Siam, silk and shrines
From the Jim Thompson House through MBK, Siam Paragon and Wat Pathum Wanaram to the Erawan Shrine and Nai Lert Park: silk, malls and a quiet temple. A flat walk of about 5 km, much of it on air-conditioned skywalks.
Route
Jim Thompson House Museum
Six traditional Thai teak houses joined into one compound, now a museum of Southeast Asian art and unsolved mystery.
Bangkok Art & Culture Centre
Publicly-funded contemporary arts centre born from a thirteen-year community campaign, free to enter.
MBK CENTER
Eight-floor shopping complex with two thousand stalls, famed for electronics, fashion, and a legendary counterfeit past.
Siam Paragon
Luxury mega-mall on royal parkland with supercar showrooms, an ocean aquarium, and sixteen cinema screens.
Wat Pathum Wanaram Rachaworawihan
Buddhist temple founded in eighteen fifty-seven, tucked between Siam shopping malls, with lotus gardens and a fraught modern history.
centralwOrld
Massive lifestyle shopping complex at the heart of Bangkok's busiest intersection, rebuilt after a dramatic fire.
Thao Maha Brahma
Gilded four-faced Brahma shrine built in 1956 to appease spirits during a cursed hotel construction.
Nai Lert Park Heritage Home
Restored nineteen-fifteen teak mansion and park, home to Bangkok's most unusual fertility shrine.