Siriraj Forensic Museum
in Bangkok, Thailand

Links:

http://www.thaioasis.com/bkkv/siriraj01.php
This link is the real "sales pitch" that convinced me to go.

http://www.si.mahidol.ac.th/eng/Museums.htm
The official museum website.

http://www.corkscrew-balloon.com/03/07/1xxx/23b.html
A site by someone who visited.

http://www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/tips/3644
Another site by someone who has "been there".

Run Down:

In all honesty, I was a tad disappointed. Maybe I had over-hyped it and was expecting too much. I didn't feel cheated nor did I regret going, but I was expecting to be almost blown away by the sheer gore of it all. If you are a medical student or have a high interest in anatomy or medicine, you would be in heaven. It did have some interesting parts, but I wasn't blown away by any means.

Getting there:

This was much easier than I thought. From the same departure pier as mentioned in my Visiting a Prisoner in Bang Kwang article, pier Phra Athit, I paid just a few Baht to jump across the river and go down a few stops. The final pier has some odd name, but everyone calls it Bangkok Noi (noy). Stretch out the O in NOY when you say it.

From the Bangkok Noi pier, you can see a big building with Siriraj Hospital on the side, as shown below. From the pier, just work your way through the market to the hospital. Once you get near the front door (which is under the sign) you'll see signs for "Museum" in several languages. As best I remember I walked straight then left down an alley. But either way, the signs lead you right there so don't worry. Plus there's really only one reason why wide eyed foreigners would be in this area. If you were visiting someone you would be in a different area and not looking so curious most likely.

First you come to the parasitological or strictly medical museum. You sign in and go to the third floor up the stairs. This part was interesting and slightly freaky. There were baby cadavers floating in fluid and heads split into several parts like the horse from The Cell. There were skeletons with Gigantism disease and others with deformities. Overall a fair start for what I thought would get really freak-a-zoid weird. Then back downstairs by the sign in, all the way down the hall is the prehistoric museum. Both are free. Sign in again at the door and the lady will let you in, most likely after she wakes up from napping. This part was also interesting, but you can only look at billion year old stones for so long.

Next I was sent outside and to the right, and then around the corner to the right. Then maybe left, again signs everywhere and if you look lost someone will just take you to the place. So you enter the door that says enter here. Some guard will give you a badge that says "Museum", but actually says something like "I'm stupid" in Thai. Maybe not, but that would be a funny prank. then you go upstairs past some old car on display, past some areas that foreigners aren't supposed to enter, then to the right to the nice new shiny part.

Here's a funny thing about Thailand. There is a sign at the entrance that says Admission 40 baht. Then above it in all Thai, even the numbers are in native Thai, it says "If you can read this the admission is only 20 Baht". I could read it since I had been studying Thai numbers so I said "20 Baht" in Thai and she got wide eyed and panicked. I didn't care and paid the 40 Baht which is only $1.50 at most and went in.

One museum was dedicated to the tsunami and how it affected the victims as well as some common diseases related to tsunamis. Then there was a huge part of one dedicated to the King and all his work. I think he has some medical training or has done some medical research. Then I went into the infamous Forensic Museum, with cadavers from rapists and murders and cannibals.

You know what? A brutal serial killer's dead body looks the same as a saint. And both look fake. I'm not saying they were, just not that impressive. Then more deformities the coolest of which was a scrotum so big it could hold two basketballs. Cool in a gross way. Grody to the max to be precise. Then a part about mosquitoes and how they carry malaria and then more on Elephantitis and how it looks. Then lots of little things that I don't even remember. Then more bodies and/or parts of bodies. Then I left and had lunch.

As I said above, it was slightly disappointing, but I really think that is because I made it out to be far more gruesome than it was. I think normal people would be really impressed. If you have a spare morning to kill in Bangkok and are tired of seeing temples (they are everywhere in Bangkok) then I would recommend this. It is easily a morning trip and the shops near the pier would make a nice area for lunch. If you are pressed for time or get freaked out easily, then you might pass on this.