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A Hike Through Town To See Five Temples

Posted by Stuart at 08:44 PM on February 18, 2007

So since I was not allowed to clean house today, or to work, I did the next best thing and headed out on foot to explore Bangkok. The idea was to visit as many important temples that I have never seen as possible. I got the idea from the Dasa Bookstore's Bangkok's Other Temples page. (Thanks, Don!)

(Actually, exploring town is way better than cleaning house or working, but I've been so focused on my company lately that work was the first thing that came to mind. Luckily, I was forced to take the day off and had a great time checking out the sites. I love Chinese New Year!)

Dasa's "Other Temples" page explains that the big three Bangkok temples are Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha), Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha) and Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn). But there are many other temples that are also interesting for one reason or another.

The page lists ten other temples. I had already visted four of them, so I decided to check a few others off my list. The ones I have seen already are:

• Wat Benjamabophit: The Marble Temple.
  
• Wat Ratchanadda: On Ratchdamnoen.
  
• Wat Saket: The Golden Mount.
  
• Wat Srimaha Umathewi: The Hindu temple on Silom.

And the six that I haven't seen:

• Wat Thammamongkhon: Sukumvit 101. Thailand's tallest.
  
• Wat Boworniwet: Near Khao San Road.
  
• Wat Traimit: Temple of the Golden Buddha near Hualomphong.
  
• Wat Suthat: Next to the Giant Swing.
  
• Wat Rakhang Khositaram: Thonburi, across from Grand Palace
  
• Wat Kalayanamit: Thonburi, near Sapan Put

Several of them are located in Chinatown, Rattanakosin, and Thonburi, so I took the subway to the end of the line at Hualamphong and started walking. Six hours, 5 kilometers, and 3 boat rides later, I had visited four temples on the list and one that wasn't (but should be).

Pictures and more details about the temples coming soon!