Sathorn Attractions

Christ Church

After an influx of protestant missionaries in the early to mid 19th Century, King Rama IV granted land for a church to be built to serve them in Charoenkrung Road. However, it wasn't long until the English Church (as it was then known due its mainly English congregation) was overstretched. In 1904 King Rama V granted permission for a bigger and more centrally located church to be built.

The result was this lovely white Anglican Church on Convent Road, built in simple gothic-meets-colonial style. Today it serves a congregation of around 500, lending spiritual shelter from Sathorn Road's teeming traffic. The interior is painted white and contains stained glass windows, one of which depicts Christ's crucifixion. It also contains Thailand's only pipe organ. Services and sermons are given in both Thai and English.

Kathmandu Photo Gallery

This period-style shop-house gallery is a contemporary take on Thai art and culture. Featuring six photo exhibits per year, each intends to be thought-provoking and promotes both upcoming and well-established talents. Signed prints by the gallery’s owner, photo-artist Manit Sriwanichpoom, are also available for browsing or purchase, along with books and souvenirs that run along the spiritual theme. Kathmandu is no ordinary gallery but an experience that stirs your soul and emotions more than anything else.

M.R. Kukrit's Home

Thailand's Prime Minister from 1974 to 1975, M.R. Kukrit Pramoj and his beautiful home on Soi Suan Phlu were often the focus of national politics during times of turbulence, with journalists flocking outside. Today, thanks to the Kukrit 80 Foundation, it's the public who now flock to see the elegant home of this intellectual leader.

More than a museum, it's a testament to his talents not only as politician, but also poet, writer and artist. Its five traditional teak houses on stilts were painstakingly assembled under his supervision, a process that took over 20 years. Each is inter-connected and crammed full of fine-art treasures, not museum pieces but the things he saved and savoured, like ceramics, precious furniture and Buddha images. There is also an interesting library, the stacks of books ranging from fiction to philosophy proof of his diverse interests, and a Thai-style pavilion used for public functions. The serene gardens are full of exotic plants, trees and flowers but most notable for their bonsai-style trees, called 'mai dat' in Thai.