Avoid scams in this world jewel hub; learn to identify genuine gems on short courses, or take degree-level classes in such lapidary topics as crystal...

Through an arch facing the Oriental, a tree-lined piazza links a Catholic mission with this red brick cathedral. Built in 1910, it has twin towers and a...

A charming residence kept in the decor of the owner's parents, it records mid 20th-century bourgeois Thai lifestyle. An Indian doctor's house in the grounds...

Surrounding Lake Ratchada, this is the first stage in converting the Thailand Tobacco Monopoly into a park. It offers jogging, cycling (with bike hire),...

Amid Benjasiri's fountains, ponds and pavilions stand sculptures by Thai artist Misiem Yipintsoi. The park hosts festivals, and exercisers relish the skate...

Thais worship for fertility or prosperity at this canalside shrine to the female deity Chao Mae Tubtim. They offer palad khik (animist phallic totems) in...

This characterful Chinese shrine to a tiger god image is guarded by two further golden tigers, with vendors selling tiger-appeasing offerings such as pork,...

This respite from market mayhem is branded a 'Learning Park', with sculptures and playgrounds. The small Rail Hall of Fame houses old locomotives and...

The famous solid gold Buddha image has been moved from a drab hall into the soaring spire of a marble mondop (artefact tower) that is so glaringly white you...

This haven where King Rama VI wrote plays and books is the residence of Rama IX. Access is restricted to tours of the Royal Projects (which are sustainable...

Its history means this small, elegant park is underused. Chuwit Kamonwisit, a moustachioed former massage tycoon known as Sia Ang ('bathtub godfather'), was...

Designed by Italian sculptor Corrado Feroci (founder of Silpakorn University; p59), this memorial to the 1932 end of absolutism pointedly sits in a traffic...

Standing in City Hall square, the Giant Swing (Sao Ching Cha) was originally erected in 1784 as part of the adjacent Devasathan, a Brahmin compound of...

Thais seamlessly fuse modernity with spirit beliefs. This ability is encapsulated at the frenetic, smoky Hindu shrine to Brahma, erected in 1956 to appease...