A city rich with contrasts, contradictions and juxtapositions, Bangkok is fertile breeding ground for the strangely beautiful and beautifully strange. Some of these unusual sights, like blind street singers / musicians, baby elephants and fortune tellers, you encounter before you even start looking. Other oddities take a little longer to discover, but are all the more rewarding for it. Thais live overridingly — often unnervingly — in the moment. Explanations to them are deemed unnecessary. Therefore, instead of pondering what created the weird and wacky places that made it onto our Top 10 of Bangkok’s Unusual Sights, just get out there and enjoy their effect. When you’re done, please help us by voting for your favourite.
1:
Phallic Shrine
At the Goddes Tubtim Shrine hundreds of oversized phalluses of all shapes and sizes stand tall, proud, and dare we say, erect – proof that even in the spirit world size really does matter! Found in the grounds of the Swissotel Nai Lert Park Hotel, people flock here to find fertility.
Rank
: 1 - Total
Score : 54 votes
2:
Ko Kret A community of pottery-making Mon people, a small minority group believed to have been the first inhabitants of Thailand, sought refuge on this unspoilt manmade island in the 18th century. Located smack bang in the middle of the Chao Phraya River, they’re still here along with their unique identity and take on Buddhism.
Rank
: 2 - Total
Score : 20 votes
3:
Giant Swing 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!
Rank
: 3 - Total
Score : 13 votes
4:
Spirit Houses
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!
Rank
: 4 - Total
Score : 13 votes
5:
Forensic Musuem 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!
Rank
: 5 - Total
Score : 12 votes
6:
Royal Dragon Restaurant
At this restaurant, traditionally attired Chinese maidens whiz around on rollerskates while juggling plates of seafood, amazing flying waiters soar through the air on a cable and harness, delivering dishes without spilling a drop. With over 1,000 staff, seating for 5,000 and 25,000 plates to wash up every night, it’s also the world’s biggest restaurant! (see number 31 on our top 100 list)
Rank
: 6 - Total
Score : 11 votes
7:
Corrections Museum 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.
Rank
: 7 - Total
Score : 10 votes
8:
The First Execution Chamber 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.
Rank
: 8 - Total
Score : 6 votes
9:
Mae Nak Shrine
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.
Rank
: 9 - Total
Score : 6 votes
10:
Amulet Market 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!
