All of wood
A structure some 105 metres tall.
Luka Krstulović — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Mustang Joe — CC0 · Hosseinemami1988 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Владимир Кочадыков — CC BY 3.0
One of Thailand's most astonishing buildings: a vast structure built entirely of wood, almost without metal nails, on a cape overlooking the sea north of Pattaya, its tallest spire rising about a hundred and five metres. The businessman Lek Viriyaphan, creator of the Erawan Museum and the Ancient City, began it in 1981, and work continues to this day, so visitors go in wearing hard hats. Every surface is hand-carved: figures and scenes from Hindu and Buddhist myth and Eastern philosophies, in precious Thai woods, in a design blending temple and castle in the style of the Ayutthaya kingdom. You can watch the carvers at work in the on-site workshops. Tickets are about five hundred baht per adult by day and about seven hundred for the sunset tour, roughly half for children under a hundred and ten centimetres; it opens daily from morning to evening. Modest dress is required, with cover-ups lent at the entrance. The best time is late afternoon to sunset, when the wood glows golden against the sea. Around the building are extra paid activities such as horse and boat rides. An hour and a half to two hours is enough.
A structure some 105 metres tall.
Every surface carved with myths.
Work ongoing since 1981.
Laem Ratchawet cape, north Pattaya by the sea
Yes: it is one of the most astonishing buildings in the region, with nothing else like it. The sunset tour costs a little more but is lovelier for photos.