Jim Thompson House Museum

The Jim Thompson House is a museum in central Bangkok, Thailand, housing the art collection of American businessman and architect Jim Thompson, the museum designer and former owner. Built in 1959, the museum spans one rectangular rai of land. American Jim Thompson was an officer at the OSS, a pre-cursor to the CIA, stationed in Thailand during World War II. After the conflict ended, he stayed in the country to work on a new business plan. In 1947, he sent bolts of vibrant, hand-woven Thai silks to fashion heavyweights in New York City, including then-editor of Vogue, Edna Woolman Chase. Orders from notable houses flooded in, revitalizing the near-dead Thai silk industry and making Thompson quite a wealthy man. He took his new money for a ride, buying up antiques, artwork, and religious artifacts for his new canal-side home, made up of six traditional teak houses from Ayutthaya, the former capital of Thailand, surrounded by a verdant garden. Remarkably, the entire structure was built without nails. Today, Thompson's house is a museum alongside a new art center featuring contemporary art exhibitions from around the world. Both are worthy of a place on your itinerary, and the 200 TBH, roughly $6 entrance fee.