Travel Day 1084 – Bangkok, THAILAND
My visit at Wat Pho had made for such a nice day, that today I naturally decided to visit another sight, What Saket and the Golden Mountain…
Golden Mountain, Wat Saket, Bangkok
Wat Saket was one of those places that I been seeing every single time when I was in Bangkok, but I never actually bothered to go and visit it. I always only remembered the Golden Mountain as this strange-looking golden peak on top of a hill, just outside of the historical part of Bangkok. It was actually located really close to where I usually stayed in the city, it only happened to be on the other side of the river that once functioned as the city moat of old Bangkok…
So today I finally cared to walk across the river and I also cared to find out why there was a hill in the middle of the otherwise level city of Bangkok. As it turned out, King Rama III decided to build a new Chedi for Wat Saket, but it was of such huge dimension that it simply collapsed on the swampy soil, leaving behind a really big pile of bricks. Gradually the ruins were overgrown by vegetation, leaving behind a hill that was partially natural and partially man-made…
Golden Chedi on the Golden Mountain
A couple of decades later, a crowning structure including a golden Chedi was constructed on to of the hill and supposedly an original relic from the Buddha himself was brought from India and placed in the center of it. And thus Phu Khao Thong, the Golden Mountain, became a great place of pilgrimage for all local Buddhists and an even better place for tourists to experience some local culture while enjoying the fine views over all of Bangkok city…
Luckily the entrance fee was only 20 baht and instead of a ticket we all received a nice long-stemmed flower and some incense sticks to be offered to Buddha on top of the mountain. But first we had to climb up the stairs through some misty forest and along many big bells that everyone made sure to ring as loudly as possible while walking along. It was actually quite fun because it created this surreal world of sounds and nature, right in the middle of otherwise modern and hectic Bangkok…
Busy Golden Mountain in Bangkok
Once we arrived at the top, there was surprisingly little to see inside the building. There were really only a few Buddha statues, the nicest one right in the center of the building and everyone simply paused for a while and offered the entrance ticket flowers. The real highlight really became the open platform on top of the Golden Mountain, where the big golden Chedi was located. While everyone seemed to be walking their rounds, I rather soaked in the atmosphere and enjoyed the nice views over the city…
Wat Saket was located directly below the Golden Mountain, the historical part of Bangkok was right adjacent to it and the modern skyscraper area could be seen in the distance. It was all really quite nice and I couldn’t believe that it had taken me so many years to finally get up there…
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