally to get away from Ayutthaya. There's a small museum, too. Many visitors enjoy interacting with the monkeys that inhabit one of the Angkorean temples, and indeed much of the town centre, but I prefer to give them a wide berth. I don't know if it's still there or still good, but The White House restaurant used to be the best place to eat.