Getting All Dolled Up At The National Museum In Bangkok

The big National Museum in Bangkok contains all sorts of treasures. Textiles, old pottery, many, many precious Buddha statues. The museum also has a small pavilion devoted to old toys and doll collecting. The highlight is an elaborate dollhouse, a nice example of how the mini half lived, way back when.

C'mon sleepy head, time to get up and get the little day started.

Entrance hall, nice woodwork. Oof, I'm tired already, time to hit the daybed.

I know, let's eat. Just bring me the whole tea set.

Quiet parts of the house. A room to stow random things like a giant safe, Buddha statues and big eggs. And an unpopular portrait. A funky bathroom, shag carpet not quite creeping all the way in.

Afternoon in the music room, a concert for one.

Treasures At The Bangkok National Museum

All sorts of good stuff to see at one of the biggest museums in Southeast Asia, The National Museum in Bangkok. Think of it as Thailand's Smithsonian museums all in one complex.

The architecture of the place is old and traditional. Monks in orange like it.

Gotta have a life size elephant model. All about the golden seating. Mmm, fancy, rich, silk textiles.

Impressive collection of colorful masks, used in the traditional dance performance, Khon.

Fun with ivory carving. Giant elephant tusks and a ceremonial shovel, used to commemorate the construction of a railroad. Not available at Home Depot.

Visiting and praying at the Buddhaisawan hall, an active temple still used in the complex.

Seeing The Local Past At The Museum Of Nonthaburi

Just a little north of Bangkok is the small town of Nonthaburi, where there is a nice, little local history, culture museum in a dilapidated municipal building. The museum is a nice contrast to all the big city, golden palace-like sites of the giant metropolis next door.

Old building, old museum. The structure is historic and architecturally significant. It's in the center of town, was once used as city hall and the building is made from local teak wood. The patina might be overwhelming the place. You can still see the regal bones, design.

Pick 'em if you got 'em. Nonthaburi was famous for productive orchards and a big diorama in the museum illustrates the related agricultural work.

Pottery was a big product of the town. Traditional designs are on display.

You think that pottery makes itself? Another impressive diorama, showing a little peek into the pottery process. A bunch of hauling and firing.

Aww, adorable end product, a clay squirrel. With fruit.

Terrifying Torture At Bangkok's Corrections Museum

The highlight/lowlight at the Corrections Museum is a big room with lots of exhibits of the variety of torture used in Thailand over the centuries. A pain and punishment for every transgression.

The big room of unfun.

Starting things off with your basic stockade. Next up, man in a klang, which is a rope around the neck, attached to a chain and then to another prisoner. Miserable together.

Bringing the elephant into the room. Here's a rattan ball, barely big enough for a prisoner. Add a bunch of steel spikes inside, faced toward the victim. Then, let the elephant loose. Kick away.

Presenting the ta-ngok. A bamboo collar with shackles. Not going anywhere and hating it. Then there's the chin hook. The prisoner is raised to tip toes and left to be speared.

The torture box. The prisoner is locked in, left in the hot sun to bake. Not a nice treat.

Doing A Little Time At Bangkok's Corrections Museum

An hour or two is enough. Let's hope you don't have to spend years at the Corrections Museum. Always a guest, never an inmate. It's actually a snazzy place, all brand new and re-located from some old property deep in the city. The museum is now on the property of the Bangkok Corrections Department and is improved for your penal pleasure.

Imposing entrance. Nice touch with the raw concrete look. Entering the Big House.

Great question! No easy answer. Uhm, a lot of cells?

Gruesome history ahead. Specifically, a certain way of execution back in the day.

The modern method of execution, a flag signal to get the machine gun going. The unlucky inmate is strapped to a pole, blindfolded and behind a sheet, never a chance to know the when of being killed.

The end of the museum exhibition has a wall of hope, a little spin on all the good doing time does. ready for the exit.

Luxuriating At The Nai Lert Park Heritage Home

Traditional Thai teak wood houses are usually simple and utilitarian, basic raised residences for a family. Nai Lert, one of Thailand's biggest developers and investors, active around the beginning of the 20th century, took that traditional design and super sized it to his needs and desires.

Humble. Not so much. Grand with a capital G.

Expansive, open air and shaded verandas have seating areas and plenty of options for keeping cool during the tropical days. Teak finishes for miles and miles.

Built in 1915, the house is raised, just like any other home of that period. Just bigger, a lot bigger.

Bringing the indoors out. A big bed and paintings and furniture, all on the porch.

A nod to modernity, the fancy Fiat in the driveway.

Getting Worked Up At The Thai Labor Museum

One of the more curious museums in Bangkok is the Thai Labor Museum. It's off the beaten path, a bit worn around the edges, not really a tourist destination. It's a, ahem, labor of love. And also a good look at the development of labor in Thailand, giving a tiny voice to the underclass, the immigrants, the peeps not normally featured in any sort of museum.

There are a few exhibits of ancient, slave era stuff before the museum segues to the more recent past of Chinese labor. Typical, cramped housing. With opium pipe.

The heyday of manufacturing, brand name textile, clothes work in the 1970s and beyond. Your Fancy Logo Sewn Here.

Labor disaster. A cutaway diorama of a toy factory, part of an exhibit about a large fire at the facility in 1993. The incident is considered the worst industrial fire in history, killing 188 people.

Back to the Chinese, brought in to build railroads. What to do with your precious time off? Head to Thai boxing, of course!

Old propaganda poster, comparing communist and free rice production. Not sure the images depict much difference.

Bag It At The Bangkok Local Market

Bangkok still has plenty of local, outdoor food markets, including the canal shopping, along roads, around stations. Just tables overflowing with yummy stuff. It's also hot and buggy in Bangkok and shoppers are in a rush. Maybe bring out some plastic bags for hygiene and speed?

Veggies, bagged. Looking a little like buying goldfish.

Eggs, your way. Amazing, whole or fully yolk. Grab and scramble.

Fish, infinity pose. Escher would shop here.

Plastic, good for fly protection.

Maybe there are limits to what you want to buy, plastic bag or not. Mystery sauce and not so mysterious silk caterpillar bugs.