Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Bridge was opened in 1999 and was built as part of the inner ring road, taking the strain
of the older structure.
Rama
III
Road does not readily give up its temple treasures, certainly not to the casual
passer-by. Wat Chan Nok is directly on the riverbank, a small and pretty temple that is
reached only by entering Soi 6 and proceeding to the end of the lane; unless viewed from
the river, it is otherwise invisible. Wat Bang Khlo is similarly hidden, reached by travel-
ling along Soi 20, or admired from the Montien Riverside Hotel next door. Wat Pariwat
is the first visible temple, occupying a huge area of land between the river and the road,
next to the clothes shops and restaurants of Bangkok Square, and visible from some dis-
tance because of the striking deep-blue colouring of the
ubosot
roof tiles. Much of this
temple structure is very modern, and contemporary images are to be found in the com-
pound, including Captain Hook and his pirate companions helping to hold up the eaves
on one of the roof structures, and the footballer David Beckham, who appears as a golden
embossed image on the base of the principal Buddha figure. Although only 30 centimetres
(11.8 in) high, and standing at the end of a frieze of
garudas
supporting the altar, this im-
age has become so well-known amongst locals that the temple is increasingly known as
David Beckham Temple. Placed there in 1998, with the enthusiastic permission of the ab-
bot, the figure is wearing a football shirt bearing the name of team sponsor Sharp. The
Thais are football crazy, and Beckham's name is revered, so perhaps it is not surprising to
see him turn up as a deity in a Bangkok temple. “Same-same but different”, as the Thais
might say.
Wat Dan, nearby, is another substantial temple and serves as a particularly extensive
monastery, its cluster of accommodation around the thoroughfare that passes through the
compound being home to a large community of novice monks, many of them pre-teen
youngsters who spend time there during the annual Rains Retreat, and who appear to be
easily diverted when a foreigner walks past their windows, peering out with friendly if dis-
tinctly un-monk like grins.
Continuing along this side of the road, there is a modest temple archway across a nar-
row lane, and walking down here will lead us past a school and into the compound of Wat
Klong Phum, built beside a tiny canal and enjoying a pastoral setting on the bank of the
river. The school is part of the temple, and within one of its buildings the Bangkok Metro-
politan Administration maintains a small district museum. A wrought-iron fence further
along Rama
III
Road reveals what at first appears to be a small Chinese temple with a low
roof and blue ceramic tiling on the wall, but which is actually the frontage of the Tae Clan
