Places B C Wants to Go

This enormous gold Buddha statue was hidden inside a stucco decoy for centuries.

Displaying religious art made almost exclusively in modern styles helps set this Buddhist temple apart from the myriad others in Bangkok.

Sidle up for this Chinatown watering hole for Thai moonshine accompanied by traditional live tunes.

This dazzling Buddhist temple was constructed from over one million ceramic tiles salvaged from a British shipwreck.

Bangkok's take on the High Line is a park on a traffic bridge above the iconic Chao Phraya River.

Striking, enormous gold-plated sculpture of Buddha installed in the 19th century.

Time-frozen department store of dangerous and dusty relics.

A treasure trove of pathological, forensic, parasitological, and anatomical specimens.

Bangkok's men with dangerous jobs come here in search of protective talismans.

Buddhist university that allows English-language speakers the opportunity to study with monks in Thailand.

The headquarters of the Mahanikai school of Buddhism, Thailand's largest monastic order.

The pillars inside this small, ornate shrine hold Bangkok's horoscope within them.

For centuries young Thai men used this Giant Swing as a slingshot to heaven.

Chronicling the history of Thailand’s unique currencies, from the silver “bullet money” to porcelain gambling tokens of various shapes.

This statue took 60 years to complete.

This dangerous-looking suspension bridge may have been too unstable to remain open.

This Theravada Buddhist temple is a peaceful oasis steeped in history.

A sprawling tropical paradise offers a taste of fruits from around the world.

A seaside haven for 300 rescued cats.

Feast on coconut crab curry at one of Thailand’s only outposts of Baba cuisine.

Grotesque statues of figures from Buddhist hell haunt the temple's Sin Park.

Surat Thani's official flower—and the world's largest—smells of rotting meat.

How often do you find security guards patrolling tropical beaches to protect rare sea turtles from poachers? 

A sculpture garden built by a retired durian farmer.