Beautifully Bizarre Bangkok: Top Extraordinary Sights in the Thai Capital

Reserving a room at a hotel in Bangkok like Saladaeng Colonnade opens the door to myriad encounters with the strangely beautiful and the beautifully strange. Among the world's most vibrant and dynamic metropolises, Thailand's capital is home to attractions that are capable of giving travelers a memory of images that can stick with them for the rest of their lives. From museums that tackle the bizarre to various creative expressions of faith, the places you are bound to experience are ones that may not be seen elsewhere.

A shrine of phalluses
If you can't tolerate the sight of the male organ, then this place is not exactly one you would want to visit first. Dedicated to Chao Mae Tubtim, a female fertility spirit, this place is where you'll find hundreds of phallus representations made of wood or stone brought in by women trying to conceive a child. These lingams stationed in the Chidlom-Ploenchit area are decorated with colorful ribbons and surrounded with fragrant lotus and jasmine garlands.

Intriguing museums
If your idea of a museum tour is beholding collections of the usual artifacts, then you have to vary your expectations when headed to this metropolis. Be ready to witness an assemblage of pirated items in Yan Nawa District's Museum of Counterfeit Goods. Can you stand flashing images of gore in your head? Then from your Bangkok accommodation, drive to Maha Chai Road and enter the Corrections Museum, where you will find penal and confessional facilities still in use just 3 decades ago. And expect being enveloped in the scent of formaldehyde at the Forensic Museum within the Siriraj Hospital, where they keep a repository of pathology, forensic, and anatomy samples.

An abandoned high-rise building
Does the description above seem a little too mundane to deserve its own paragraph in this article about the extraordinary? If you said yes, then think again. The Sathorn Unique, a 49-story edifice in downtown Bangkok was meant to be the capital's most exclusive residential complex when it was started in 1990. Seven years later, during the Asian financial crisis, it was left unfinished, and some locals speculate that it is now haunted by ghosts.

Uniquely shaped skyscrapers
Expect to flash a smile when gazing at Bangkok's skyline, as it is embellished with buildings that possess very interesting forms. In Chatuchak District, you will find the 3-tower Elephant Building dedicated to what could be the country's favorite animal. A short drive down to South Sathorn Road will already let you lay eyes on a building that literally looks like a robot complete with windows that serve as its eyes.

A 3-headed elephant statue
Another establishment dedicated to the most significant creature in Thailand's religion and culture, the Erawan Museum is devoted to a 3-headed elephant god in Hindu mythology. With a height of 29 meters and length of 39 meters, it is a gargantuan copper statue that weighs over 250 tons. When coming from Saladaeng Colonnade, go to Samut Prakan to finally be in the presence of this captivating landmark.