Return To The City of Angels.

A slight splash of Portugal

In Bangkok.

12.02.2026 - 14.02.2026

Next day we were moving to our last hotel. We had originally chosen one where we knew Peter wouldn't be able to swim and we had decided to change it. The best available offer that suited our needs was The Ibis Riverside, so we returned there for our last two nights.

We began our last day in The Movenpick with an excellent breakfast in the lounge.

Breakfast in The Movenpick, so good he's already finished it.

Then we headed to the pool for our final swim. Fortunately, the lounger that Peter could get into the pool from was available, so we sat on that. There was a young Thai boy, maybe about 8 or 9, who had brought an inflatable floatation device to the pool. He couldn't swim and he kept trying to jump on the floatie and missing. He had to be rescued several times. It was terrifying to watch. By the time we left he was close to being able to actually swim though.

Peter in the pool.

Me in the pool.

We still had our free drink vouchers so we had two tiger beers in the bar.

Peter in the bar.

Drinks by the pool.

Then we checked out and booked a Grab to take us to the Ibis Riverside. We got a very pleasant female driver. The traffic was very bad, especially in the Sukhumvit area, so it took quite a while to get to our next hotel.

We were welcomed back and given a nice room and free breakfast. It almost felt like coming home. We spent the rest of the day swimming. Transition days are all about the pool. Maybe that's why Peter has so many of them. We swam right up until the sun began to set.

Back on the Chao Phraya River.

Peter in the pool.

Sunset at The Ibis.

We decided we would just eat in our room that evening. I was sent out to buy Kentucky fried chicken, but I discovered I should have ordered it online and that if I ordered it from a machine in the shop, I'd need a credit card to pay for it, but I had only brought cash. Yet another example of technology making life harder rather than easier. I went to the nearby supermarket and bought sandwiches and cuppa soup instead. These sandwiches were lovely, nothing like the excessively sweet 7-Eleven ones we had before.

Next day we stuck with just eggs and toast and cereal for breakfast and were perfectly happy with it. We decided that I would go out in the morning and we would go swimming in the afternoon.

Peter at breakfast.

I had decided to go to the Kudeejeen area on the banks of the Chao Phraya River. This area is famous for being home to several different religious and ethnic communities who live peacefully in close proximity to each other. There are Thai Buddhists, Thai Muslims, Portuguese Catholics and Chinese Taoists living here.

I was especially interested in the Portuguese Catholics, as living in Hong Kong and frequently visiting Macau has made me very interested in visiting Portuguese communities wherever they exist. Peter and I have been to Kudeejeen once before, but it was many years ago. I tried to go there by train on our last visit, got lost and ended up visiting Wat Arun instead. This time I approached Kudeejeen from a different direction.

I started by walking across the bridge to the ferry piers in Sathorn where I bought a ticket for the yellow flag boat for 21 baht. There was a long wait for the boat, almost thirty minutes. They seem to run every twenty to forty minutes. Fortunately, it was cool in the waiting area in Sathorn. Once I finally got on the boat, the journey was quick and pleasant. I managed to get a seat at the side from which I could photograph the river scenery on route.

Chee Chin Khor Temple and Pagoda.

On the river.

Sunanthalai Building, also known as the Royal Seminary, of the Rajini School.

Praisaniyakhan Building, which served as the first post office in Thailand.

I got off the boat at Memorial Bridge. I could have walked across The Memorial Bridge, but it seemed nearer to go across Phra Pok Klao Bridge, which is home to the Chao Phraya Sky Park, a 280 metre long elevated garden located on an unfinished and unused electric railway, a bit like the High Line in New York. I could see this park, but I was on the wrong part to actually reach it. I wasn't bothered though, because I had good views over the river and thank God a bit of a breeze.

Memorial Bridge and pier.

Memorial Bridge.

It didn't take long to walk across the bridge and I came out on a riverside walkway which would take me exactly where I wanted to go. I saw a sign for a Wat Prayurawongsawat, which we visited last time. This had ponds and turtles and was very nice, but I didn't go. The problem with Bangkok is it's really hot and if you want to sightsee on foot, you have to stay focused on where you want to go. I'm a natural wanderer, but I can't do that here or I'd be permanently sunstruck.

I continued along the walkway until I reached Santa Cruz Church, which is the church for the Portuguese people of Kudeejeen.

Santa Cruz Church.

So who exactly are these people and why are they here? Well, way back in 1511, the Portuguese were the first Europeans to travel to Siam. They came here shortly after they captured Malacca in present day Malaysia. From there they sent representatives to Ayutthaya to establish diplomatic and trade relations with King Ramathibodi II and he allowed them to establish a Portuguese village in Ayutthaya.

The Portuguese continued to live in Ayutthaya for over two hundred years, until the Burmese besieged and overwhelmed the city. The reigning Siamese king at this time was King Taksin who fled Ayutthaya and established a new capital in Thonburi, which is now part of Bangkok. The Portuguese and Chinese communities remained loyal to the king and helped him continue the fight against the Burmese and eventually drive them out of Siam. To show his gratitude, King Taksin granted them an area of land in Thonburi, called Kudeejeen, where they could re-establish their villages. The descendants of these Portuguese people still live in this area today, as do some of the Chinese, though many of them relocated to Chinatown.

With all the different religious communities in this area, naturally there's a mixture of different types of religious buildings, too.

The descendants of the Portuguese settlers are mainly Catholic and they built The Santa Cruz Church in Kudeejeen in 1770, making it one of the oldest churches in Bangkok. Unfortunately, the original wooden church was badly burnt in a fire and was rebuilt in brick in 1916. I have never actually been inside this church. It has always been closed when I have visited. Apparently it does open daily from 5am to 7 am and from 5pm to 7.30pm.

Santa Cruz Church.

Christ.

Mary.

The Portuguese village is right next to the church. It's a labyrinth of narrow streets lined with old wooden buildings. You won't get lost here though. There's a map at the entrance and the village isn't really very big.

Map of Kudeejeen.

Wandering down the main street, I soon found myself at the free entry Kudeejeen Museum. This was originally a family home, but when the elderly couple that lived here passed away, their son didn't want to return here, but also didn't want to sell it, so his relatives in Kudeejeen persuaded him to let them turn it into a museum. One of the signs for the museum has a rooster on it, the symbol of Portugal.

Kudeejeen Museum.

Rooster on museum sign.

Old post box.

The museum tells the story of the Portuguese coming to Siam and helping the Siamese king. There are replicas of Portuguese sailing ships, Portuguese armour and cannons.

Sailing ship.

Cannon.

Armour.

King Taksin.

Trading items.

Further upstairs there's an old kitchen, an old bedroom, a dresser, crockery, baskets, clocks and much much more.

Kitchen.

Clock and, believe it or not, that animal shaped item is a coconut grater.

Baskets.

Bed.

Dresser.

Toy van.

A table is laid with plates containing plastic models of traditional Thai Portuguese food.

Table.

Cuisine

Naturally there are many Catholic religions icons.

The Virgin Mary.

Many religious icons.

Icons.

A nativity scene.

The museum has a doll that represents the chili head ghost. Little children were allowed out to play in the streets of Kudeejeen, but their parents wanted them to come back home by 6pm before it got dark, so they invented the story of the chili head ghost. At six pm, apparently even now, the bell is rung in Santa Cruz Church to let the children know it's time to go home. If they ignore the bell and continue playing, the chili head ghost will come and play with them. The ghost will not physically hurt them, but it will lure them into its home and they won't be able to get out again until the ghost tires of them and releases them.

The Chili Head Ghost.

The museum also has an outdoor viewing platform with great views over the roof tops of Kudeejeen.

View from the rooftop.

Downstairs in the museum there's a gift shop and a cafe. The cafe was set in a flower filled garden.

Cafe.

Fountain.

Flowers.

After leaving the museum I wandered around the narrow lanes of Kudeejeen. Everything was colourful and peaceful. For a while I could forget that I was in a bustling city. It was certainly lovely to escape from all the traffic. There was just an occasional bike or motorcycle. I even found more February Christmas decorations and a friendly little cat.

Square.

Lane.

You'll never walk alone.

Christmas door.

Door.

Cat.

There were lots of beautiful old wooden houses. I really hope several areas of these survive as Bangkok continues to develop. It would be such a shame to lose them.

Wooden houses.

Houses.

House.

Wooden houses.

House.

There were many beautiful flower and tree filled gardens, some were almost jungle like as vegetation will grow quickly in this climate.

Garden.

Kudeejeen, like most of Bangkok, has a couple of big canals and several small canals.

Canal.

There is lots of lovely street art here.

Street art.

I noticed a beautiful old wooden house and took some pictures of it. I found out that this was the Windsor House. It was originally owned by Louis Windsor, a wealthy British merchant who also owned Windsor Shop on Charoen Krung Road. This house has been abandoned for some time and there have been calls to restore it. However, there are bureaucratic problems. The Bangkok authorities want to restore the house, but it's owned by the church. The church cannot accept money from the Bangkok authorities if it's to restore a building for commercial purposes and the church itself doesn't have any money. Hopefully, something can be sorted out before this beautiful old building falls down.

Windsor House.

There are several restaurants and cafes in Kudeejeen, apparently the food is an interesting mix of Thai and Portuguese flavours.

Restaurant.

Cafe.

However, its most famous culinary offering is Khanom farang kudi chin, a kind of cake made of sugar, flour and duck's egg and topped with dried fruit. This is made in the Thanusingha Bakery House, which was the first bakery ever to be established in Thailand. This bakery has been producing baked snacks for over two hundred years. Nowadays several bakeries in Kudeejeen make Khanom farang kudi chin. I saw lots of them on sale. I should really have bought some, but I didn't.

Thanusingha Bakery.

Bakery.

Khanom farang kudi chin.

I knew there were lots of other interesting buildings in this area. I had no intention of finding them all, but I did look at a couple of them.

One was the Chinese Kuan An Keng Temple, which has recently been renovated. I had a look inside, but was only allowed to photograph it from outside.

Kuan An Keng Temple.

Peeking in the temple.

An illicit shot when noone was looking.

Doorway.

I also had a look at Wat Kanlayanamitr Varamahavihara, which was established during the reign of King Rama III. Inside there was a large golden Buddha image.

Wat Kanlayanamitr.

Buddha.

After leaving Wat Kanlayanamitr I walked to the nearby canal. Looking across it, I could see a naval fort and Wat Arun. On the day I had failed to get here, I had been right next to that naval fort, but it's easier to find Kudeejeen when you approach it from the water. On our first visit here we looked at Kudeejeen and Wat Arun. We had got to Wat Arun from here by going up onto the canal bridge, but we had more energy in those days. There's a little pier for canal boats here. I saw a huge monitor lizard, but didn't manage to get a good photo of it. I love monitor lizards.

Canal bridge.

Wat Kalyanamit Pier.

Canal at Wat Kalyanamit Pier.

Naval Fort.

Naval Fort and Wat Arun.

There were some gorgeous frangipani trees here and desert roses.

Frangipani flowers.

Flowering frangipani tree.

Frangipani flowers.

Desert rose.

There were still things to see but it was so hot and I still had to walk back to the ferry pier. I set off back along the waterfront walkway. I was passed by some novice monks. I noticed there was a riverview cafe. It looked nice.

Waterfront walkway.

Monks on the waterfront walkway.

River View Cafe.

Kudeejeen from the waterfront.

I noticed there was a small ferry I could have taken straight across the river from outside the Santa Cruz Church. That would have saved me walking across the bridge, but I'd still have to walk to the ferry pier.

I was tempted by one more diversion before crossing the river. I saw a narrow canal with lots of yellow flowers. I walked along the canal path and came to a main road and Wat Prayurawongsawat , but I didn't have the energy to visit this wat.

Yellow trumpet flowers on the canal.

Yellow trumpet flowers.

Canal on the way to the wat.

Wat Prayurawongsawat.

It's not possible to buy a ticket at the Memorial Bridge pier. You have a to buy one on the boat. Again there was a long wait for the boat, around twenty minutes.

Instead of getting off at Sathorn like I usually do, I got off at Iconsiam and went up to the viewing platform, I hadn't been able to go onto on my last visit. The weather was dull, despite being hot, but the views were still beautiful.

View.

On the roof.

From here I headed home. Naturally I got lost in Iconsiam once again before finding my way out. While lost, I encountered a giant puppy that was on display, among other things.

Iconsiam from the ferry.

Next to Icon Siam, the tallest buildings in Bangkok.

Giant puppy.

Tuk tuk.

Fish display.

Back at the hotel Peter and I spent the afternoon in the pool.

Another day another swim.

In the evening we ate by the river. I had chicken cashew nuts again and Peter had the only thing he thinks they can make here - a plate of chips. This time we managed to get Peter down the steps and we sat nearer to the river which was much better. As always, we watched the party ships cruising up and down with their bright lights and loud music.

Us at dinner.

Chicken cashew nuts.

Peter with his chips.

Ships in the night.

Next day was our last day. Neither of us wanted to go home. We had both loved our holiday very much.

We swam in the morning then took a grab to the airport. Fortunately we left early. We thought it would take an hour but due to appalling traffic it took an hour and forty minutes.

Peter walking the pool on our last day.

We got good passenger assistance. I tried to watch the rest of 'It's all her fault' on the plane, but we landed before we got to the denouement.

Back in Hong Kong we got excellent passenger assistance from a very friendly man with really good English, that's unusual here.

We had to wait till half past midnight for our bus home and got in at around one in the morning. Another holiday over, and both of us really want to go back.

Posted by irenevt 05:19 Archived in Thailand Comments (6)

I'm not a pervert, honest.

I'm not !!!!

10.02.2026 - 12.02.2026

A new day, so naturally it was a new hotel. Yes another one. Our eleven night stay had been organised by my husband as: 3 nights in the first hotel, then 2 nights in the next, 2 nights the next, 2 nights the next and a final 2 nights. I've never done so much packing and unpacking in my life. Anyway we would spend the morning in The Novotel Siam Square, then switch to The Movenpick Sukhumvit 15.

We began the day with a very enjoyable breakfast and still loving that all the food in The Novotel was piping hot.

Peter at breakfast.

Then naturally it was down to the pool for our final swim here. Peter now swims one way down the pool, then if it's not deep walks back the other way again and again. Here he was absolutely in his element. He was up and down the pool like a dolphin in one direction and a gazelle in the other and he was so happy. It was like he had been brought back to life again.

Looking down on the pool from above.

Peter in the pool.

After a lengthy swim, we had our welcome drink by the bar. I had a white wine and Peter had a beer. I hoped it wouldn't put me straight to sleep.

Peter and the tuk tuk.

Peter with his beer.

After our drink, I took Peter out and about around the Siam Square area a bit. Since it was the smoothest flattest surface I had encountered in Bangkok, it was very easy to wheel him around here.

With the February Christmas tree.

At the market.

And another market.

Outside Chester's.

I was there, too.

Out and about.

Then it was time to checkout. We booked a Bolt, just for a change and because for once it was cheaper than Grab. It wasn't far to our next hotel, but the traffic in the Sukhumvit area was terrible. Getting to our hotel was like trying to go through a narrow intricate maze, but thankfully we got there in the end.

We have never stayed in a Movenpick before, but they are also in The Accor group, so we knew we would get good treatment. For check in we were taken to the sixth floor of building two where the executive lounge was. We were given a room on this floor and told we had lounge access for breakfast, dinner and all day snacks

When I saw our room, I was reminded of one Valentine's Day many years ago when Peter could still see and was mobile and liked to plan romantic surprises. I woke up at 5.50am to go to work, only to find that Peter had got up quietly in the night and had placed gifts in several areas of the house and had strewn pathways of rose petals to lead from one to the next to the next, so I could wander around and find I had white wine and chocolates and earrings. Many women would love this. My reaction was: "Who's made all this bloody mess? How am I meant to clean all this up before going to work? Was that you? You do know I'm going to be late now, don't you?" Yes, I really am that romantic. When I tell people this, they wonder how my husband has ever managed to put up with me for all these years.

Well anyway, to get back to the present day, our bed very much brought this incident to mind. Someone had probably spent hours arranging petals all over it to spell out 'Welcome' and added little flower shapes, and my reaction was: "Looks like I'll be spending the rest of the day trying to pick all this crap off the bed before we can even sit down." Peter just shook his head and sighed. Still Eddie liked it and befriended another elephant. This one liked hats.

Our bed.

Eddie getting involved.

Peter's hat getting involved.

And Peter.

One of the reasons Peter had liked the idea of staying in a Movenpick was that it did a chocolate hour. Between 4pm and 5pm all guests could go to the main restaurant and enjoy free biscuits, cakes, chocolate and a chocolate fountain. It was time to go to this, but before going, I made the mistake of taking Peter to the eighth floor to see the swimming pool. The problem was it didn't have a rail next to the steps and Peter didn't think he could get in. Naturally he blamed me, as I'm tasked with trying to work out from hotel pictures whether he can get in the pool or not. He pretended it didn't really matter, but was in a vile mood for the rest of the day, so it obviously did matter, and very much so.

We headed to chocolate hour which Peter had been looking forward to. He said he didn't like it and that the chocolate tasted like the cheap Eastern European stuff that has never actually seen a cocoa bean in its life. This wasn't actually true. He was just tired and upset about the pool.

Chocolate hour.

Chocolate muffins.

Red velvet cake.

Chocolate fountain.

After chocolate hour, it was already time to go to dinner in the lounge. The food was good and there was plenty of it, but it wasn't hot like in The Novotel which also made Peter grumpy. My view is that he had tired himself out in the first pool, but was loving all the exercise and had been really looking forward to this pool, so was feeling very disappointed, but more than anything he just needed some sleep to become happy again.

Grumpy in the lounge.

Ordered to smile.

And I was right, because Peter was fine after a good night's sleep and woke up in the morning in a good mood. We could have our breakfast in the lounge or downstairs. We decided to try the lounge and Peter said the food was really good, so we decided we'd eat breakfast there on our second day, too.

Peter at breakfast.

After breakfast Peter told me to go out and that we would go and take another look at the pool when I came back. I have stayed in the Sukhumvit area before, but not for a long time, so I decided once again that I would stay local. Sukhumvit is known for its shopping malls, restaurants, bars and night life, but there are also several parks here or nearby, as well.

Surprisingly enough for me, I intended to start my sightseeing with a visit to a shopping mall. I'm not a shopper, but this mall was themed and it sounded pretty interesting.

So the mall is called Terminal 21 and it's meant to resemble an airport. Each of its floors is designed to look like as different city or country. I rather liked this idea.

When I got to the mall, I went straight down to basement level as I intended to explore everywhere. This level was meant to resemble the Caribbean and it contained, among other things, a food court. It had palm trees on a pretend beach, a lighthouse and some Caribbean style pictures.

Looking down on the lighthouse.

Lighthouse in the Caribbean.

After a quick wander, I returned to ground level which was supposed to be Rome. It had ruined columns, classical statues of Roman gods and goddesses and a fountain.

Fountain.

Statue.

Neptune.

I wasn't overwhelmed by the Caribbean and Rome, but they were alright. On the next level up I was supposed to be in Paris. This was the worst floor of all. It had almost nothing French. There was a cafe, but it was a Starbucks and looked exactly like one. No attempt had been made to turn it into a Parisian street cafe. There was a bicycle that someone was leaning on and a couple of pictures on the wall. I was not impressed with this one at all. I had seen a picture where there was a replica of The Eiffel Tower, but I didn't see this. It could have been in a different branch, I guess.

Paris, not impressed.

The next floor was much better. It was supposed to be Tokyo. It had lucky waving cats, sumo wrestlers, streets lined with red tori gates and lots of lanterns. I liked this floor very much.

Lucky cat.

Sumo wrestlers.

Geisha.

Red tori.

Lantern lined streets.

Famous Japanese paintings.

Lantern lined streets.

The next floor up was London, complete with double decker buses, red post boxes, telephone boxes, a British bobby and tube signs.

Escalator to London.

Double decker bus.

London bobby.

Cold stream guard.

Telephone box.

Post box.

Sentry.

Union jacks.

Onto the next floor and I was in Turkey, well it said Istanbul, but I felt it included other parts of Turkey, too. There were whirling dervishes, musicians, Middle Eastern style bazaars with colourful hanging glass lamps. There was even an Egyptian style shop here just to totally confuse everyone.

Welcome to Istanbul.

Turkey. I was photographing this door when someone opened it.

Whirling dervishes.

Dervish musician and friend.

Istanbul.

Turkish bazaar.

Suddenly Egypt !!

Nothing to do with Turkey but I liked this shop.

The next two floors were based on San Francisco. One was supposed to be typical San Francisco streets and had a Chinatown and trams. The other was San Francisco Pier 21. This was largely a food court filled with statues of sea lions and giant crabs. However the highlight of these floors was a giant replica of the Golden Gate Bridge. These floors were definitely worth a look.

San Francisco Chinatown.

Chinatown food.

San Francisco Tram.

Sea lions, San Francisco.

Sea lions.

Crab.

Interesting shop.

Worker, San Francisco.

Golden Gate Bridge.

The final floor I could go to was Hollywood. There was a cinema here, a sculpture of people filming a movie and several oscar statues, including a giant one.

Giant Oscar, Hollywood.

Hollywood cinema.

Lights, camera, action.

There was an upper floor, but it was filled with private gyms and you needed a member card to go there. I was done, or so I thought. It would have been a perfectly normal visit and my blog wouldn't be titled 'I'm not a pervert, honest' if I had just left there, but I didn't.

I needed a pee and I thought I would just quickly nip into one of the toilets. I was in Hollywood and the toilets were amazing. They were themed on candies and I mean everything was themed: the entrance, the corridor leading to the toilets, the mirrors and wash hand basins and even the cubicle doors. Well, I don't normally photograph toilets, but how could I resist?

Entrance to Hollywood restroom.

Gumball machine.

Corridor to restrooms.

Wash hand basins.

Mirror and lollipop.

Cubicle doors.

I could see into the gents a bit and it was similar, but all blue. It felt weird enough photographing the inside of the ladies, without photographing the gents, so I did not do that.

However, having found out that the toilets were the best bit of the mall, I decided to have a look at all of them.

Downstairs on one of the two San Francisco floors, the theme was basketball. The Hollywood toilet had been empty, but San Francisco was busy. I tried photographing the corridor outside the toilets and ended up in conversation with an American man who was waiting for someone to come out. I tried to explain why I was photographing the toilets and he thought I was hilarious. Inside the toilets I really wanted to photograph where the cubicles were and the doors, but there was someone in there. I waited for her to leave, but she was taking ages. I don't normally take pictures of people inside toilets, but perhaps you can understand my dilemma here. I took a quick picture when she wasn't looking.

Entrance to San Francisco toilets.

Corridor of San Francisco toilets.

Inside the San Francisco toilets.

Down a floor was the San Francisco Chinatown toilets and these were themed on noodle stalls, dim sum and food stalls in general. Once again I got into conversations, because people were giving me funny looks. I'd love to have photographed the cubicle doors and everything, but I was already coming across as very, very weird. Time to leave.

Entrance to San Francisco Chinatown toilets.

Art on the toilet walls.

Toilet corridor.

Art on the toilet walls.

Wash hand basins.

Down another floor and the Turkish toilets are themed on Cappadocia with hot air balloons and interesting rock formations.

Turkish washroom toilets.

Turkish washroom corridor.

Art in the Turkish washrooms.

Wash hand basins.

Above the wash hand basins.

Cubicle door.

One floor down and I was at the London toilets. This is where you may stop believing me. What was in there? The London underground, that's what. Ok, when I say the London underground, the corridor here was lined with screens depicting a fake tube train with people dancing up and down its corridors. It was certainly nothing like any tube train I have ever been on, but it was brilliant nevertheless. It was busy in there and I couldn't really take many photos of the wash hand basins and toilet doors, but they were on a Sherlock Holmes theme. Honestly, I could have spent the whole day just exploring the toilets in this place. In fact I nearly did.

Entrance to the London washroom.

Corridor of the London washrooms.

The tube train in the corridor.

Sherlock Holmes theme inside.

Another floor down and I was at the Tokyo washrooms. These were themed on a Japanese garden with wooden buildings, bonsai and grass.

Entrance to the Tokyo washrooms.

Corridor.

Wash hand basins.

Then it was down to Paris, the most boring floor and guess what? The toilets here were just - toilets. They were as boring as the rest of the floor. Had this floor been designed by someone who hates France, or by someone who just had no clue what France was actually like.

Before I forget every toilet floor seemed to have a large window with a view, too. I was so glad I had needed a pee in Hollywood or I'd have missed the best parts of this mall entirely. What a crazy idea to make the toilets the most photogenic part of your mall.

View from the toilets.

Rome didn't seem to have toilets, or at least not in the same place as the other floors. I didn't go and check out the Caribbean. I was just greatly relieved (well you would be after going to all these toilets) that noone had called security yet. I was supposed to be going to two parks as well, but I had spent a ridiculous amount of time in Terminal 21. I went outside at the Paris level, found myself on a walkway decorated for Chinese New Year, crossed the road and headed towards Benchasiri Park.

Decorations near the sky train on ground level.

Decorations near the sky train upper level.

I'll just mention a few things I passed on my walk. On the street we lived on there was an Irish pub. On Sukhumvit Road I passed a shrine with zebras. These are apparently found in areas prone to traffic accidents. The zebras are associated with zebra crossing and help to cancel out bad luck and make the area safer, or so I have read anyway.

Irish pub.

Zebra shrine.

Part of the zebra shrine.

Traffic.

I passed an interesting sculpture and a beautiful old wooden style house. Apparently there was an architecture exhibition on here.

Sculpture outside a restaurant.

STILL House on Sukhumvit Soi 20.

Naturally I also passed a few things you can probably only find in Bangkok, too.

Tuk tuk.

Brush seller.

I should have made it straight to the park, but on route I encountered a giant dragon. Well, it would have been rude not to investigate, wouldn't it?

Giant dragon.

Selfie with dragon.

Noone else was expressing any interest in this dragon. Why was it even there? Then I realised it was part of a shopping mall display and that the shopping mall was even more elaborately decorated inside. I just had to take a look. The mall was called EmQuartier. Inside there were many more dragons, lots of displays for the Year of the Horse, shops, restaurants, sculptures and many decorations.

Dragon.

Horses.

Lights.

Sculpture.

Masks.

Restaurants.

Restaurant.

Gourmet supermarket.

I could have spent a lot longer here, but I was already running out of time. I was now down to only being able to visit one park, fortunately I was almost there.

This park is known as Benchasiri Park. I've been here once before. Benchasiri Park was built to commemorate the sixtieth birthday of Queen Sirikit in 1992.

Park entrance.

Coin Sculpture dedicated to Queen Sirikit.

The park is centred around a lake and contains several examples of modern sculpture. The lake usually has fountains, but there was some renovation going on and these were not functioning when I visited.

Lake.

Pavilion.

Lake.

I wandered around looking for all the pieces of sculpture. The only one I remembered from before was the mother and child sculpture near the entrance.

Mother and child.

Children of the cities sculpture.

People sculpture.

Animal sculpture.

Hibiscus sculpture.

Sculpture.

Pyramid.

Tall sculpture.

Golden sculpture.

Sculpture shaped like a number 8.

Hoop sculpture.

Little Japanese style garden.

There are also lots of beautiful colourful flowers and flowering trees here.

Blossom.

Golden shower tree.

Trumpet flower.

Blue plumbago.

Pink ruspolia.

Desert rose.

Water-lily.

Flowers.

Flowers and pot.

Yellow flowers.

One area of the park had been set aside for pets.

Paw Yard pet area

Dog pusher.

It was lucky I had got waylaid by air-conditioned shopping malls, because it was such a hot sunny day that I felt sunstruck after one park.

I walked back home and took Peter to the pool. All the loungers next to the pool were occupied and to get to an empty lounger it was necessary to go up a few stairs. I wasn't pleased, but fortunately a very kind German girl who was on a lounger that was actually in the pool said: " Why don't you two sit here and I'll move over a bit." We thanked her and got onto loungers in the pool. The German girl also said to Peter: "If you need help getting in, I'll happily help." Peter said it was fine and that he was just going to sunbathe. I went for a swim up the pool, then turned round to swim back and discovered Peter had managed to get himself in the water.

We both had a very pleasant swim This is a rooftop rectangular pool, quite deep. I mean I could stand in it, but only just. It was the same height throughout. Next to it was a circular children's pool.

Peter in the pool.

Me in the pool.

After my swim, I went off to explore the rooftop. There was a bar with lots of seats, a sports area with a couple of activities and a lily pond with secluded curtained off loungers. On the other side of the roof, there was a kitchen garden growing herbs and vegetables. It was all very beautifully done.

Bar.

Seating area.

Decorative umbrellas.

Secluded loungers.

Lily pond.

Waterlily.

Vegetable garden.

Herb garden.

View from the hotel.

Flowers on the roof.

Blossoming tree on school grounds near the hotel.

A Blossoming tree I could see from the roof.

After our swim it was chocolate hour. It's all go. Because Peter was in a better mood, this time he loved it. There was even coffee cake which is his favourite. His mum used to make THE best coffee cake in the world.

Chocolate hour.

Peter at chocolate hour.

Us at chocolate hour.

I took some photos of Peter with the hotel decorations.

Hotel pond.

Decorations in the hotel.

Peter with the decorations.

We had a short rest, then it was off to the club for dinner where we both really enjoyed the food. Peter even opted for a kamikaze cocktail. I suspect he doesn't even like cocktails but he likes having his picture taken with them.

Peter in the club.

Us in the club.

Peter with his kamikaze.

Then it was off to the room to relax before moving to our final hotel next day.

Posted by irenevt 08:13 Archived in Thailand Comments (6)

It's a Mystery

Oh, it's a Mystery

08.02.2026 - 09.02.2026

Next day was moving hotel day, isn't it always when you travel with Peter? In fact Peter planned out our holiday accommodation, then changed all of it several times when we got there. As a result, I changed all my plans about where I was going and what I was doing. This wasn't an issue though, as we have been to Bangkok so many times that I'm very relaxed about what I do and I don't urgently need to see anything.

It was a Sunday and it was the only day on our holiday where it was supposed to rain. We had a free late check out until 5pm. When Peter saw it was supposed to rain in the afternoon, he insisted on swimming in the morning. I was fine with that. At the pool I got talking to an English lady called Sally. She told me she was in her seventies, though if you had asked me to guess just by looking at her I'd have gone for fifties or sixties, and that she had lived in Singapore for years where she had worked as a PE teacher. Then she had retired to an island in the south of Thailand and lived there until COVID struck. Just before COVID she had gone back to The UK for a visit and ended up stuck there, as Thailand closed its borders. She was stuck there so long that she sorted out living there and ended up leaving Thailand though she still loved it. I must admit I love getting into conversations with people who have left there own country to work overseas as I can compare their circumstances with ours.

Peter in the pool.

When the skies clouded over, Peter reminded me that I had suggested I might return to Iconsiam before we left the Ibis Riverside, so I took him back to the room and headed off to the shopping mall.

I'm not really a shopping mall person, but I wanted to have another look at the food court and the viewing platform. It started to rain just as I arrived at the mall.

Iconsiam is enormous. It occupies several floors and I never fail to get completely lost whenever I go there.

One of the best bits of Iconsiam is its food court which is done up to look like a floating market in one part, while other parts look like a Thai village.

Floating market.

Bridge in a Thai village.

Dragon.

I didn't want to buy anything from the food court though the stalls are so beautifully presented I was tempted.

Coconut.

Thai Street food.

Seafood stall.

Food stall.

Fruit stall.

I also had a look at some of the craft and souvenir stalls.

Souvenirs.

Wooden utensils.

Candles.

I passed lots of fancy artworks and displays.

Art work.

I headed up to the seventh floor to go out onto the viewing platform. On the way I passed the giant waterfall and a pop mart display, but I couldn't go out onto the viewing platform because it had been closed off due to the rain. The security guard told me it had to be cleaned and dried before anyone would be allowed out. It was still raining and I didn't feel like hanging around for hours, so I just went home and got ready to move to our next hotel.

Waterfall.

Pop mart.

Our next hotel was The Novotel Siam Square. We have stayed here once before. It's located in the main shopping district and right next to both lines of the sky train. It's normally fairly expensive due to its location, but Peter got it at a good price, perhaps because there was some renovation going on.

We were upgraded to an executive room at check in and given free access to the club lounge for breakfast and dinner plus all day snacks. Our room was on the sixteenth floor. Naturally Eddie had to make friends with a new elephant. Our Welcome to The Novotel was all cut out of banana leaves.

Eddie and the elephant.

Oh and Peter got in on the act, too.

Our room.

We had the same view as last time over a nearby wat. I visited it last time and it was one of the best wats I have ever been to, but I didn't visit it this time.

View from our room.

That evening we went to the lounge for dinner. It was completely different from the way it used to be. We were asked if we liked it and were both very vague, because to be honest we both thought it was better before. The food was very good though and, miraculously enough, everything was piping hot. We usually go to these club lounge buffets and the food should be lovely, but it is actually lukewarm. Here they had it exactly right. We were served by the same waitress as a couple of years ago and she said she remembered us. I guess we must have been dancing on the tables during that visit!!! The only downside of the lounge was the draft beer pump wouldn't work and we had to drink canned Heineken which actually wasn't very good. I switched to wine and Peter went on rum, so that shows how bad it was.

Peter in the lounge.

I had fallen asleep early every night of the holiday so far and for once I was determined to go out. I only planned to wander around the nearby area, which is very flat and smooth and pedestrianised so would be perfect for Peter's wheelchair, but what I didn't realise was that it was still raining and that my crocs had worn away quite a bit on the bottom so had no grips. I was honestly only out for around five minutes and I nearly fell over seven times. It was like being on a skating rink. It was so bad, I considered walking back to the hotel barefoot so as not to break any bones. Fortunately Peter had refused to come with me or he may have had to wheelchair me home.

Siam Square.

Next day I decided that although I was right next to excellent public transport, I would walk to Jim Thompson's House, because it was less than twenty minutes walk away from our hotel.

We have actually been to Jim Thompson's House twice without going inside. To go inside you must go on a tour which costs 250 Thai baht, around six pounds. The reason I was keen to go on the tour this time is that our neighbour in Hong Kong keeps saying she wants to go to Bangkok just to see this house and this made me think it must really be worth seeing.

Google maps had been brilliant at getting me around up until this point, but for some reason it kept trying to take me the wrong way. Nonetheless I eventually found where I wanted to go. On route I passed some displays connected to Chinese New Year and a cultural centre.

Chinese New Year display.

Outside a cultural centre.

Eventually I got to Jim Thompson's House via the canal that the boat that passes The Grand Mercure goes on.

Canal walkway.

The passenger boat.

Passenger boat.

Working canal boat.

I found the boat stop and lots of colourful street art along the banks of the canal. These included pictures of tigers, Buddhas, elephants and people.

Street art.

There were lots of lovely flowering trees along the banks of the canal, as well as some sacred trees bedecked with ribbons.

Flowering trees.

Sacred tree.

At the beginning of the canal walkway there were lots of shady food stalls underneath the overhead road, such places are popular sites for having a cool drink or some tasty food while getting out of the sun for a while.

Street stalls under the motorway.

Street stalls.

Fortunately, I had set off quite early because when I reached the house there was already a queue. I remembered this was part of the reason we had never actually gone inside before. This time I got into the queue, I was nearly at the front when I saw a sign saying 'There may be a wait of one to two hours for an English speaking tour'. This really annoyed me and I thought to myself in that case I will not be going. Before paying any money I said to the ticket seller: "When is the earliest English speaking tour you can put me on, because if there's a long wait, I won't buy a ticket." She offered me a tour starting in thirty minutes, so I agreed to take that.

While I was waiting for the tour to begin I looked around the souvenir shop and the cafe. The souvenir shop sells beautiful silk clothes, scarves, bags, cushions etc. There's also a small exhibition about Jim Thompson's life and a display of the machines used in silk production.

Souvenir shop and cafe.

Colourful threads.

Clothes.

Scarves.

Bags.

Cushions.

Queen Mother shrine.

Cafe.

I was also allowed into the gardens but only because I could show that I had paid an entrance ticket. There were actually three buildings I could have gone into while waiting, but I didn't know that until the tour guide told me this later on.

So who was Jim Thompson? Well, he was an American businessman who was born in Delaware in 1906. His father was a wealthy textile manufacturer. His mother was a prominent member of Delaware society, who for some reason was vehemently opposed to women being allowed to vote. He had four older brothers and sisters.

Jim Thompson.

Thompson graduated from Princeton University in 1928, then began a postgraduate course at Pennsylvania's School of Architecture. Unfortunately for him he failed this course due to a weakness at calculus.

Then during World War II Thompson joined the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). This was the forerunner of the CIA. Throughout the war Thompson worked as an American spy. One of his missions was to help free Thailand from the occupying Japanese army. However, while he was still travelling to Thailand, the Japanese surrendered and World War II was officially over.

Thompson stayed on in Bangkok and organised the OSS office there. For a while he was involved with a project to restore the famous Oriental Hotel in Bangkok, but then he switched his attention to the silk industry. In 1948, Thompson helped found the Thai Silk Company. This is credited with saving the Thai silk industry which at that point was in severe decline. Thompson employed many Thai women who could carry out the silk production process within their own homes and he created many new brightly coloured silk patterns which helped renew interest in the product. In 1951 designer Irene Sharaff decided to use Jim Thompson's Thai silk to create the costumes for the musical 'The King and I'. This ensured Thompson's firm became famous worldwide.

Thompson was fascinated with antiques and began to collect many beautiful objets d'art. He then purchased a piece of land on the edge of one of Bangkok's canals and set about building a traditional Thai style house there. To do this he bought pieces of old wooden Thai houses and reconstructed them on his land. He changed some aspects of the traditional design to make his home more suitable to western tastes, for example by having an indoor central staircase rather than a more traditional outdoor one. In the end he created a beautiful home consisting of six traditional Thai dwellings and he placed his wonderful antique collection inside these.

Wooden houses.

Wooden house.

House through the trees.

Wooden house.

One of the things inside Jim Thompson's home that our guide pointed out was a copy of his fortune as predicted by a Thai astrologer. He was advised to exercise great caution in his sixty-first year in order to avoid a calamitous event.

Prediction by Thai astrologer.

Despite this warning however, when he was sixty-one, Thompson went on holiday to The Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. He stayed in his friends' home which was known as Moonlight Cottage. The 26th of March 1967 was Easter Sunday; Thompson and his friends spent the morning attending a church service, then had a picnic lunch. Once back in Moonlight Cottage again, Thompson announced that he would go out for a short walk. He was never seen alive again.

What happened to him? It's a mystery and noone really knows, but theories abound. Was he kidnapped? There was no ransom demand. Was he killed by a wild animal, such as a tiger which still roamed the Cameron Highlands in those days? No traces of an animal attack were uncovered. Did he fall down a slope, get mown down by a hit and run driver, suffer some other fatal mishap? No body was ever found. Was he murdered? Did he deliberately disappear to start a new life? Maybe we will never know. Thompson was officially declared dead in 1974 as no trace of him could ever be found.

In a cruel twist of fate for Thompson's family his sister was brutally beaten to death in the USA just six months after Thompson's disappearance. Was this just an unfortunate coincidence or were the two events in some way related? Again we may never know. One thing is for certain Thompson's life and subsequent disappearance leaves us with lots to think about.

Wandering around the inside of Thompson's house, I saw many antiques. Interesting ones included a mouse maze which I couldn't get a good photo of due to reflections, but this was a sort of large pet cage consisting of tunnels that a mouse could run through. Apparently people used to sit around and watch this in the same way that you might watch a tropical fish tank or indeed television, though the mouse show may have had a better plot than some TV shows.

The living-room was very beautiful. It was filled with plush couches, armchairs and tables loaded down with antiques.

Living room.

Living-room.

There was a dining-room. Apparently Thompson liked to entertain guests frequently in his beautiful home.

Dining room.

We were taken into the main bedroom and asked to guess which container was used for people to pee into in the night rather than walking to the outside toilet. There were many open containers, but the answer was a pottery cat that could be opened up.

Bedroom.

Cat chamber pot.

Guest bedroom.

There were many different styles of statues. These came from Thailand and other South East Asian countries.

Statues.

Statue.

Buddha Statue.

Seated Buddha.

Gold statue.

Statue.

There were beautiful paintings and intricate carvings.

Painting.

Paintings.

Carving.

There were pottery vases and bowls, ornate lamps, screens and beautiful items of furniture.

Vases.

Bowls.

Screen.

Lamp.

Desk.

Table, bowls and wall hanging.

I loved looking down from the balconies, or out the windows at the lush green garden down below.

View from the window.

Looking out the window.

After the tour I walked around the three houses that the guide told us we could do on our own. I found a cat feeding her kittens in the garden.

Cat and kittens.

I also explored the garden with its ponds, statues and spirit house. The garden vegetation was really lush and overgrown and our guide said Thompson always referred to it as his own personal jungle.

Garden.

Fish pond.

Water-lily.

Headless Buddha Statue in the garden.

Spirit house.

When I left, the queue to get in was really long, that's why I was glad I had come early.

I walked back home and took Peter swimming. The Novotel has a lovely pool that's easy for Peter to get into. There's a bar here with a table and chairs shaped like a tuk tuk. There are lots of plants and flowers in the pool garden.

Peter in the pool.

Tuk tuk.

Art near the bar.

Orchids.

Lemon.

After our swim we had dinner in the lounge and were pleased to discover the draft beer machine was working again.

Us in the club.

After dinner, I put on my nonslip training shoes and had a quick walk on the pedestrian streets outside. Peter still chose not to come with me. He had spent ages exercising in the pool and had tired himself out. For some reason, although it was February, there was a Christmas tree just outside the hotel. I'm finding this a lot in Asia; Christmas trees are on display all year round. There was also a market that had been open all day, lots of shops and lots of restaurants.

Market Suam Square.

Market.

Christmas tree.

Siam Square.

Shops.

Shop.

Restaurant.

Tuk tuk.

Posted by irenevt 18:33 Archived in Thailand Comments (5)

Cruising Chinatown

A new day, a new location.

06.02.2026 - 08.02.2026

Next day we were changing hotel. We began the day with a very good breakfast, returned to the room and started packing, then headed down to the pool. We had another cold swim and then lay in the sun for a while.

Peter in the pool.

We still had our voucher for a free drink, so decided to have that in the pool cafe. We thought we might as well order some food while we were there, so had fish and chips between the two of us. It was a pleasant meal, but I felt I was getting too much sun and the alcohol at lunch time was making me really sleepy.

Us at lunch.

Peter at lunch.

Our fish and chips.

After lunch we returned to our room to finish packing, then we booked a Grab and headed off to The Ibis Riverside. We always stay here, because we love its pool and its riverside location. Its food isn't great and there's no luxury or member benefits like those we get in the more expensive hotels, nonetheless we keep coming back.

The Grab driver was very pleasant and honest, but his car was sweltering hot and we got stuck in traffic. I had already had too much sun and by the time we got to the hotel, I would happily just have gone straight to sleep, but naturally we had to swim and go for dinner. Plus I had to go out shopping for beer, because the next day was election day and the sale of alcohol was forbidden everywhere from 6pm Saturday to 6pm Sunday. Fortunately we had a fridge.

The Ibis Riverside.

Our room in The Ibis.

Our swim was lovely and the pool was so much warmer than in the previous hotel. It really is a joy to swim here.

The Ibis pool.

Peter in the pool.

Deer by the pool.

I love being on the river. The views are beautiful. There's lots of boats going up and down and it's just very peaceful and pleasant to be by the water.

Abandoned building and sparkling wat.

Closer view.

Sky train crossing the river.

Long boat on the river.

When I walked to the shops, I noticed a beautifully lit up street near the hotel.

Street near The Ibis Riverside.

For dinner we sat at the front of the hotel and watched the brightly lit party boats sail up and down the river, which is what we always do here. Peter ordered chicken nuggets and absolutely hated them. I had chicken cashew nuts and it was ok, though not great.

Dinner by the river.

Peter at dinner.

My chicken cashew nuts.

Ibis pool by night.

Most of the party boats head up the river reasonably sedately, but come back down all lit up, with music blaring and people dancing the night away onboard. We have done these boat cruises a couple of times in the past, but now we just observe them from afar.

Party boat.

I was very relieved to final get to bed, as I was getting very irritable due to extreme tiredness and too much sun. By the morning I had become human again.

We had breakfast at the hotel. It's not so good here, but we found that if we stuck to toast and eggs that it wasn't too bad.

Peter at breakfast.

After breakfast, I headed out to explore Chinatown. To get there I walked to the nearby bridge, then walked across the Chao Phraya River and headed to the boat station in Sathorn. There are good views over the river when you walk across the bridge. I usually try to walk across one side and come back on the other. As well as traffic, the sky train also crosses this bridge.

View from the bridge.

Sky train crossing bridge.

I was charged 40 baht for a trip to Ratchawong Pier. It was only 21 baht on the way back, so I think it depends on the type of boat you get put on. I actually got put on quite a fancy boat with lots of empty seats. It was a short journey but very comfortable.

Boat.

River boat

On the river boat.

At Ratchawong Ferry Pier.

Ratchawong Pier.

There was only one thing I was dead set on finding in Chinatown. Other than that, I just intended to wander around and see what I could stumble upon.

The one sight I really wanted to see was the Crocodile Temple, which is really called Wat Chakrawatrachawat Woramahawihan, but I think Crocodile Temple is a bit easier.

To get there I headed straight up the road from the ferry pier, then took the first left, followed by the first right. This temple is down a little lane filled with flowers and statues of monks. There's a Buddhist school here, too.

Monk statue.

The entrance to the temple is colourful and picturesque. To the left just past the entranceway there's a steep staircase leading to a shrine.

Entrance.

Lion.

Stairway.

At the top of the stairs.

Buddha in the upstairs shrine.

Everything I have read about this temple describes it as peaceful, but when I visited there was some kind of ceremony going on and it was really busy.

Wandering around I saw several different religious buildings and several Buddha statues. In some parts the wat was very beautiful and filled with colourful flowers, but in other places, like many wats, it was being used as a carpark, so wasn't pretty at all.

Crocodile Temple.

Flowers.

Buddha.

But it was the crocodiles I had come to see and I found them in a fenced off enclosure with little caves and sadly, not very much water.

Crocodile.

Crocodile cave.

There's a legend associated with The Crocodile Temple. Long ago when Ayutthaya was still the capital of Siam, and the area that is now Bangkok was just a collection of little villages, there were many crocodiles in the Chao Phraya River. One huge one eyed crocodile, known to the locals as Ai-Bod (Thai for one-eyed), was particularly ferocious. Ai-Bod had attacked and killed many villagers, so the furious villagers decided to hunt him down and kill him. They drove him out of the river, then chased him on dry land. Ai-Bod couldn't fight them all, so he hid under the hut of a young monk. This monk begged the villagers not to kill Ai-Bod, and promised that he personally would ensure that Ai-Bod didn't attack and kill anyone else. The villagers agreed to this, so the monk built an enclosure for Ai-Bod in the grounds of his temple. Later more crocodiles were brought to live here and their descendants still live here to the present day. I read somewhere that there are currently four crocodiles here, though personally I only saw two.

After exploring the temple, I headed off to explore other areas of Chinatown. Chinatown is filled with many markets and street stalls. You can buy just about anything here. I loved all the flower stalls and stalls selling Chinese New Year decorations, because they were so bright and colourful. There were several Chinese style archways around, though I didn't go to the main one which I have seen before when I went to The Golden Mount.

Colourful stall.

Balloons.

Fabric shop.

Busy shop.

Chinese New Year decorations.

Street stall.

Flowers.

Flower shop.

Flowers.

Bags.

Clothes.

Masks.

Furniture shop.

In the markets.

Market street.

Archways.

Chinatown arch.

Chinatown is also very famous for its food and there are a wide variety of restaurants, cafes and food stalls everywhere. I didn't buy anything, but I was tempted by the cold drinks on such a hot day.

Food stall.

Fruit stall.

Food stall.

Food cart.

Food shop.

The main street in Chinatown is Yaowarat Road which is a very busy traffic filled road with lots of lovely street signs. These are lit up at night. Chinatown is busy both day and night.

Yaowarat Road.

Just wandering aimlessly I found that there were lots of interesting old buildings around and lots of things to look at in the streets. Chinatown is lively, energetic and entertaining.

Old buildings.

Busy road.

Busy side street.

Busy market lane.

Next to Yaowarat Road.

Traditional vendor.

Chinatown shopping mall.

There's lots of beautiful street art to look at, too.

Street art .

Street art.

Drain cover.

There were also so many gorgeous temples and small intricate shrines. They seem to be everywhere. Some are Chinese, some are Vietnamese Chinese or Thai Chinese.

Traditional Chinese shrine.

Wat Mongkol Samakhom.

Wat Lokanukroh, a Chinese Vietnamese shrine.

Wat Lokanukroh.

Kwang Tung Shrine.

Wat Kanmatuyaram, a Thai Buddhist temple.

As well as having a quick look at these smaller temples and shrines, I visited a huge major temple called Wat Mangkon Kamalawat, which means Dragon Lotus Temple. There's a metro station on the blue line called Wat Mangkon very near to this temple.

Wat Mangkon is the largest and most important Chinese Buddhist temple in Bangkok. It dates back to around 1871. Several festivals are celebrated here and it was especially busy with people looking for blessings for Chinese New Year.

Some of the temple buildings.

Approaching the main temple building.

Main temple building.

The temple consisted of many different statue filled halls. Most of these were decorated with brightly coloured round, red, lanterns.

One of the many halls.

Statue.

Dragon in case.

Lanterns.

There were worshippers brandishing incense and making offerings everywhere. Lots of people were posing for photographs.

Lighting candles.

Candles, offerings, baby.

Worshippers.

Offerings.

Good spot for a selfie.

One area had a little garden and pond with lots of little figures in it.

Pond.

I was getting too hot, plus I had promised to spend the late afternoon swimming with Peter, so I walked back to the ferry pier and waited for a boat. Some young monks were waiting, too.

My ferry passed Iconsiam, but I didn't go and visit it. I thought I might go there briefly the next day.

Monks.

Iconsiam.

I walked back over the bridge and back to the hotel. Peter and I had a long, relaxed swim.

Peter in the pool.

The Ibis at night.

For dinner I just bought sandwiches from 7-Eleven, but they turned out to be really sweet, so we didn't like them.

Posted by irenevt 07:06 Archived in Thailand Comments (5)

It's Swings and Rounabouts

Castles and Parks

05.02.2026 - 05.02.2026

Next day we went down to the restaurant in the lobby for breakfast again. Then, after breakfast, I decided to take the train to Bangkok's Old Town on Rattanakosin Island, where I planned to visit the Giant Swing, The Metal Castle, an old fort and the democracy monument.

So what is Rattanakosin Island? Well, it is one of the oldest parts of Bangkok. It doesn't really feel like an island at all, although it is surrounded by canals and former moats. At one time when Thailand was still known as Siam, the capital was Ayutthaya, but that got overrun by the Burmese and Thonburi on the west side of the Chao Phraya River became the capital. This didn't stay the capital for long though. After a few years the capital was moved to Rattanakosin Island. This area of Bangkok contains some of its most famous sights like the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. There's lots to see here and it's a wonderful place just to wander around in.

To get to Rattanakosin Island I took the blue metro line from Petchaburi Station to Sam Yot Station. I came here last visit in order to visit the Golden Mount. This time I exited through exit three, walked right, then turned around the corner. I noticed there were several old low level buildings around, which I liked the look of.

Street scene.

Food stalls.

After walking just a couple of minutes I reached one of Bangkok's many canals. This one is called Klong Prem.

Canal.

Just past the canal was Rommaninat Park. This turned out to be a beautiful green space filled with trees and flowers. To my surprise I even saw a little squirrel here, which was quite unexpected in the middle of Bangkok. This park had several towers, ponds, a model of an elephant and several models of the giant swing that I was just about to go and see.

Greenery and trees.

Heart.

Orchids.

Squirrel.

Tower in the pond.

Elephant.

Model of the Giant Swing.

People playing sports.

Selfie in the park.

I didn't know it at the time, but apparently this park is built on the site of the notorious Klong Prem Central Prison, which dates back to 1944 and once housed some of Thailand's worst offenders, including many who had been placed on death row. Foreign nationals from many countries were also housed here. Many had been charged with drug related crimes. Due to lack of space, this prison was relocated to the Chatuchak District in 1960. Now all that remains of the former prison are some stretches of wall and some of the former observation towers.

Just a short walk further ahead on the opposite side of the road was The Temple of the Giant Swing. Well, I say The Temple of the Giant Swing, but this temple is actually called Wat Suthat Thepphawararam, normally shortened to Wat Suthat. It cost me 100 baht to go inside, about £2.50.

Wat Suthat is one of Bangkok's six first class Royal Temples, as well as being one of the oldest temples on Rattanakosin Island.

The construction of Wat Suthat began in 1782 when Rama I became the first ruler of The Rattanakosin Kingdom, however the temple wasn't completed until 1847 during the reign of King Rama III.

Wat Suthat.

Horse statue.

Doorway.

Lotus blossom seller.

The main prayer hall houses an eight metre tall Buddha image, which was made in Sukhothai around eight hundred years ago before being brought to Bangkok by river boat. When it arrived, there were Buddhist celebrations to welcome it that lasted a week. The ashes of King Ananda Mahidol, Rama VIII are buried underneath the image. There's also a monument to him outside the prayer hall.

Monument to the king.

Giant Buddha.

The walls of this prayer hall are covered in wonderful murals showing images from the previous lives of the Buddha and scenes from daily life in the Rattanakosin era.

Paintings.

In the galleries surrounding the prayer hall there are one hundred and fifty large Buddha images.

Some of the one hundred and fifty Buddha images.

Buddhas.

Buddha.

There's also an ordination hall, which dates back to 1834. This houses a large Buddha image and facing this there are eighty plaster statues of Buddhist disciples. The walls of the ordination hall are also covered in beautiful paintings. People walk along the edges of the Buddhist disciples throwing coins into metal pots for good luck.

Entryway.

Inside the ordination hall.

The Buddha.

The Buddha and the disciples.

Putting coins in the bowls.

Buddhist disciples and lucky money bowls.

Further back there's a room used to teach Buddhist doctrine. Next to this there's a private area where the monks live.

Room used to teach Buddhist doctrine.

All around the courtyard there are rather cute stone statues brought over from China around the end of the eighteenth century.

Chinese statues.

Chinese statue.

There are also seven sacred stone stupas with Buddha statues and animal statues and beautiful gardens.

Stupa.

Animal statues.

Garden.

Water lilies.

Outside the temple is the famous giant swing. This is twenty metres high, made of teak wood and dates back to the eighteenth century. This used to be used in annual religious ceremonies. Groups of young men would sit on the swing and try to swing high enough to grab with their teeth bags of gold coins that was attached to a pole. Several people died trying to do this so in the 1930's this ceremony was banned.

The Temple with the Giant Swing in front of it.

The giant swing.

The Devasathan temple near the giant swing.

I remembered the area just across from the giant swing which is filled with shops selling religious paraphernalia, so if you are looking for a huge golden Buddha, this is where to come.

Religious paraphernalia shops.

Religious paraphernalia shops

There was some interesting street art and lots of cafes here, too. I'd have liked to look around this area, but I had other places I wanted to see and I can only keep going in the heat here for a few hours before I'm desperate to get inside and cool down again.

Street art.

I crossed a small canal and headed right. I walked along the canal towpath and took several photos of the lovely old wooden houses here. This area was another one that looked like it would be fun to explore, but I stayed focused. Just before I reached a road, I turned left. I had reached The Metal Castle.

Walking along the canal.

Houses on the canal.

Looking towards the Golden Mount.

Another wat on the canal.

Although people call this wat The Metal Castle, its real name is Wat Ratchanatdaram, the Temple of the Royal Niece. Rama III ordered the construction of this temple for his granddaughter, Princess Somanass Waddhanawathy in 1846. However, the temple took a very long time to be finished. It wasn't open to the public until 2007.

Main wat and metal castle.

Main temple.

The unusual part of this temple is its Loha Prasat or iron castle. This is a thirty-six metre high, seven story pyramidical structure. At the bottom this structure has twenty-four spires; in the middle it has twelve and at the top it has only one, which houses a Buddha relic. There used to be similar shaped temples in India and Sri Lanka, but these no longer exist.

The Metal Castle.

The Metal Castle.

I paid 20 baht, around 50p, to climb up the metal castle. Inside it's like a maze with various walkways leading off to Buddha statues. There's a spiral staircase in the centre and on some of the floors it's possible to look at the surrounding views. Most of these also involved close ups of the metal spikes.

Spiral staircase.

Metal spikes.

The best views though are off course from the top. From there I could clearly see The Golden Mount and lots of Rattanakosin Island. At one of the highest points a French girl offered to take a photo for me, so I also took one of her and her friend.

View.

Selfie.

Looking towards the Golden Mount.

I could also see the two remaining things I wanted to see. The first of these was Mahakan Fort. Before I got there I noticed there was another wat next door. This is also a well-known one, but I was already watted out, so I didn't go in. That's the funny thing about wats, they are beautiful, but it doesn't take long before I personally just can't do any more of them.

Yet another wat.

Historically Rattanakosin Island was surrounded by walls, moats and forts. Nowadays only four forts and two short sections of city wall remain. Mahakan Fort and its stretch of city wall have now been made into a beautiful park filled with trees and flowers. This park borders a canal. Although there is a very busy road on one side of this park, it still manages to be very peaceful.

The park.

Bauhinias.

Selfie in the park.

Old city walls.

The fort.

Selfie with the fort.

Bridge.

The canal.

Houses on the canal.

Looking towards the Golden Mount from the park.

From here I walked along extremely busy Ratchadamnoen Klang Road, where construction for the orange metro line extension was taking place. I was heading to my final site the Democracy Monument, which is located on a pretty chaotic, traffic clogged roundabout.

The King Rama III Memorial.

Guard outside cultural centre.

Siam Champs Elyseesi Unique Hotel.

Historic structure on Ratchadamnoen Klang Road in Bangkok's old town, currently undergoing renovation.

The Democracy Monument.

The Democracy Monument was inaugurated in 1940 to commemorate the 1932 revolution that transformed Thailand from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional one. Since that time, several public protests have taken place at this site.

From here it was pretty much a straight line back to Sam Yot Station. I took the train home.

Peter and I headed down to the pool for another chilly swim.

Me in the pool.