susan pakkad house
 

I know nothing about this place. I had planned to go to the Jim Thompson house. How do they compare?

I haven't been to either yet, but in my research, the Jim Thompson House seems to come more highly recommended (I had originally planned to do both, but will Suan Pakkard is now on the "only if we have time" list.) Suan Pakkard (not Susan) is a complex of several traditional Thai houses. Jim Thompson's place, of course, is the home of the fascinating American who disappeared and was never heard from again. From the pictures I've seen, it looks more impressive (and is also supposedly a great place for lunch!).

Some links for comparison:

http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/...kskad_main.htm

http://www.suanpakkad.com/main_eng.php

http://thailandforvisitors.com/centr...kok/suanpakad/


And for Jim Thompson:
http://www.jimthompsonhouse.com/

http://bangkokmag.infothai.com/thompson.htm

There are many more, but these will give you a sampling.
Karen

SP is the small private estate in the middle of bkk of a deceased prince...they lived there until maybe the 1980's???? he was a collector of both historic artifacts and more modern items, many of which are loosely displayed on the property...there is also a one room cloisaie (ceramic)---spelling is incorrect....building on the property which is magnificent...total visiting time of less than one hour..no tour

JT house is a well lived in series of houses from the north of thailand which JT brought to bkk for his home...today it is a fantastic museum of living thailand....great displays of a living house on a klong....you could move in tomorrow....great restaurant and JT shop there now also...guided tours...

The Suan Pakkard house is, as Bob says, the estate of a couple who were Thai royalty. Both were collectors of a number of kinds of arts, and the estate houses quite an eclectic collection of items ranging from pre-hisroric artifacts to the ephemera of modern culture.

The most famous and truly amazing item housed here is the laquer pavillion, a lovely pavillion made entirely of laquer (that's what Bob was trying to come up with when he mentioned cloisonné).

It's worth an hour or two if you have the time. It's more likely to be something to put on a list for a later visit to Bangkok, not a first visit unless you have lots of time.

thanks for the replies. I think I will stick with the Jim Thompson house.

They are actually very close to one another. If you have time, you could visit the JT house, eat lunch there and pop over to Suan Packard. It's about a 10 minute cab ride (unless the traffic is absurd). Adding Sp will put an extra 1 1/2 hours on the excursion, counting cab rides.