Phuket Upside Down House (Baan Teelanka)
The Phuket Upside Down House, officially called Baan Teelanka as this is how it translates in Thai, is one of the latest an most surprising attraction in Phuket. Once you see it, there is no need for any explanation as this pink house is standing upside down in a garden like if some giant kid had casually dropped it after playing with it.
What your eye really see
In all 'logic', you need enter the house through the roof, directly into the attic. (If I didn’t show you the photos, you would be scratching your head right now). From the attic, a staircase takes you to the main living area of the house where the fun really begins. First, your brain tries to make sense of what is going on here… ok, everything is stuck to the ceiling, it’s interesting. Slowly your brain starts to adjust to the fact that you are actually walking… on the ceiling! You are the only object in the wrong position in the house! Even the real fish in the aquariums are swimming upside down! (nice touch here Alex).
The bedroom
Once you start to visualize this, it’s great fun to walk around and admire the designer's skills… the bedroom with inverted TV playing video clip form the song ‘Upside Down’ image being inverted as well of course.
kitchen/dining area (look in the mirror)
The kitchen, living room, bedroom, working area are all beautifully executed and you just have to take a photo and rotate your camera to realize that it actually looks perfectly real! From there it’s up to your imagination to find the most striking pose, whether you want to be Spiderman, Spider-pig (from the Simpson movie), a ghost crawling in a ceiling corner or the poor guy defying gravity. And don’t miss the toilet/shower room… lost of fun and silly poses to try here!
You can then continue and walk up (or down) to the open air basement. The house being a modern Thai house, it is (supposedly) built on stilts where usually the garage, kids playground are found, and the highlight of the house: a real Tuk Tuk!
Defying gravity
Behind this fantastic house is another fun attraction: a large garden maze to challenge your senses further aptly called 'A Maze In Thailand'. Seen from high grounds it seems pretty simple as you can see people trying to find their way from Point A (the entrance) to Point B (the exit), but try it! Once in there it is a lot more difficult and larger than it seems, a great way to play with your kids.
The Maze Garden behind the house
This 'perception challenging wonder' is the brainchild of Alex Riva, previously hotel manager in international chain of hotels, and his wife. This is their dream come true and every item, every frame and every shoe you will see in the house is the result of their passion for details... and the house still evolves!
The house is easy to find, just between the ‘Outlet Village’ and ‘Siam Niramit’ on the bypass road. Make sure you keep your eyes on the left once passed the Outlet Shopping Village to spot the red Volkswagen Beetle parked upside down in front of the house. Note that the house can get really busy on weekends as all the kids living in Phuket wants to see it, so come on week days, preferably early as it can be a bit hot in there, but also better for the photo effects: it looks better when you are the only person ‘walking on the ceiling’ ! :D