Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
If you're coming from the eastern end of the city, the Golden Mount is a short
walk from the
klorng
(canal) boats' western terminus at Tha Phan Fah.
THONBURI
WAT ARUN
Buddhist Temple
from Tha Tien)
Striking Wat Arun commands a martial pose as the third point in the
holy trinity (along with Wat Phra Kaew and Wat Pho) of Bangkok's early history.
After the fall of Ayuthaya, King Taksin ceremoniously clinched control here on the
site of a local shrine (formerly known as Wat Jaeng) and established a royal palace
and a temple to house the Emerald Buddha. The temple was renamed after the In-
dian god of dawn (Aruna) and in honour of the literal and symbolic founding of a
new Ayuthaya.
It wasn't until the capital and the Emerald Buddha were moved to Bangkok that
Wat Arun received its most prominent characteristic: the 82m-high
prang
(Khmer-
style tower). The tower's construction was started during the first half of the 19th
century by Rama II and later completed by Rama III. Not apparent from a distance
are the ornate floral mosaics made from broken, multihued Chinese porcelain, a
common temple ornamentation in the early Ratanakosin period, when Chinese
ships calling at the port of Bangkok discarded tonnes of old porcelain as ballast.
Cross-river ferries run over to Wat Arun every few minutes (3.50B per person)
from Tha Tien.
Chinatown & Phahurat
Bangkok's Chinatown (called Yaowarat after its main thoroughfare, Th Yaowarat) is
the urban explorer's equivalent of the Amazon Basin.
The neighbourhood dates back to 1782 when Bangkok's Chinese population,
many of them labourers hired to build the new capital, were moved here from
today's Ko Ratanakosin area by the royal government. Relatively little has changed
since then, and you can still catch conversations in various Chinese dialects, buy
Chinese herbal cures or taste Chinese dishes not available elsewhere in Thailand.
At the western edge of Chinatown is a small but thriving Indian district, generally
called Phahurat. Here, Indian-owned shops sell all kinds of fabric and clothes.
