Abandoned Bangkok: Asoke-Din Daeng Road

A short walk from the Petchaburi MRT station, close to the intersection of Asoke - Din Daeng Road and Kamphaeng Phet 7 Road lies two sets of abandoned buildings. The main skytrain station linking the city center to the airport is across the street and due to open later this year, making this land all of a sudden very valuable. As cars spit out of of the expressway, I realize I've passed these buildings numerous times when traveling into the city. They've been gutted, and have yet to be fully torn down for whatever will come next (I guess a hotel or shopping complex).

If you build it they will come, and if its abandoned....people will come again. A small clothing bazaar has taken over the first and second floor of the first set of buildings. Used clothes are for sale and the upper levels of the four story structures are blocked off by the squatters.

The second set of buildings are mostly empty of people although I did see an older couple painting a poster advertising an upcoming muay thai match in one building. These buildings are filled with broken glass and wood chips and it's possible to enter and climb through the various floors.

These buildings have been here for awhile, and graffiti artists have left their tags and throw-ups on most of the available wall space. The floors of some rooms are littered with empty spray cans, but in general the rooms with graffiti are devoid of the rubble and glass that cover the rest of the space. Some of the work is quite good, by poking around through broken walls and dusty floors I was exposed to one of Bangkok's hidden urban art troves. More Bangkok graffiti can be seen here.

I climbed through one building, the back of which is now cluttered with trash, as I walked through there was a man sleeping on the fourth floor, I thought it best to let him be. Others around the ground floors of the buildings were quite friendly and had no problem with my walking about.