10 Most Unusual Experiences & Things to Do in Thailand

The land of smiles is one of the most popular holiday destinations in Asia. Thousands flock to the country off the back of its reputation for excellent food, tropical beaches, mountain terrain, and most of all Thai people’s happy go lucky outlook on life.

If you have ever been to Thailand, then you will already know that Thai culture is like no other, and experiencing what Thai’s call ‘Thai-ness’ is an unusual experience in itself.

However, after getting settled into the Thai way of life and the unusual becomes the norm, for those that still have itchy feet and feel Thailand still has so more to offer, then why not consider checking out some of the more unusual activities available in Thailand while on your holiday adventure?

In this guide, we are going to help you add to your Thai experience by walking you through the 10 most unusual experiences in Thailand.

1. Eat Birds Nest Soup

As Thailand is so famous for its diverse cuisine we thought we would begin with something out of the ordinary on Thailand’s food menu. Birds nest soup is actually a Chinese invented dish but it is also incredibly popular amongst the locals in southern Thailand.

Though, getting to the locals that eat birds net soup is not easy as they tend to live in remote areas off the usual tourist routes. Therefore, if you are looking to give this strange but oddly popular dish a whirl, then next time you are in Bangkok visit a restaurant called Nam Sing in Chinatown (Yaowarat Road).

Although, we should warn you that this dish is one of the most expensive in the Kingdom as dishes start at around THB 200 ($6.50) and can reach as high as THB 1,000 ($30.00).

2. Stay In a 5-Star Luxury Tree House With Private Swimming Pool

Next on our list is something not for the faint-hearted, or at least not for those scared of heights. You can find treehouse bungalows on most of Thailand’s popular backpacker islands, but none like the luxury experience offered by a treehouse resort that overlooks the Keemala village on the West coast of Phuket island.

The resort has a host of luxury treehouses set in the dense forest. Each one comes complete with its own sunbed area, outdoor shower, and luxury king size beds. Some even have swimming pools attached to them. What’s more is all the treehouses here have a scenic view overlooking the forest, villages below, and the Andaman Sea.

What makes this one of Thailand’s 10 most unusual experiences is the fact that you can stay in a luxury treehouse and live life to the max!

3. Stand On The Wat Pha Tak Suea Skywalk (Chiang Rai)

In the north of Thailand, there is a glass-floored sky-walk that sticks out of the edge of a cliff face. From the walkway leading up to the skywalk, the view is out of this world, and once you reach the main attraction which is the skywalk itself, you will be met with stunning panoramic views of the Mekong River and its surroundings.

What makes this attraction so unusual is that this walkway sticks out like a diving board over a swimming pool. Except below you, there is nothing but air and mountainous terrain hundreds of feet below. As the treck up to the skywalk runs across the borders of Laos, to get here, we recommend that you book a hotel in Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai and arrange a tour from here.

4. Take Your Chances On a Cursed Thailand Beach (Phuket/Krabi)

The black pebble beach of Koh Hingham is in the south of Thailand. According to Thai mythology, the Gods adorned the beach with precious stones and then placed a curse over the entire island. If you have ever visited a beach and taken back a pebble or two as a souvenir, then you would not expect any come back. However, if you dare take one form the black pebble beach of Koh Hingham, then it comes with the risk of facing the wrath of the ancient Thai god Tarutao!

Visitors that take any of the black stones from this island will be cursed forever until the stone is returned. It could be worth testing out, but if you do, watch the horror of the Thais that take you to this island – their superstition is so strong that they might even refuse to take you back to your hotel and leave you on the island.

5. Take a Trip to The Human Body Museum (Bangkok)

Inside the human body museum, there are 14 dissected human bodies from Japan. Ultimately what makes this one of the most unusual experiences in Thailand is the fact that these are in fact bonified real bodies - no pun intended! Why the university didn’t simply design models is a mystery.

This is certainly one of the strangest museums in the world. That said, for Thais, it is not that strange at all!. Thais tend to not get queasy over when it comes to the dead. In fact, all you need to do is turn on the Thai news or look at the pictures in a Thai newspaper to see that the cameramen do not hold back when reporting on tragic accidents.

Albeit, there is a good reason these bodies are on display. The bodies are in the medical faculty at one of Thailand’s top universities – Chulalongkorn. Each body is displayed at a different level of dissection for educational purposes. If this sounds like an unusual experience you would like to try out, then the showpiece is also open to the public and free to enter between 10:00 – 16:00 Monday to Friday.

6. Experience a Thai Massage From A Prison Inmate (Chiang Mai)

If you happen to visit the north of Thailand, namely Chiang Mai, then check out the ‘Women’s Correctional Institution Vocational Training Centre’ for non-violent offenders. The facility was set up to help female inmates train and learn skills that will help them find gainful employment after their release.

One of the most popular skills taught at the facility is how to perform the famous Thai massage. As a result of this, the trainee inmates need real-life subjects to test out their newfound skills, and the facility needs a way to keep funding going in order to remain open. Therefore, if you want to support this project, pop in between 8 am to 4.30 pm from Monday to Friday and a correctional officer will escort you to the massage area where you will pay just 180 baht for a 1-hour session.

7. Visit a Prisoner in Bangkok’s Notorious Bang Kwang Prison (Bangkok)

Thailand’s most notorious hotel is known as the Bangkok Hilton – except this is no ordinary hotel as you don’t get to choose a room and some people never get to check out. Bang Kwang is one of the country’s largest prison facilities and has been the subject of numerous movies.

The prison’s inmates have been incarcerated for crimes as petty as theft for more serious crimes such as drug trafficking and homicide. Despite this, the prison allows the general public to come in and visit any of its prisoners for 30 minutes.

8. Visit the Airplane Graveyard (Bangkok)

In one of Bangkok’s western districts called Bang Kapi, there is a rather unusual graveyard full of old airplanes. The graveyard became an attraction after someone stumbled across it finding two Boeing 747s abandoned here. From here onward two McDonnell Douglas MD-82 jetliners were added as well as another Boeing 747.

The jetliners are a popular attraction because one of them was the very plane that caught fire in Phucket in 2007, and you can climb inside all the planes and sit in the cockpits, passenger seats, as well as explore the cargo/baggage holds.

You can easily get a taxi here from any hotel in Bangkok via the highway. Just ask the taxi to take you to Soi 103 Ramkhamhaeng Road.

9. Visit The Wooden Temple - Sanctuary of Truth (Pattaya)

The Sanctuary of Truth is arguably one of Thailand's strangest temples. It is also one that is not advertised as a tourist attraction very often but easily accessible from Pattaya and Bangkok.

It is located on a large beach at the Ratchavete Cape near Pattaya where the temple clearly stands out because of its hybrid of religion, philosophy, and art.

The temple boasts out of the ordinary sculptures and a structure that gives it an almost eerie look and feel. Even eerier is that the temple is almost entirely carved out of wood so you will hear its constant creaking in the wind – some still believe the temple is home to numerous ghosts.

The temple began construction in 1981 and stands at 100 meters tall, and you will notice that its construction was never finished. Not only is this an unusual temple, but its wooden structure and constant creaking also make it quite creepy.

If this sounds like your kind of unusual experience, then we recommend arranging a half-day trip from Pattaya or a full-day trip from Bangkok.

10. Visit the Batcaves in Khao Yai

Khao Yai has fast become one of Thailand’s popular attractions for both domestic as well as foreign tourists. The province is just outside of Bangkok to the northeast and is very easy to get to thanks to its recent upsurge in popularity.

However, unlike most tourist destinations in the Kingdom of Thailand, there are no beaches or mountains here. Instead, there Khao Yai is a lush rural area with scenic hilltop views, waterfalls, lakes, farms, rice paddies, and in general a slow pace of life.

There is also a huge national park here which is home to a wide number of species indigenous to Thailand which includes millions of vampire bats!

Now it might sound crazy, but you can book a trip to walk into the bat caves in Khao Yai national park which are home to what nature experts believe to be over one million vampire bats.

Inside the caves, there is a labyrinthine of tunnels that you can traverse with a tour guide, and as you shine your torch to the caves’ ceilings you will see the local inhabitants sleeping upside down in true bat fashion!

That said, seeing the bats sleeping and the inside of the caves is not the highlight of this unusual experience. Once you are done exploring, you can step outside the caves and set yourself in a nearby field overlooking the cave mouth. Come dusk the bats will begin to emerge.

Initially, the bats begin by trickling out until eventually a huge black cloud of bats grouped together to take to the skies shifting through the sky like a black mamba snake!

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