Eccentric Bangkok: top 5 sights

Nightingale-Olympic – Pahurat’s time-warped department store

Long before Thailand’s headlong rush towards globalisation came Nightingale-Olympic, the country’s first department store, selling fine imported goods to the city’s elite.

However, the years have not been kind to the once-grand emporium and with its crumbling facade it’s something of an anomaly in a city now dominated by gleaming mega-malls. But, against the odds, octogenarian owner Aroon Niyomvanich has kept it open, thanks to a small band of loyal customers.

To everyone else, it’s a bizarre forgotten realm, with flaking mannequins modelling 1960s fashions, and hilariously outdated products (wooden tennis racquets, rusting musical instruments) on display, and still for sale. Look past it’s undeniable weirdness and you’ll see a genuinely touching monument to a more sedate, innocent era.

70 Triphet Khwang Wang Road, opposite Old Siam Plaza

Take the Chao Phraya Express Boat to Saphun Phut pier, or ask a taxi driver to take you to ‘Old Siam’

Vendors, many of them homeless, set up stall from dawn until three in the morning alongside a stagnant canal (it’s best to visit in the evening when the canal is less ‘fragrant’) to sell virtually anything they can get their hands on, including items scavenged from rubbish tips.

Among the garbage though are often great finds such as out of print books, old film posters and a huge selection of Buddhist amulets and other curios.

Khlong Lod runs past Thanon Rachini,a stone’s throw from the tourist attractions of the Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha temple