Suan Pakkard Palace

Wang Suan Pakkard ("Palace of the Lettuce Garden") is one of Bangkok's most delightful retreats. This peaceful oasis was the home of Princess Chumbhot of Nakhon Sawan. Five 19th-century teak houses were moved from Chiang Mai in 1952 and rebuilt in a beautifully landscaped garden on a private klong (canal), separated by a high wall from the tumult of Bangkok's streets. The Lacquer Pavilion (actually an Ayutthaya house, moved here in 1958) was a birthday present from the prince to the princess. Princess Chumbnot was an avid art collector and one of the country's most dedicated archaeologists-credited with having partly financed the excavations at Ban Chiang I in 1967. There is an entire room of objects from that site, including pottery and jewelry, surpassed only by the prehistoric findings exhibited at the National Museum. The balance of the collection is diverse, with Khmer sculpture, ivory boxes, perfume bottles, nielloware, marvelous prints by European artists depicting their image of Siamese people before the country opened to the Western world, a superb Buddha head from Ayutthaya, and a royal barge. Do not miss the pavilion housing the princess's exquisite collection of Thai and Chinese ceramics! The gift shop at Wang Suan Pakkard offers ceramics, some genuine and some reproductions at reasonable prices.