Bangkok - Monday 8 December
Dec. 20th, 2025 11:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lupestripeThe day started with a Telegram message from Atlantis, who told me his car had had issues as he was travelling home the night before. This threw our plans to meet later in the day somewhat up in the air, so we decided to play it by ear. It also hit my motivation to leave my hotel room, as did a documentary about the JFK assassination which I stumbled across on my TV. As a result, I didn't get out and about until after 12:30pm but at least I felt vaguely rested.
My initial plan for Monday had been to visit Kanchanaburi, the real-life setting for the film The Bridge over the River Kwai. This was one of the things I hadn't done during my trip to Thailand in 2019, but it is essentially a six-hour round trip. This would have necessitated a 6am start, made worse by the fact that my hotel was just outside of the pick-up area for the Get Your Guide tour. I could have booked a tour with the bureau in my hotel, but for four times the price, I didn't fancy it.
There was plenty of things to do in Bangkok that I hadn't yet seen though, with the Jim Thompson House being one of them. This was conveniently a 10-minute walk from my hotel alongside one of the main canals. As I walked alongside it, the passenger ferry whizzed past on its way to one of the docking stations. The waterways of the Thai capital (called Klongs) have always been something of a lifeline and so it remains. Jim Thompson was an American who was sent to SE Asia towards the end of the Second World War. He ended up staying in the region afterwards and is credited with revitalising the Thai silk industry. His fabrics were highly desired for both clothing and upholstery in the 1950s and 1960s, giving him the money to collect a range of local art. This is now stored in the house he built for himself, which is on a little plot of land right next to canal, opposite one of the main Muslim areas of the city where silk making had been the main industry. We had to go on a guided tour, which lasted about 45 minutes, but we did get to see every room of this traditional-style building along with some of the antiques and treasures he collected. Buddhas featured a lot, while I particularly liked the ceramic deer heads on the wall of his main eating quarters. The highlights for me were the chamber pots - a ceramic cat with a detachable head for boys and a ceramic frog for girls. The courtyard was a very pleasant place to be in the sweltering Thai heat, but there were lizards skittering about everywhere, but it has certainly become a rather touristy place with a restaurant, farm shop, store selling his fabrics and other bits and pieces. While here, I also found out it's tradition in Thailand to build a little house in the grounds of the house you are building. This is to placate the spirits of the ground, who you have disturbed by constructing.
After this, I decided to head towards the National Stadium, from where I could take a train towards the old town. There were a couple of temples I hadn't yet done that I wanted to check out. I ended back up at Sam Yot metro station, where I had stayed the last time I was in Thailand. The familiar green-shaded buildings were quite welcoming to me, but the roadworks were not. The old town is about a 15-minute walk from here, during which I stopped a cafe for a refreshing lemonade and a biscoff cookie, not having had anything for breakfast aside from my usual cheese and ham toastie. It was then off to the first wat, which wasn't too far away. Loha Prasat, also known as Wat Ratchanatdaram Worawihan, is a square-shaped wat tucked into some backstreets. Described as the Iron Palace (the literal translation of Loha Prasat), the best aspect of this wat is that it isn't besieged by tourists. Indeed, I only saw about 20 throughout my time here, and the place is so big you can easily avoid them. On the ground floor, there is a little about its history. It is one of only three wats of its type anywhere in the world, and the other two are in ruins. This was built much later of course - in 1846 - and contains 37 spires, which represent the 37 Bodhipakkhiya Dharma in Buddhism. It is composed of seven stories divided into three levels, with 24 spires on level one, 12 on level two, and one on level three. In the topmost spire are relics of the Buddha while as you ascend each level, you learn more about the Buddhist beliefs regarding ascending to nirvana. The views of the city from the top of this temple are breathtaking enough, but learning much more about the spiritual side of the temple was particularly fascinating.
My next stop wasn't too far away and indeed could be seen from Loha Prasat. Wat Saket, or The Golden Mount, this looks like a giant bell on top of a mountain. It's quite a climb at over 300 steps, which is why I saved this for the end of the day. As you ascend, there are gongs, bells and wind chimes that you can play, which adds to the general ambience of the places. There's a giant gold chupa at the top along with a shrine where you can worship. The views of the city from the top are very much worth the climb as you can see across Bangkok in all directions. Alas, we were also shooed out of here pretty quickly as despite an expected closing time of 7pm, for some reason they wanted to shut everything at 6pm. This meant we could only partially see the sunset, but I did get to see the temple lit up from below with the darkening sky in the background, which was breathtaking. On the way back down, I got to see the Buddha's footprint and also the Vultures of Sraket Temple, which became the main receiving ground of dead bodies after cholera infected the city in 1820. Cremation in the city was not permitted at the time, so the dead bodies ended up at the temple outside the city walls prior to be being burned. However, with 30,000 dead, they soon stacked up and the vultures started circulating to feast upon them. This continued until 1881, during which time Sraket Temple was full of vultures.
To one side of Wat Saket, at ground level, there is also a cave with a huge statue of the Buddha in meditative pose. This cave is incredibly cool and tranquil, making you feel an element of inner peace. This peace is somewhat shattered when you leave as there are a number of life-sized paper animals which are lit up at night. There was a bright green giraffe, a dark blue dragon, a yellow and white multi-tailed deer, a yellow squirrel, a fire fox and a bunch of other creatures. Cats, ants, and mushrooms also dotted other parts of the ground, with the main perimeter road housing a lot of shops and the like. These were a little tacky in all honesty, as were the vending machines outside, but it was still a great part of the city that seemed away from the main hustle and bustle.
I had been communicating with Atlantis for much of the day and we had been somewhat undecided as to what we should do. He feared we had both moved on too much in the six years since we had last met, while I knew he had a two-hour journey from his home just to see me. After having car trouble the night before, I wondered whether it was worth it for him. This led to decision paralysis for much of the day, but in the end he decided to come. He was due at about 7:30pm, so I went to a local craft beer bar called Taisoon to wait. My phone battery was getting low, but fortunately they permitted me to use their charger, while I tried a couple of very nice craft beers as I watched the world go by. The staff were experimenting with a foam bubble machine in an attempt to create snow for a Santa-themed Christmas display, while the market over the road seemed rather lively.
After two drinks here, Atlantis arrived and he drove me to a restaurant in the north-eastern suburbs of the city called Simple Meet. This is one he knows quite well and although it was quite high-end, the food was reasonably priced. Atlantis kindly bought food for me and we had a nice catch-up, although on certain topics we definitely have a strong difference of opinion. The pink chrysanthemum drink was probably the highlight, as was sitting outside in its jungle-themed courtyard, and although I would have liked to have stayed out later, by 10pm, I sensed it was time to go. I had to get up early the next morning to catch a train and Atlantis had a two-hour drive ahead of him. Still, I think we were both happy to see each other, particularly once Atlantis remembered we had spent a couple of days together driving around Thailand back in 2019. It was good to see him and a nice way to end my time in Bangkok.
My initial plan for Monday had been to visit Kanchanaburi, the real-life setting for the film The Bridge over the River Kwai. This was one of the things I hadn't done during my trip to Thailand in 2019, but it is essentially a six-hour round trip. This would have necessitated a 6am start, made worse by the fact that my hotel was just outside of the pick-up area for the Get Your Guide tour. I could have booked a tour with the bureau in my hotel, but for four times the price, I didn't fancy it.
There was plenty of things to do in Bangkok that I hadn't yet seen though, with the Jim Thompson House being one of them. This was conveniently a 10-minute walk from my hotel alongside one of the main canals. As I walked alongside it, the passenger ferry whizzed past on its way to one of the docking stations. The waterways of the Thai capital (called Klongs) have always been something of a lifeline and so it remains. Jim Thompson was an American who was sent to SE Asia towards the end of the Second World War. He ended up staying in the region afterwards and is credited with revitalising the Thai silk industry. His fabrics were highly desired for both clothing and upholstery in the 1950s and 1960s, giving him the money to collect a range of local art. This is now stored in the house he built for himself, which is on a little plot of land right next to canal, opposite one of the main Muslim areas of the city where silk making had been the main industry. We had to go on a guided tour, which lasted about 45 minutes, but we did get to see every room of this traditional-style building along with some of the antiques and treasures he collected. Buddhas featured a lot, while I particularly liked the ceramic deer heads on the wall of his main eating quarters. The highlights for me were the chamber pots - a ceramic cat with a detachable head for boys and a ceramic frog for girls. The courtyard was a very pleasant place to be in the sweltering Thai heat, but there were lizards skittering about everywhere, but it has certainly become a rather touristy place with a restaurant, farm shop, store selling his fabrics and other bits and pieces. While here, I also found out it's tradition in Thailand to build a little house in the grounds of the house you are building. This is to placate the spirits of the ground, who you have disturbed by constructing.
After this, I decided to head towards the National Stadium, from where I could take a train towards the old town. There were a couple of temples I hadn't yet done that I wanted to check out. I ended back up at Sam Yot metro station, where I had stayed the last time I was in Thailand. The familiar green-shaded buildings were quite welcoming to me, but the roadworks were not. The old town is about a 15-minute walk from here, during which I stopped a cafe for a refreshing lemonade and a biscoff cookie, not having had anything for breakfast aside from my usual cheese and ham toastie. It was then off to the first wat, which wasn't too far away. Loha Prasat, also known as Wat Ratchanatdaram Worawihan, is a square-shaped wat tucked into some backstreets. Described as the Iron Palace (the literal translation of Loha Prasat), the best aspect of this wat is that it isn't besieged by tourists. Indeed, I only saw about 20 throughout my time here, and the place is so big you can easily avoid them. On the ground floor, there is a little about its history. It is one of only three wats of its type anywhere in the world, and the other two are in ruins. This was built much later of course - in 1846 - and contains 37 spires, which represent the 37 Bodhipakkhiya Dharma in Buddhism. It is composed of seven stories divided into three levels, with 24 spires on level one, 12 on level two, and one on level three. In the topmost spire are relics of the Buddha while as you ascend each level, you learn more about the Buddhist beliefs regarding ascending to nirvana. The views of the city from the top of this temple are breathtaking enough, but learning much more about the spiritual side of the temple was particularly fascinating.
My next stop wasn't too far away and indeed could be seen from Loha Prasat. Wat Saket, or The Golden Mount, this looks like a giant bell on top of a mountain. It's quite a climb at over 300 steps, which is why I saved this for the end of the day. As you ascend, there are gongs, bells and wind chimes that you can play, which adds to the general ambience of the places. There's a giant gold chupa at the top along with a shrine where you can worship. The views of the city from the top are very much worth the climb as you can see across Bangkok in all directions. Alas, we were also shooed out of here pretty quickly as despite an expected closing time of 7pm, for some reason they wanted to shut everything at 6pm. This meant we could only partially see the sunset, but I did get to see the temple lit up from below with the darkening sky in the background, which was breathtaking. On the way back down, I got to see the Buddha's footprint and also the Vultures of Sraket Temple, which became the main receiving ground of dead bodies after cholera infected the city in 1820. Cremation in the city was not permitted at the time, so the dead bodies ended up at the temple outside the city walls prior to be being burned. However, with 30,000 dead, they soon stacked up and the vultures started circulating to feast upon them. This continued until 1881, during which time Sraket Temple was full of vultures.
To one side of Wat Saket, at ground level, there is also a cave with a huge statue of the Buddha in meditative pose. This cave is incredibly cool and tranquil, making you feel an element of inner peace. This peace is somewhat shattered when you leave as there are a number of life-sized paper animals which are lit up at night. There was a bright green giraffe, a dark blue dragon, a yellow and white multi-tailed deer, a yellow squirrel, a fire fox and a bunch of other creatures. Cats, ants, and mushrooms also dotted other parts of the ground, with the main perimeter road housing a lot of shops and the like. These were a little tacky in all honesty, as were the vending machines outside, but it was still a great part of the city that seemed away from the main hustle and bustle.
I had been communicating with Atlantis for much of the day and we had been somewhat undecided as to what we should do. He feared we had both moved on too much in the six years since we had last met, while I knew he had a two-hour journey from his home just to see me. After having car trouble the night before, I wondered whether it was worth it for him. This led to decision paralysis for much of the day, but in the end he decided to come. He was due at about 7:30pm, so I went to a local craft beer bar called Taisoon to wait. My phone battery was getting low, but fortunately they permitted me to use their charger, while I tried a couple of very nice craft beers as I watched the world go by. The staff were experimenting with a foam bubble machine in an attempt to create snow for a Santa-themed Christmas display, while the market over the road seemed rather lively.
After two drinks here, Atlantis arrived and he drove me to a restaurant in the north-eastern suburbs of the city called Simple Meet. This is one he knows quite well and although it was quite high-end, the food was reasonably priced. Atlantis kindly bought food for me and we had a nice catch-up, although on certain topics we definitely have a strong difference of opinion. The pink chrysanthemum drink was probably the highlight, as was sitting outside in its jungle-themed courtyard, and although I would have liked to have stayed out later, by 10pm, I sensed it was time to go. I had to get up early the next morning to catch a train and Atlantis had a two-hour drive ahead of him. Still, I think we were both happy to see each other, particularly once Atlantis remembered we had spent a couple of days together driving around Thailand back in 2019. It was good to see him and a nice way to end my time in Bangkok.
