Half an hour from central Bangkok is a 200-acre tribute to Siam, filled with reconstructed cultural history. The park is nearly silent except for one corner, where a snippet from a vaguely familiar Bach partita plays in an endless loop. In the nearby lagoon gilt-prowed royal canoes sit at anchor, surrounded by hundreds of buildings representing ancient Siam. You can rent an ancient but serviceable bicycle at the entrance, or a golf cart, and inspect the full-scale or miniature replicas of temples, homes, community centers and monasteries, all carefully labeled in English and Thai. Some rooms are furnished in period style, others your imagination can fill. All are exquisite, and you can spend a whole day or more walking through these impeccably maintained and structures. There's even an ancient Khmer temple on a little mountaintop that provides a spectacular view of Bangkok, if you're willing to climb a few hundred steps. Who knew? The place is not a normal tourist stop. No buses and no noisy Farang in shorts, at least when we were there. We've around Thailand for years, and wouldn't have known Muang Boran existed except for a tip from a Thai friend. Apparently it was the gift of a wealthy Thai in the 1960's, who also endowed upkeep and expansion.
In America or Europe this would be a huge commercial attraction, heavily marketed to tourists. Although there's a website, and Farang are certainly welcome, the Thais seem content to let us discover it on our own, living small.