Bangkok Photo Gallery - Wat Saket (Golden Mount)

After lunch at Thipsamai, a Michelin-recommended pad thai restaurant (Jay Fai is next door), I made a short walk across the river to an unexpected hill in Bangkok. Bangkok is a fairly flat city, but this location is an interesting exception. Wat Saket was previously just outside the city walls and was the dumpling ground for plague victims too poor to afford a funeral. Next to it, King Rama III wanted a chedi to be built on a hill (Golden Mount) in the 19th century by recycling materials from the former capital of Ayutthaya. It collapsed as the soil was too soft but rebuilt during Rama V's reign, with Buddha relics given by the Viceroy of India. Climb up the 320 steps for a panoramic view of the city from almost 80m above.