Tours of Bangkok Bangkok Tourist Attractions Wat Phra Kaew, the Emerald Buddha temple The Grand Palace in Bangkok Wat Pho, the Reclining Buddha Temple Wat Arun Bangkok's National Museum Other Tourist Attractions in Bangkok Day trips from Bangkok More day trips from Bangkok Excursions from Bangkok

South of Bangkok, in Samut Prakan province, are the Ancient City (Muang Boran) and the Crocodile Farm. The Ancient City is a 200 acre outdoor museum, roughly in the shape of Thailand, which contains replicas of the main attractions found throughout the country and some of the replicas here no longer exist in their original form. There are over 60 monuments in total appropriately located throughout the grounds, and the grounds themselves are landscaped with small lakes and waterfalls, rock gardens etc...It's best to come here on a tour, or with your own transport, as the grounds are too large to walk around. The website is at http://www.ancientcity.com/. The crocodile farm has a huge number of crocodiles (it claims 60,000+), with the feeding and crocodile wrestling show being the highlight of a visit here. The fate that ultimately awaits crocodiles here is their skins being turned into wallets and briefcases, and the meat going to nearby restaurants ! Somewhat ironically, it has been remarkably successful at preserving the crocodile in Thailand - they have just about been hunted to extinction in the wild. The crocodile farm also have a website at http://www.crocodilefarm.com/.

Another popular day trip is the journey on the river to Nonthaburi, a densely populated town north of Bangkok. (It's sometimes considered a Bangkok suburb, as Bangkok's rapid growth has meant it's hard to tell where one starts and the other finishes). There's little of interest in Nonthaburi itself, but it's often visited as the northernmost stop of the Chao Phraya river express boats. The return trip from the Oriental hotel pier, which lasts around 2.5 - 3 hours, costs only 20B (approx US$0.5) per person. Despite it's proximity to central Bangkok, it has a definite provincial feeling - be prepared for something of a culture shock if this is your first trip into rural Thailand. Attractions are limited to a few wats, the Singha brewery and the infamous 'Bangkok Hilton' - the none-too-pleasant Bang Kwang prison, where foreigners convicted of drug related crimes invariably end up.

To the northeast of Bangkok in Minburi suburb are Suwan Siam Water Park and the Safari World park. The water park is set in large landscaped gardens and has artificial surf, whirlpools, fountains, waterfalls, large water slides etc...Other attractions here are children's playgrounds, aviaries, an open zoo and botanical gardens. At 170 acres, Safari world is the largest wildlife park in Southeast Asia. This has a wildlife section, with 75 animal species, including animals such as giraffes, zebras, elephants, lions and tigers. The marine section has trained dolphin shows and an aviary section with eagles, macaws, parrots etc...There are various shows available (including dolphins, birds, seals, monkeys). This is best visited on a tour, as the wildlife section is for vehicles only (though the park also has coaches you can go through on, and most taxis drivers can be persuaded to drive through it if you offer them a bit more money). The other sections can be visited on foot. Their website is at http://www.safariworld.com/.

An hour north of Bangkok by bus is the former summer residence of the Ayuthayan kings at Bang Pa-In. It was abandoned after the move of the capital to Bangkok, but later restored by King Mongkut (Rama IV) and used occasionally by King Chulalongkorn (Rama V). It was abandoned again after Chulalongkorn's wife and children drowned in the nearby Menam river, despite being surrounded by loyal subjects. This was due to regulations governing the relationship between royalty and commoners at the time, stating that any person who touched the royal person to rescue them were to be executed. The complex itself is elegantly designed and reasonably interesting, but is only really worth visiting as part of a trip to Ayuthaya, 20km to the north. Bang Sai, the Royal Folk Arts and Crafts Center is also around the same distance away, and was established to try to keep alive traditional Thai technologies and life e.g. basketry, wood carving etc...It's only really worth a visit if you have a special interest in this subject.

A 160km, two hour trip, Phetburi (sometimes called Phetchaburi) is just about visitable in a day trip. It's worth a visit for the historical park with it's many old temples, spanning a time gap of some several centuries. It's one of Thailand's oldest towns, but was never destroyed by the Burmese unlike others and so much of the old temples are still intact. There's also the bright white Khao Wang, a palace built by King Mongkut (Rama IV) in the 1860's.

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