Visiting all of Thailand (or the Ancient City)

Today, we are doing something a little different. A&A are planning to visit a riverfront seafood buffet today, as it is something they both want to try, and they don’t want to risk leaving this too late before their flight home. R is not that keen on seafood, or we would probably have gone with them.

Instead, we decided that we wanted to visit the Ancient City. We researched how to get there, and although it’s not too far from the centre of Bangkok, it required taking the BTS, followed by a taxi ride, and then the same route back again afterwards. As we expected the visit to be quite a long day, with us being outside in the sun a lot, we were a little hesitant about this. So, we checked out the Klook app and discovered that we could join a tour bus, which would take us there and give us entry into the park. The best bit was that the cost of the bus and entry ticket would be less (500 baht, £11.80) than the normal entry fee (800 baht, £18.88) if we just turned up ourselves, and we’d have to add on the transport costs! So, we booked this. The instructions explained that we needed to be at the Siam Paragon collection point at 08.45 am for check-in. We were a little nervous as to what to expect, but everything was very well organised, and we were assigned our group number and tour guide. Then, just before 09.00 am, we all boarded the tour bus. It was a normal-sized bus, but it was only about a third full, so we had plenty of space. Our tour guide, Naret, explained about the park on our way there. The journey was about 40minutes, and we would have 5 hours in the park itself.

Naret went and got our tickets for each group on his bus, and then Roth went and sorted out a golf cart for us. If you go here, then I would strongly recommend you get a cart to roam around the park, as it is a vast park, and the cart at least gives you a little bit of cover overhead. Just remember to bring your driver's license (and note that they may also ask for your passport). The 4-person golf cart cost 350 baht (£8.26) for the first hour and then 200 baht (£4.72) for every hour after that. In total, we ended up paying 950 baht (£22.44) for the duration. You can also hire a 2 or 6-person golf cart or electric bikes.

Muang Boran, The Ancient City

The Ancient City (also called Mueang Boran) is a museum park featuring replicas of famous Siamese sites. It was constructed by Lek Viriyaohan and occupies over 200 acres in the shape of Thailand.

It is considered one of the world's largest outdoor museums. The park features 116 structures representing Thailand's famous monuments and architectural landmarks. The layout of Ancient Siam roughly follows the geographic shape of the kingdom, with monuments positioned in their corresponding real-world locations. Some structures are life-size replicas of existing or former sites, while others are scaled-down versions. Still others are creative designs rather than replicas of any specific historical structure.

The replicas were constructed with the assistance of experts from the National Museum to ensure historical accuracy. Notable reconstructions include the former Grand Palace of Ayutthaya (destroyed during the Burmese invasion of 1767).

Lek Viriyaphan was interested in art since childhood, which inspired him to establish the Ancient City. Initially, he intended to build a Thai map-shaped golf course where miniatures of important national ancient sites were placed, which aimed to serve tourism and education purposes only.

Lek started doing research on the establishment of the Ancient City. He found that many ancient sites had been left in decay. Thus, he changed the concept of the Ancient City from being a tourism attraction and relaxation to an open-air museum for educational purposes to benefit newer generations who would be proud of their national heritage.

Lek continually created artwork in the Ancient City as well as the Sanctuary of Truth in Pattaya and the Erawan Museum in Samut Prakan until the end of his life on 17 November 2000.

We all absolutely LOVED the park, and even though we had 5 hours there, it flew by, and we still did not cover it all. It’s hard to comprehend just how big a place it is. There are plenty of food and drink places dotted around the park, as well as toilets and various little shops selling souvenirs and the like. It clearly employs a large number of people in the local area, which is fantastic. However, the part that impressed me the most was that one person had the idea, the lifelong passion (and the resources) to create such an amazing legacy for generations to enjoy and learn from. We were all pretty exhausted, even though we had the cart to travel around in, there is just so much to see and before you know it, you have wandered off quite a bit to see something else nearby! Overall, it was a fabulous day, and the total cost of the trip for the 3 of us was around £55.

After we got back home, we had a nice shower and a bit of a rest as S was taking us out for dinner at a Korean restaurant (Hongdae Station) in the building complex. We all had delicious meals, though they were BIG portions, and the bibs were necessary because it was messy eating with the steel chopsticks!

A&A also had a great time at the seafood buffet place, though there were the usual tales of some people being too greedy and hovering up all the items….

Our route today:

DAY 39: 2 January 2026

Bangkok, Thailand