Thai Matchbox Museum

"There's a thin line between passion and obsession. In a dusty shophouse on Wong Sawang Road, picture frames are piled on tables and hung on walls, and miscellaneous items are placed on the floor and poke out from a glass cupboard. Only the sign outside, written in Thai, indicates that this is a matchbox museum.

"I wish others to learn more about matchboxes here," said Chuan Sunthranan, the 81-year-old owner and enthusiastic matchbox collector."

http://www.bangkokpost.com/070608_Outlook/07Jun2008_out001.php

Old Bangkok

Need a shoe? Check out Chatuchak

Chatuchak market in Bangkok, also known as JJ, is widely regarded as the world's biggest, with more than 15,000 stalls set amid 14 hectares of narrow, windy lanes. Officially open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays, it's also open on Fridays to wholesalers, although individuals won't be turned away. More than 200,000 people shop at the market each day, buying everything from clothes to watches - imitation, brand new and second-hand - leather goods, silk, food and livestock.

Ámantee

http://www.amantee.com/

Ámantee is a new venue for art lovers and connoisseursin suburban Bangkok.

Ámantee (which means 'peaceful space') is an exquisite complex of traditional Thai-style houses in an artfullylandscaped tropical garden. Ámantee is a place enhancing personal serenity.

Ámantee is a repository of Oriental and Tibetan antiques & arts, where favourable prices equitably benefit sources and buyers alike.

Raan Jay Fai

New York Times Review
"Like rock bands, the best noodle slingers attract groupies. Outside this simple open-air restaurant in old Bangkok, lines of cars, tuk-tuks and motorcycles crawl through the hot air, belching exhaust toward Jay Fai’s al fresco seating. Still, at Jay Fai’s opening time of around 4 in the afternoon, a line waits to be served, and the cook throws handfuls of chicken chunks and noodles into a pan as if she were a metronome on double time.

Jay Fai noodles stir-fried with spicy Thai basil is a dish also called drunken noodles. Some Thais believe the dish got its name because street cooks serve it into the wee hours, when their clientele is the drunkest. The broad rice noodles come out of the pan thin and chewy, as if they could tear easily. Yet they never turn tough, and the chef throws in large bits of sweet Thai basil, the edges seared with a slight soy aftertaste."

http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/asia/thailand/bangkok/restaurant-detail.html?vid=1194733495893

Shrine of the Goddess Tuptim

"Besides Buddhist temples and Buddha Images, Bangkok abounds with numerous small and large spirit houses and shrines to Hindu Gods and animism related deities. One less visited shrine is located on the grounds of the Nai Lert Bangkok Hotel (also known as Swissotel) on Wireless Road (Witthayu Road).

Penises abound at the shrine of Goddess Tuptim. Most are built of wood, and are quite huge, including some which stand 10 feet tall. Follow a brick path lined by knee-high wooden phalluses, and you will arrive at a huge cluster, in varying shapes and sizes, including some adorned with pastel-colored scarves. In an anthropomorphous flourish, some of the biggest penises stand on two legs, and display their own set of genitals near ground level."

Prasart Museum

Prasart Museum is in a private house on the eastern edge of the city -this is an unusual open-air exhibition of traditional Asian buildings, collected and reassembled by wealthy entrepreneur and art lover Mr. Prasart.

The place is rarely visited by mass tourists, partly because of it's intentionally limited for number of visitors. The admission is by appointment only, and usually requires one to two days notice, but it makes a pleasant day out and is worth the effort.

Set in a gorgeously lush tropical garden, it comprises about a dozen replicas of traditional buildings, including a golden teak palace inspired by the royal residence now housed at the National Museum, a Chinese temple and water garden, a Khmer shrine, a Sukhothai Period teak library set over a lotus pond, and a European-style mansion, fashionable with Bangkok royalty in the late nineteenth century. Some of these structures have been assembled from the ruins of buildings found all over Asia, but there is no attempt at purist authenticity - the aim is to give a flavor of architectural styles, not an exact reproduction.

9 Krung Thep Kritha 4
A LaneKrung Thep Kritha Road
Huamark Sub-District
Bangkapi
Bangkok
Thailand 10240
Tel: 66 2 379 3601

Silom Art Walk

Blue Elephant Cooking School - Bangkok

http://www.blueelephant.com/school/index.html

Som Tam at Taling Chan

Neilson Hays Library

The Neilson Hays Library was founded in 1869 by the Ladies' Bazaar Association, which formed the Bangkok Ladies' Library Association to serve the reading needs of the large English-speaking community in Bangkok. The building and property now occupied by the Library were part of an endowment received from Dr. Hayward Hays in 1922 in memory of his wife Jennie Neilson Hays who had served on the committee of the Library for at least 25 years. It is the oldest non-profit association in the Kingdom of Thailand.

Current Exhibits: http://neilsonhayslibrary.com/exhibits.shtml

Kathmandu Gallery

The KATHMANDU PHOTO GALLERY, in a wonderfully-restored old pre-war shophouse aptly located near the Indian (Sri Mariamma) Temple in Bangkok’s financial district. Its owner, Thai photo-artist Manit Sriwanichpoom, has modeled it along the lines of photographers’ shops of old, where one could walk in and sift through folders of signed prints for sale. Downstairs the antique green walls are literally covered with framed black and white photographs of varied subjects from Manit’s travels, making it seem like a treasure chest, while the airy upstairs gallery plays host to the current temporary exhibition. A book corner offers a few art, photography and spiritually adventurous titles, such as books by Carlos Castaneda.

http://www.kathmandu-bkk.com/

Harmonique

"Meander your way down the street north of the Shangrila past the Lebua until you reach Soi 34. You won't be disappointed by Harmonique, and we recommend you hit the place for lunch so you can see impact of the sun shining into this 70+ year old extremely authentic Thai bistro with vines and flowers and trees blending in with the antique atmosphere of the courtyard garden. And the food? An extensive menu with plenty to make you sweat if you like those little red chiles. Service was a little slow, but par for the course in the Land of a Thousand Smile, and who cares anyway... you are on vacation! Enjoy the place. Highly, Highly recommended. Also, great silver jewelry shopping on the main street (forget the name)"

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g293916-d1022137-r22241978-Harmonique-Bangkok.html

Chote Chitr

Josef Polleross for The New York Times

by JOSHUA KURLANTZICK for the NEW YORK TIMES
"SURROUNDED by groups of civil servants greedily slurping bowls of soup at Chote Chitr, a tiny, family-run restaurant in the older part of Bangkok, our table soon overflows like a Thai Thanksgiving. The yam makhua, a salad of grilled long eggplants topped with tiny dried shrimps, combines the tang of fresh shallots with expert charring. Prepared by the hand of a skilled griller, the vegetables retain a smoky crunch on the outside, but a first bite pierces the crackling char and reveals a juicy eggplant so sweet it resembles a ripe peach, full of lime juice and fish sauce that has soaked into the flesh.

Next comes Chote Chitr’s gaeng som, a soup flavored with tamarind and palm sugar, packed with chunks of coarsely chopped cauliflower and large, meaty shrimp, their fat melting into the hot broth. Native to southern Thailand, where cooks use the abundant local seafood, gaeng som has a dense mouth feel, because the chef has added finely ground fish flesh into the stock, thickening it like roux."

http://events.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/travel/06bangkok.html

Rain Dogs Bar & Art Gallery, Bangkok

Tucked away down a dead-end street, you'd never find Rain Dogs unless you knew about it. Run by and for local and expat artists, photographers and journalists, it feels refreshingly grungy in increasingly slick Bangkok.