Things to Do in Prachuap Khiri Khan

Sisi, or Empress Elizabeth, was the wife of Franz Josef 1 of Austria who she married when she was only 16. She was very beautiful and strictly maintained her 20 inch (50 cm) waistline! The headstrong girl from Munich gained a reputation for rejecting court etiquette and being a bit of free-spirit. But after the death of her daughter Sophie, Sisi became ill herself and began often going south for the warmth, separate from her husband, to write poetry and meet with a string of lovers. When her beloved son Crown-Prince Rudolf died tragically in a murder-suicide pact with his lover, Baroness Mary Vetsera, Sisi was inconsolable. In 1898, aged 60, in Geneva, she herself died, assassinated by a young anarchist, Luigi Lucheni. 

Her life was like a soap opera and these days she is a cult figure. The Sisi Museum houses hundreds of her personal belongings as well as a history of her fascinating life. 

The rainbow colored Sri Mariamman Temple, also called Wat Khaek, sticks out like a colorful thumb on Silom Road in the heart of Bangkok's financial center. Founded by Tamil immigrants in 1827, the temple is the center of the city's Hindu community. Devoted followers, mostly Indian immigrants, come daily to pray and leave offerings of flowers and fruit to pay respect to the Tamil goddess Mariamman, or Mother Nature. Feel free to participate in making an offering and a priest almost always stationed inside will offer you a prayer. Although, the smoke of the incense and smell of flowers may tend to be overwhelming.

Although the shrine is not very big and will only take a few moments of your time, it is a great stop if you happen to be in the Silom business district. The elaborate temple is open to visitors, although be careful not to get in the way of the religious faithful, dress conservatively and refrain from snapping photos.

The shrine was also recently renovated, but still contains inside the statues of several Hindu gods and goddesses. Images of Maha Uma Devi, the Hindu goddess of mercy, are everywhere. In October crowds of devotees parade her holy images around the streets of Bangkok in celebration.

One of the few churches that survived the city's Communist years, the St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral remains an impressive sight with its fairytale-esque white and ice-blue façade capped with five glittering gold cupolas. Commissioned by Empress Elizabeth in 1753, the cathedral's fanciful Baroque design was the brainchild of architect Savva Chevinskiy and was named in honor of Saint Nicolas, the protector of the seamen.

Constructed in honor of its namesake, the much-celebrated Valencian Impressionist artist Joaquin Sorolla, the Sorolla Museum is a fascinating tribute to the artist's life and works, displaying personal artifacts, awards, written memoirs and, of course, many of his most beloved artworks. Housed in the 20th-century mansion on Paseo del General Martínez Campos where the artist lived and worked from 1912 until his untimely death in 1923, the Sorolla house was bequeathed to the public by his widow and reopened as a museum several years later.

The museum serves not only as a gallery of his finest works, but a memorial to the artist himself "“ many rooms have been preserved as they were left, with the original decor and personal effects still in place. Sorolla's pipes and paintbrushes can still be seen scattered around the studio, along with over 300 canvasses and thousands of rough drawings. Even the building, along with its series of splendid landscaped gardens, is a masterwork of its former owner, providing an even greater insight into his artistic vision and creative evolution. The house itself, designed by architect Enrique María de Repulles y Vargas in a classic Andalusian style, was dreamed up by Sorolla himself, who purchased the plot of land with the aim of creating the perfect home and studio. The exquisite mansion offers an ideal backdrop to his beautifully lit portraits and landscape paintings, making it one of Madrid's most serene art museums.

The Singapore Food trail is a massive themed food palace located in the famous Singapore Flyer designed to bring back the cultural glory days of the1960s. With more than 600 seats, the throwback dining hall contains dozens of makeshift food stalls, hawkers and shops that are all there to show off the golden years of Singapore' street culture.

Most of the stalls have some variation of local fare on offer, including delicious satay, barbequed seafood, fried oysters and even some of the lesser known foods such as Rong Chen Bah Kut Teh.

What is perhaps most impressive about the whole experience is the decor. The stationary stalls and hawkers are placed in an area painted like the old streets with vintage posters and signs and there is even an old rickshaw to take your photo with.