Gold-Pounders’ District

Those 1-sq-in gold-leaf sheets that worshippers piously place on sacred buddha images are laboriously hand-pounded in dozens of specialist workshops in this two-block area. Two main-street souvenir showrooms, King Galon and Golden Rose, have English-speaking staff who'll patiently talk you through the process while muscled gold-beaters demonstrate the hypnotic (for observers), physically draining movements that sound like the rhythms of gamelan music. It’s free and fascinating, and the sales pitch is pretty casual.