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Thewet Flower Market
Hardly a practical shopping option, this open-air market, located off Th Samsen, is more for windowless window shopping than actual purchases. You'll discover from the selection that Bangkokians are avid container gardeners and can grow orchids and other exotic plants with minimal care.
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Trok Itsaranuphap
Nudge your way deep into one of Chinatown's famous capillaries, where vendors sell dried goods, half-alive filleted fish and vats of unidentifiable pickled things. The soi 's poetic finale is lined with stalls selling elaborate funeral offerings and 'passports to heaven' that include paper houses and cars to take loved ones into the next life.
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Victory Monument
A busy traffic circle revolves around this obelisk that commemorates a 1939 Thai victory against the French in Laos. An elevated walkway circumnavigates the roundabout, funnelling the pedestrian traffic in and out of the Skytrain station as well as providing a gathering spot for breakdancers, flirting gangs of guys and gals, and lots of fashion experiments.
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Wang Suan Phakkat
Everyone loves Jim Thompson's house, but few have even heard of Wang Suan Phakkat (Lettuce Farm Palace), another noteworthy traditional Thai house museum. Once the residence of Princess Chumbon of Nakhon Sawan, the museum is a collection of five traditional wooden Thai houses linked by elevated walkways containing varied displays of art, antiques and furnishings. The landscaped grounds are a peaceful oasis complete with ducks, swans and a semi-enclosed, Japanese-style garden.
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Wat Arun
The precursor to modern skyscrapers, this Khmer-style temple dominates the river landscape like an ancient military installation. Up close, the masculine monument is decorated in delicate mosaic details and marks the re-emergence of the Thai capital after the Burmese invasion in the 18th century.
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Wat Benchamabophit
Buddha image buffs find Wat Benchamabophit fascinating. Known as the 'Marble Temple' (it's made of white Carrara marble), it has a collection of 53 Buddha images in different figures and styles. It was built during Rama V's reign (the temple's central Buddha image contains his ashes) and its cruciform bòt (central chapel) is a pure example of contemporary wat architecture.
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Wat Bowonniwet
Home to the Buddhist Mahamakut University, this royally affiliated monastery is the national headquarters of the Thammayut sect of Thai Buddhism. It may be in the midst of ultra-casual Banglamphu but Bowonniwet is where the present king was ordained. Visitors must dress appropriately.
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Wat Mahathat
While other temples in the area claim all the fame, Wat Mahathat goes about the everyday business of a temple. Saffron-robed monks file in and out of the whitewashed gates, grandmas in their best silks come to make merit, and world-weary soi dogs haul themselves out of the shade in search of food, if not nirvana.
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Wat Mangkon Kamalawat
This Chinese temple is a labyrinth of vestibules. The gods of fortune in one of the first chambers is the most popular. Outside the temple, vendors sell heavenly food (oranges and steamed buns in the shape of lotus flowers) that are purchased as offerings. Located east of Th Ratchawong.
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Wat Pho
Wat Pho (Temple of the Reclining Buddha) has a long list of credits: the oldest and largest wát in Bangkok, with a pedigree as a temple site dating back to the 16th century; the longest reclining Buddha and the largest collection of Buddha images in Thailand; and the earliest centre for public education.
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Wat Phra Kaew & Grand Palace
The Temple of the Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Kaew) gleams and glitters with so much colour and glory that its earthly foundations seem barely able to resist the celestial pull. Architecturally fantastic, the temple complex is also the spiritual core of Thai Buddhism and the monarchy, symbolically united in what is the country's most holy image, the Emerald Buddha. Attached to the temple complex is the former royal residence, once a sealed city of intricate ritual and social stratification.
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Wat Prayoon
Near the old Portuguese quarter in Thonburi, beside Memorial Bridge, is this unusual temple complex. An artificial hill, built under the orders of Rama III, is littered with curious miniature shrines, and little temples. Fruit vendors sell snacks for children to feed to the resident turtles.
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Wat Ratchabophit
Commissioned by Rama V soon after he came to the throne, this beautiful temple is decorated with Chinese porcelain. European influences are reasonably strong, too - look at the uniforms of the carved guards on the door.
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Wat Ratchanatda
Across Th Mahachai from the Golden Mount, this temple is most stunning at night when the 37 spires of the all-metal Loha Prasat (Metal Palace) are lit up like a medieval birthday cake. Displaying Burmese influences, it dates from the mid-19th century and was built under Rama III in honour of his granddaughter. The design is said to derive from metal temples built in India and Sri Lanka more than 2000 years ago.
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Wat Saket & Golden Mount
Before glass and steel towers began growing out of the flat monotony of Bangkok's riverine plain, the massive Golden Mount (Phu Khao Thong) was the only structure to make any significant impression on the horizon. At the eastern entrance to Banglamphu, the mount was commissioned by Rama III. He ordered that the earth that was dug out to create Bangkok's expanding khlong network be piled up to build an enormous, 100m-high, 500m-wide chedi.
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Wat Suthat
Wat Suthat's truly remarkable Buddha image, acres of colourful murals and - during most of the year - relative tranquillity make it arguably the most attractive of all of Bangkok's Buddhist temples. The main attraction is Thailand's largest wíhǎan (main chapel). Set inside a large cloister that is itself lined with gilded Buddha images, it houses the 8m-high Phra Si Sakayamuni, Thailand's largest surviving Sukhothai-period bronze.
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Wat Traimit
The Temple of the Golden Buddha sees a lot of visitors for one very big reason: the world's largest golden Buddha (5.5 tonnes and 3m tall). An interesting minor attraction at the temple are the automated fortune telling machines; feed your money into the machine that corresponds to the day of the week you were born.
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Whitespace
An active design studio, Whitespace also includes a small non-commercial gallery that features a diverse array of exhibitions by emerging artists.
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Woodworking Street
Near the old timber yards and saw mills, this street is still going strong with small Thai-Chinese owned factories fashioning wooden eaves, furniture and shrines. Shops are open daily and an annual street fair is celebrated in January.
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