Abhisek Dusit Throne Hall

Royal

Because this is royal property, visitors are required to cover up. Long pants or long skirts, shirts with sleeves and closed-toe footwear will be provided if you don't happen to have any in your rucksack.

museum : architectural highlight

Ancient City ( Meuang Boran ), south of Bangkok, is billed as the largest open-air museum in the world. Over 100 of Thailand's most impressive monuments are rendered slightly less impressive in this 80-hectare (200-acre) collection of scale models. The grounds follow the basic shape of Thailand itself and the monuments are placed accordingly.

Visions of Las Vegas and its corny replicas of world treasures might spring to mind, but the Ancient City has architectural integrity and is a preservation site for classical buildings and art forms. It's a great place for long, undistracted bicycle rides (bikes can be rented from the admissions office), as it's usually quiet and never crowded. There's lots of open space for picnics.

Silk King's Legacy
art-related : significant house

This is a great spot to visit for authentic Thai residential architecture and Southeast Asian art. Located at the end of an undistinguished soi next to Khlong Saen Saeb, the premises once belonged to the American silk entrepreneur Jim Thompson, who deserves most of the credit for the worldwide popularity of Thai silk.

Thompson was a New York architect who briefly served in the Office of Strategic Services (forerunner of the CIA) in Thailand during WWII. After the war he found New York too tame and moved to Bangkok. Thai silk caught his eye and he sent samples to fashion houses in Milan, London and Paris, building a steady worldwide clientele for a craft in danger of dying out.

Thompson collected parts of various derelict Thai homes in central Thailand and had them reassembled in the current location in 1959. Although for the most part they're assembled in typical Thai style, one striking departure from tradition is the way each wall has its exterior side facing the house's interior, thus exposing the wall's bracing system.

On display in the main house are Thompson's small but splendid Asian art collection and his personal belongings. A plush bar overlooking the canal offers cold drinks and occasional live jazz. The khlong at the end of the soi is one of Bangkok's liveliest.

Green Lung
park

Bangkok's biggest green lung, named after Buddha's birthplace in Nepal, is crammed with a motley crew of tai chi students, karaoke crooners, vendors selling snake blood, chess players, joggers, and kite flyers. Some say it's the best way to escape Bangkok without leaving town; we say, join the throng, especially early in the morning when the air is fresh.

Funeral Chariots
museum

Thailand's National Museum is the largest museum in Southeast Asia and an excellent place to learn about Thai art. All periods and styles are represented, from Dvaravati to Ratanakosin, and there's also a well-maintained collection of traditional musical instruments from Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Indonesia.

Other permanent exhibits include ceramics, clothing and textiles, woodcarving, royal regalia, Chinese art and weaponry. In addition to the exhibition halls, the museum grounds contain the restored Buddhaisawan (Phutthaisawan) Chapel.

Inside the chapel (built in 1795) are some well-preserved original murals and one of the country's most revered Buddha images, Phra Phuttha Sihing. Legend claims the image came from Ceylon, but art historians attribute it to the 13th-century Sukhothai period.

The museum buildings were originally built in 1782 as the palace of Rama I's viceroy, Prince Wang Na. Rama V turned it into a museum in 1884. Be aware that the museum isn't air-conditioned and that English signage is sporadic. Taking a foreign-language tour will contribute greatly to your appreciation of Thailand's rich artistic history.

Snakes Alive
zoo ; quirky

It's touristy, yet completely compelling. This snake farm, one of only a few world-wide, was established in 1923 to breed snakes for antivenoms. The snake feeding and milking shows are a nice sideline; get the snake handlers to show you Thailand's most venomous snakes such as the king cobra, banded krait and Russell's viper.

Gliding Royalty
museum ; royal

The royal barges are long, fantastically ornamented boats used in ceremonial processions on the river. The largest is 50m (160ft) long and requires a 50-man rowing crew, plus seven umbrella bearers, two helmsmen and two navigators, a flagbearer, a rhythm-keeper and a chanter. The barges are kept in sheds on the Thonburi side of the river, next to Khlong Bangkok Noi.

Suphannahong, the king's personal barge, is the most important of the boats; made from a single piece of timber, it's the largest dugout in the world. The name means 'golden swan', and a huge swan's head has been carved into the bow. Lesser barges feature bows carved into other Hindu-Buddhist mythological shapes such as the naga (sea dragon) and the garuda (Vishnu's bird mount).

One of the best times to see the fleet in action on the river is during the royal kath?n ceremony at the end of phans?a (the Buddhist rains retreat, ending with an October or November new moon), when new robes are offered to the monastic contingent.

Harem House
significant house

Said to be the world's largest golden-teak building, this beautiful three-storey mansion has huge staircases, octagonal rooms and lattice walls - magnificent, yet surprisingly serene and intimate. Originally constructed on Ko Si Chang in 1868 and moved to the present site in 1910, Vimanmek was the first permanent building on the Dusit palace grounds.

The mansion served as Rama V's residence in the early 1900s. The interior contains various personal effects of the king, and a treasure-trove of early Ratanakosin art objects and antiques. Smaller adjacent buildings display historic photography documenting the Chakri dynasty.

As this is royal property, visitors wearing shorts or sleeveless shirts will be refused entry.

religious/spiritual

Wat Mahathat is the most important centre of Buddhist learning in southeast Asia. Over the years, it has evolved into an informal community centre and is always bustling with visitors and monks. It holds meditation sessions and the English-speaking monks will help you feel more comfortable here than at any other temple in Bangkok.

Hours: 9:00am-5:00pm

Emerald Buddha
religious/spiritual

Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha) is an architectural wonder of gleaming, gilded chedi seemingly buoyed above the ground, polished orange-and-green roof tiles piercing the humid sky, mosaic-encrusted pillars and rich marble pediments.

It's quite easy to tour the grounds in a sort of daze, enamoured and confused by Thai Buddhism, and not realise until much later that you didn't see the eponymous figure. Here's why: the Emerald Buddha is only 66cm (26in) high and sits so far above worshippers in the main temple building that the gilded shrine is more striking than the small figure it cradles.

Adjoining Wat Phra Kaew is the Grand Palace (Phra Borom Maharatchawong), a former royal residence (the current monarch lives in Chitralada Palace). The exteriors of the four Grand Palace buildings are worth a swift perusal, however, for their royal bombast.

The largest of the palace buildings is the triple-winged Chakri Mahaprasat (Grand Palace Hall). Designed in 1882 by British architects, the exterior shows a peculiar blend of Italian Renaissance and traditional Thai architecture.

Enter the Wat Phra Kaew and Grand Palace complex through the third gate from the river pier.

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