Abandoned Buildings?

[mengrai]

I like to explore abandoned places - apartment blocks, houses, never-finished moo baans, the like. Has anyone spotted any good ones in Chiang Mai? I've been here a while and explored all the obvious stuff, like the roller rink by Arcade and that creepy faux-greco-roman thing on the northwest corner of the old city (does anyone know anything about that place, other than some dude supposedly murdered his family?), but I'm sure there are dozens more that are harder to find. I'm willing to go outside of the city as well, and extra points for places with good stories.

To preempt the inevitable grumbling, I promise I'm not a dipshit. I don't tag, vandalize or stumble around vacant buildings while drunk. Thanks!

[wolf5370]

There's a few abandoned building skeletons and old apartment blocks (and the old mall - that has reopened - again - selling seconds) - all down Chang Klan other side of the rd from Night Bazaar toward Empress. Then there is the old wooden house owned by Ansawan Maket, behind the market itself (opposite) on the river - used to be able to go in, but been left to rot by the present owners now so locked up. Used to be a nice one near me on Hang Dong Rd (nar the Bank Wang Tan turn off) - but recently been bought and under renovation now.

[OlafStapleton]

out to Sang Glan (past Hang Dong, before San Patong)

Turn right by market drive 2km, abandoned housing estate on left.

Turn right by market drive 4 km, housing from the King on left, 10 sold 400 empty.

[LJW]

I like your attitude!

[CMSteve]

Old disco, massage, etc next to the Old Chiang Mai Cultural Center (tepenet?). Or the original old city of Chiang Mai (Wiang Kun Kam)

Edited July 5, 2011 by CMSteve

[Crossy]

If you've not already found it http://www.abandoned-places.com/ and an interesting view for others

[keo]

On Bamrungraj Rd there is an old colonial style looking building that is abandoned (going from Nawarat Bridge towards the train station, turn left at the first traffic lights, it's on the right hand side).

Or next time you are in Bangkok, check out Sathorn Unique!

[jaideeguy]

Then, there are all the old abandoned buildings....discos, hotels etc near the Arcade bus station....always been curious about them. So many abandoned buildings all over Thailand. would make a great 'coffee table book' with fotos and stories.

[Greenside]

Then, there are all the old abandoned buildings....discos, hotels etc near the Arcade bus station....always been curious about them. So many abandoned buildings all over Thailand. would make a great 'coffee table book' with fotos and stories.

That's a great site, Crossy. Thanks!

I started to do a project about abandoned projects in and around CM but the problem was finding out the real stories behind them.

Edited July 5, 2011 by Greenside

[fritter1970]

Cool hobby dude..... rock on

[greytown]

That building on the northwest corner of the Moat looks like a perfect setting for a horror movie. Looked to me like an old hospital building. If any place has ghosts I would guess this one would.

[CobraSnakeNecktie]

There is a large condo building just east of Green Valley Golf course.

It was being built for Japanese market when their crash happened and just decaying now. Would have a great view of the course and mountains from the higher levels.

I guess your not worried about ghost attacks.

[lsk]

Here I am scratching my nuts 12 hrs a day when I could be exploring the many abandoned buildings around Chiang Mai.

Thank you mengrai for the wonderful prompt.

[jaideeguy]

Actually it does sound like a fun hobby and hope that you take a camera along and doccument it. As far as 'relics' [leftovers].....you can be sure that it has been picked clean by locals. and do be careful of security guards and squatters, as some of these old buildings have squatters.

Keep us posted.....

[Atmos]

interesting topic, have seen many abandoned buildings in our travels, two huge hotel complexes in our area that were never finished, from late 1990s.

I guess they will remain as they are until eventually crumbling. Pity, as one is at the entrance t the national park on the highway between Chanthaburi and Trat, great location but now slowly being taken back by nature.

No ghosts that I know of. Pic is of what remains visible, about 25% of the main building.

Edited July 6, 2011 by Atmos

[Starrysky]

Then, there are all the old abandoned buildings....discos, hotels etc near the Arcade bus station....always been curious about them. So many abandoned buildings all over Thailand. would make a great 'coffee table book' with fotos and stories.

Couldn't agree more! It would be the first coffee table book I picked up, but you would need the stories to complement the pics. Abandoned buildings have always attracted my attention in Thailand.

118 (Chiang Rai Road), coming from Doi Saket towards town. Before traffic lights of 121 look left and there are several big abandoned apartment buildings.

Corner of Superhighway and old San Kampaeng (railway station) road, big abandoned building with trees growing out of the top.

[jaideeguy]

Funny that the OP has left the building after he started this great discussion. Wonder where he is??

Lost in some abandoned building??

[mengrai]

Ah! I didn't mean to, uh, abandon the thread. Thanks for all the great suggestions!

wolf5370 - I've been in the big green condo skeleton immediately across from Empress (it's like 15 storeys tall but still kinda hard to see from the street) and there's a totally bizarre abandoned crematorium behind it, but I hadn't noticed any others around there. I'll have to check it out again. I know that there's an old movie theater catty-corner from Pantip Plaza, but the front is all bars and I've heard the inside is an illegal gambling den now. Still, next time you're down there take a peak behind the ugly billboard and you'll see a fantastic fresco depicting Lanna life:

http://seatheater.blogspot.com/2009/03/when-approaching-intersection-of-chang.html

OlafStapleton - Awesome, thanks! I'll go take a look at those.

CMSteve - Holy crap, I don't know how this one evaded me. I drove past it last night, and man, is that place sketchy (especially with the active brothel next to it). I'll have to check it out in daylight but I'm not sure I want to set foot in that place.

keo - I used to live over there and I've seen that house before, but I totally forgot about it. Have you noticed any guards or anything walking around, or is it totally empty? I've heard about the Sathorn Unique too, and I'm dying to check it out. There are a couple others right on Sukhumvit (I think) that you'd totally miss if you weren't looking for them.

jaideeguy - Yeah, I need to go down there again. The roller rink I mentioned is in that area and it's super cool, but it seems like there's a lot more.

Greenside - Totally. All you ever hear is "somebody died" and "it's haunted!" I try and ask the people who live around places what the story is but most of the time they act like they just noticed it.

CobraSnakeNecktie - Oh that is perfect, I'm definitely going to take a look. That's pretty out of the way and I don't think I ever would have found it. And nah, I think ghosts leave you alone if you don't believe in them (I've also heard they don't bother farang because they afraid you don't speak Thai).

Atmos - Chanthaburi's a bit far for me, but that's an awesome picture.

Starrysky - Are those derelict or are they just under construction? I coudn't tell.

Thanks again everybody!

[keo]

keo - I used to live over there and I've seen that house before, but I totally forgot about it. Have you noticed any guards or anything walking around, or is it totally empty? I've heard about the Sathorn Unique too, and I'm dying to check it out. There are a couple others right on Sukhumvit (I think) that you'd totally miss if you weren't looking for them.

I wouldn't imagine there are any guards. Any time I've walked passed it looked empty. I guess you never really know until you get closer/inside.

Incidentally they've started renovating an old unfinished crumbling condo near my house on canal road. Looks like it's a remanent from the Asian financial crash. Amazing panoramic views from the top.

I was in Vietienne a couple of years ago and stumbled upon an abandoned amusement park, complete with old dodgems, carousels, arcade machines and a big wheel!

Watched a few documentaries about all the old abandoned buildings in Detroit. Apparently they get quite a lot of European tourists visiting to explore/photograph them.

[chaoyang]

You might go down to the McKean Institute and check out the 100-year-old bungalows from when it was leper colony. There are also many other kinds of disused buildings related to its Christian heritage.

[Atmos]

loosely on the topic . . . as many of the buildings i have seen have been uncompleted hotels from the late 1990s - would they be 'beyond repair' after maybe 15 yrs?

Anyone ever seen one that has been resurrected from that long ago?

There's one hotel up the coast from us, on the way to Rayong, 15 storey and at a guess over 200 rooms, it can't have been too far off being finished - the glass is in, and there's a sole security guard living in the reception/foyer area. Hard to imagine any investor taking on a building like that.

Here's another given-up hotel on the outskirts of C'buri city.

Would these properties be owned by banks/finance companies?

[Atmos]

outside the country - this one over the border near Kampot, Cambodia, we hope to visit in November

Fascinating history - link to Wiki Bokor Hill Station

[Starrysky]

Ah! I didn't mean to, uh, abandon the thread. Thanks for all the great suggestions!

wolf5370 - I've been in the big green condo skeleton immediately across from Empress (it's like 15 storeys tall but still kinda hard to see from the street) and there's a totally bizarre abandoned crematorium behind it, but I hadn't noticed any others around there. I'll have to check it out again. I know that there's an old movie theater catty-corner from Pantip Plaza, but the front is all bars and I've heard the inside is an illegal gambling den now. Still, next time you're down there take a peak behind the ugly billboard and you'll see a fantastic fresco depicting Lanna life:

http://seatheater.bl...n-of-chang.html

OlafStapleton - Awesome, thanks! I'll go take a look at those.

CMSteve - Holy crap, I don't know how this one evaded me. I drove past it last night, and man, is that place sketchy (especially with the active brothel next to it). I'll have to check it out in daylight but I'm not sure I want to set foot in that place.

keo - I used to live over there and I've seen that house before, but I totally forgot about it. Have you noticed any guards or anything walking around, or is it totally empty? I've heard about the Sathorn Unique too, and I'm dying to check it out. There are a couple others right on Sukhumvit (I think) that you'd totally miss if you weren't looking for them.

jaideeguy - Yeah, I need to go down there again. The roller rink I mentioned is in that area and it's super cool, but it seems like there's a lot more.

Greenside - Totally. All you ever hear is "somebody died" and "it's haunted!" I try and ask the people who live around places what the story is but most of the time they act like they just noticed it.

CobraSnakeNecktie - Oh that is perfect, I'm definitely going to take a look. That's pretty out of the way and I don't think I ever would have found it. And nah, I think ghosts leave you alone if you don't believe in them (I've also heard they don't bother farang because they afraid you don't speak Thai).

Atmos - Chanthaburi's a bit far for me, but that's an awesome picture.

Starrysky - Are those derelict or are they just under construction? I coudn't tell.

Thanks again everybody!

If the apartment buildings off the Chiang Rai road are under construction, it's taking an awfully long time! I first noticed them 4 years ago when I moved up here and they don't look any more constructed now than they did then - more destructed, if anything.

[Flatouthruthefog]

Funny that the OP has left the building after he started this great discussion. Wonder where he is??

Lost in some abandoned building??

Good point. You be careful out there - or rather, in there! Floors and ceilings will NOT be in prime condition!

I think this is a fascinating hobby and, as another poster said, great material for a glossy 'coffee table' book. I've seen one on vehicles in scrapyards (in New Zealand I think), but not buildings.

If you want a seriously huge, derelict hotel in a great location (apart from nothing much to see or do and getting staff would have been impossible) go up the main Chiang Mai-Chiang Rai road to km post 9. That's after the last pedestrian bridge and before the 2 Cosmo petrol stations.

Follow the winding rural road for something like 4+ kms and on your right you will see the huge multi storey monstrosity.

Local legend has it that a developer got to the stage of having installed air cons in every room and then went bust, long before it was ready to open. The bank took it over and he sent his men in fast to rip out all the air cons, the only quickly saleable assets.

I walked around the outside and the ground floor a few years ago, and suddenly a door slammed loudly on one of the top floors. And there was no wind.

I looked up very carefully from several angles but could see no life. As I was getting into the car, the door slammed again.

The lady who runs the shop down the road said "Don't worry, that's not a ghost. It's a crazy old Burmese man who lives there."

Crazy maybe, but with no lifts installed he must be fit to tackle all those steps!

[mengrai]

Flatouthruthefog - That sounds totally awesome. Do you turn left or right off the Chiang Rai rd if you're coming from Chiang Mai? I think I found the last pedestrian bridge on Google Maps, but I can't find anything that looks like what you're talking about:

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=18.847614,99.081311&spn=0.002589,0.005284&t=h&z=18

[northerner]

Great stuff. I'm directing a music video for a local band soon and have been thinking about locations like this...especially the abandoned disco/massage which sounds perfect. The problem is I'd need access for a few hours, plus there'd be generators, lights and lots of noise. Ideally I need a place with a guard who'll look the other way for a few baht.

Anyone brave enough to check out these places and post a few more pics?

[meadish_sweetball]

On Bamrungraj Rd there is an old colonial style looking building that is abandoned (going from Nawarat Bridge towards the train station, turn left at the first traffic lights, it's on the right hand side).

If I had as many millions of baht as it would take, I would try to buy that place and restore it as faithfully as I could, maybe turn it into some sort of museum with a nice restaurant/coffee shop. Must have been beautiful back in the day.

[jaideeguy]

Flatouthruthefog - That sounds totally awesome. Do you turn left or right off the Chiang Rai rd if you're coming from Chiang Mai? I think I found the last pedestrian bridge on Google Maps, but I can't find anything that looks like what you're talking about:

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=18.847614,99.081311&spn=0.002589,0.005284&t=h&z=18

I think that I know the place that 'flat' was refering to and it's hard to locate on google map you posted, but I think his directions are somewhat correct....if you keep going on that road, then you'll end up in Maejo after a lot of twists and truns. It is an awsome place and I drove in once too, but was reluctant to go inside just because of the 'vibe'. That place really makes you wonder about Thai developer's planning with a huge hotel....must be 7 or 8 stories high and way out in the middle of the rice fields with no nearby features at all and not too much of a view. or maybe he was planning on Burmese guests??

[Flatouthruthefog]

Flatouthruthefog - That sounds totally awesome. Do you turn left or right off the Chiang Rai rd if you're coming from Chiang Mai? I think I found the last pedestrian bridge on Google Maps, but I can't find anything that looks like what you're talking about:

http://maps.google.c...005284&t=h&z=18

I think that I know the place that 'flat' was refering to and it's hard to locate on google map you posted, but I think his directions are somewhat correct....if you keep going on that road, then you'll end up in Maejo after a lot of twists and truns. It is an awsome place and I drove in once too, but was reluctant to go inside just because of the 'vibe'. That place really makes you wonder about Thai developer's planning with a huge hotel....must be 7 or 8 stories high and way out in the middle of the rice fields with no nearby features at all and not too much of a view. or maybe he was planning on Burmese guests??

Place not your faith in modern technology, for surely it will be the death of us all!

And whaddya mean "somewhat correct"? It was as correct as an Ordnancy Survey map, which will still knock spots off anything else in the world, or indeed floating around in the ether these days.

The little white Thai km posts are (almost) as reliable.

If you actually GO to km post 9 you will see there is no cross roads, no right turn. It's a left turn only. That will get you there (if you can follow my directions) and, provided you make no turns off the winding B-road ('2 lane blacktop' to you, I believe), there's no risk of winding up in Mae Jo or Sansai.

Promise!

(And you are somewhat correct Good Hearted Guy in that a tiny part of the plan worked. The place does seem to have at least one Burmese guest. Complimentary, too!)

[MrBrad]

There is a large condo building just east of Green Valley Golf course.

It was being built for Japanese market when their crash happened and just decaying now. Would have a great view of the course and mountains from the higher levels.

I guess your not worried about ghost attacks.

I was thinking of the same site. It's been unfinished since at least 1994. Seems to be leaning off center...maybe that's why it's abandoned. Here's the location on Wikimapia.