Bangkok (Lonely Planet) - Andrew Burke [63]
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WALK FACTS
Start Tha Phan Fah (klorng boat)
End Rajinee (N7)
Distance 4km
Duration Two to four hours, depending on how long you spend in the museums
Fuel stops Klorng-side noodle shops
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10 Sino-Portuguese Shopfronts
At Th Feuang Nakhon turn left and then right on Soi Phra Si past heavily ornamented shopfronts decorated in a style often referred to as Sino-Portuguese. In the early 20th century these buildings were the height of fashion and sold new luxury goods, like motor cars, to the modernising country. Today the fashions have shifted to downtown malls and the old buildings are either warehouses or offer more mundane items – like car parts.
11 Saphan Hok
Cross Th Atsadang to Saphan Hok, a simple lever bridge across Khlong Lawt, the inner-city moat that cut off the royal centre of Ko Ratanakosin from the mere mortals of the outer island. Trading ships from Mon settlements would dock near here on trading missions.
12 Saranrom Royal Garden
The far side of the bridge leads to Saranrom Royal Garden, a park favouring English Victorian gardens with tropical perfumes and earnest exercisers.
13 Museum of Siam
Exit the park south of the fountain, turn right on Th Charoen Krung, then left on Th Sanam Chai and walk south past Wat Pho to Bangkok’s newest attraction, the excellent Museum of Siam, where an old ministry has been transformed into a series of interactive and interesting exhibits dealing with Thai history and culture.
14 Pak Khlong Market
Exit on the far side of the museum to Th Maharat, and turn left. Walk 300m to Pak Khlong Market, Bangkok’s huge wholesale flower and vegetable market. When you’ve finished having a look around here, take a walk back up to the canal and turn left to reach Tha Rajinee; this is not one of Bangkok’s busiest piers so if you can’t wait, take a taxi or túk-túk.
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THEWET & DUSIT
Eating; Sleeping
Formerly a fruit orchard north of the royal island of Ratanakosin, Dusit was transformed into a mini-European city by Rama V (King Chulalongkorn; r 1868–1910), complete with wide avenues and shady walkways. The area begins east of Th Samsen and follows Th Phitsanulok and Th Si Ayuthaya to the district’s most famous sites: the palaces of Dusit Park, Dusit Zoo and Wat Benchamabophit. Further east is the present monarch’s residence of Chitralada Palace, which is open to the public only by appointment and with a good reason.
But for all the elegance of Dusit Park and the European-style grandeur of its buildings and boulevards, the district is hollow in spirit precisely because this is Bangkok, not London or Paris. You can walk for blocks without spotting any of the things that make Bangkok wonderful: street vendors, motorcycle taxis, random stores selling random stuff. Or, as Somerset Maugham put it when driving through Dusit’s streets in 1923, ‘They seem to await ceremonies and procession. They are like the deserted avenues in the park of a fallen monarch.’
Devotion to the monarchy and particularly to King Chulalongkorn, the man credited with dragging Thailand into the modern world, is the primary purpose of an average Bangkokian’s visit to Dusit. Many come to make merit at the bronze equestrian statue of Chulalongkorn, which stands in military garb at the Royal Plaza. Although originally intended as mere historical commemoration, the statue has quite literally become a religious shrine, where every Tuesday evening Bangkok residents come to offer candles, flowers (predominantly pink roses), incense and bottles of whisky.
Rama V is also honoured with an annual festival on 23 October that celebrates his accomplishments in modernising the country, abolishing slavery and maintaining the country’s independence when all other