Top 10 Most Unusual Sights in Bangkok

A huge, three-headed elephant statue standing upon an equally gargantuan pedestal is the first, and last, thing you see when visiting Samut Prakan's Erawan Museum. It's a splendid, towering beast: 250 tons in weight, 29 metres high, 39 metres long, and cast in a pure green-hued copper. Read More...

Seen everywhere from houses to gleaming skyscrapers, very little real estate in Bangkok escapes a cute little spirit house! They’re deceptively versatile: homes for the city’s colourful cast of roaming spirits, symbols of Thailand’s spiritual diversity and, of course, beautiful to look at! Read More...

The focal point of an ancient Brahmin ritual thanking the God Shiva for the rice harvest, participants here used to swing 80 feet into the air while attempting to grab a bag of silver with their teeth – that is, until King Rama VII banned the practice due to the many deaths! Read More...

Corpses of mass murdering cannibals, glass jars containing deformed babies and gruesome autopsy photographs are all preserved for posterity in Bangkok’s very own hall of horrors. Not for the faint-hearted! Read More...

The full arsenal of sadistic punishments used on prisoners in the past is on show at this horrifying museum. Its man-holding rattan balls (for elephant football), head squeezing apparatus and many malevolent confession-extracting methods make Iraq’s notorious Abu Ghraib Prison look like the Ritz. Read More...

You find them in Chinatown or at Wat Ratchanda, but the best place to procure amulets and, in turn, good luck is Wat Mahatat. Every Sunday hundreds of the faithful study tiny Buddha images with magnifying glasses, looking for the one destined to get them the girl, pass exams, find riches or ward off the mother-in-law! Read More...

Wat Pathum Khongkha in Chinatown was where miscreant members of the Royal Family were disposed of in the early Rattanokosin period. To prevent royal blood from staining the floors and the Kingdom, the regal receiver was put in a red sack, and beaten to death with a fragrant sandalwood club. Read More...

The only shrine in Thailand that — as far as we know — even has its own television set, switched on 24/7. A young woman died in labour while her husband was at war, which is where this fascinating ghost story begins. Today, young men looking to wriggle their way out of military service come to enlist her help. Or people looking for those elusive winning lottery numbers. Read More...

Literally translated as ‘house of monk’s alm bowl’, Bann Bat is perhaps the last existing place in Bangkok that still hammers out – by hand – the brass bowl that Buddhist monks carry with them during the morning alms round. The Baan Bat community (or Monk’s Bowl Making Village) has been producing monk’s alm bowls since the late 18th Century, today less than five households still make a living selling their craft. Tucked away in a narrow backstreet just south of Wat Saket (The Golden Mount Temple), it looks no different from any other backstreets of Bangkok, where the same old, non-descriptive buildings fail to give any hints to what’s hidden down the alley. But step inside and look very closely – you will notice stacks of unfinished brass bowls lying about and constant banging noise echoing through the air.