Thirteen reasons
to step off the main road.

Bangkok doesn't make it particularly easy to know where to look.

There are temples behind market stalls, shrines beside traffic jams, and little canals that seem to disappear between buildings before turning up somewhere completely unexpected.

And the city has a remarkable talent for making the extraordinary look perfectly ordinary.

A goddess squeezing water from her hair beside a busy road. Fifty-two metal women sitting quietly inside a temple. A street whose name remembers a little girl who never grew old enough to walk along it.

You could pass all three without realizing there's a story to tell.

Some of Bangkok's most interesting women were queens and princesses. Others were teachers, businesswomen, craftspeople, and women whose names survived in places you might never have thought to visit.

One woman used her fortune to build a temple, although people had plenty to say about how she earned it. Another arrived from Japan to teach girls in a country she hadn't particularly wanted to move to.

Then there's Mae Nak.

Bangkok has been telling stories about her for well over a century, and apparently has no intention of stopping.

Not everything here comes with a clear answer. Some stories belong to local belief, others to royal records, old newspapers, or the memories of families who lived beside the canals.

And they're all part of the city.

You'll find them in courtyards, on street signs, beside the water, and in places where ordinary life continues around something extraordinary.

Thirteen stories offer a different way into Bangkok.

Some are beautiful. Some are funny. A few are rather strange.

And somewhere between the traffic, the temple bells, and the smell of food coming from a nearby stall, you may discover that Bangkok has been telling you stories all along.

You just hadn't learned where to look.

You don't need to know what happens before you go. You only need somewhere worth walking toward.

JUNO PORTALS is designed primarily for women traveling alone.

That doesn't mean every experience has to be solitary. It means the product starts from a simple reality: sometimes you're already here, the day is yours, and you'd like a reason to go somewhere you might otherwise have passed.

Read the access note for the portal you choose. Some places are further out than they look on the map, and some are private or working places you only see from outside.

A JAR, NOT A LADY, FIFTY-TWO IN METAL, MONEY, MERIT AND A NAME, THE COPY DOWNSTAIRS, THE PLOT NEXT DOOR, THANKS ON A PRICE LIST and A HAUNTING FOR HIRE depend on opening hours.

Prices and hours change. Check them on the day.

Curiosity gets you there. Your judgment always comes first.