Sidestory: The Thailand Temple Trip ~ Twilight Temples

19-Oct-2026

Today starts with a rainy morning. Also, we have no breakfast since we're both still full from the Dinner Cruise yesterday.

Since tomorrow is the day of my departure, I'm already getting some packing done in the morning, and also spend some time with my beloved Chella.

As we prepare to go out for lunch, I realise that this probably the end of the line for my trusty Vibram toe shoes, since the top of the tongue is starting to come apart.

Anyway, we head to our most visited place for one last time...

...where we head into the Fuji restaurant.

There, I order a Lyche Ice Tea and Unagidon Teishoku (鰻丼定食 "Eel Bowl Set Meal"), which comes with a soup, while Chella orders all the other stuff (and it goes without saying that I have to eat half of that too). Maybe I should just stop ordering stuff for myself.

On the way back, Chella gets distracted by a fruit stall once again.

Back in the Airbnb, I finally dare to take a picture of this sign which has made me uneasy for some while now. Should I be worried? Or does this not apply to me since I'm renting the place for almost two weeks? Or is this just another token thing, like the token security at stations? After all, it's only "illegal".

Anyway, one of the elevators is now broken. Here's hoping the other one lasts.

Later in the afternoon, we head out into the city one last time. I've now been here for two weeks, and finally figured out which bus stop is the most comfortable to walk to. That path causes us to see two more shrines.

This is a modern bus stop again.

And we're lucky to arrive just in time to catch the bus going into the city. It's a strait ride, but it still takes about 45m because of the heavy traffic, courtesy of the Orange Line construction.

Eventually, we arrive at Phan Fa Pier (ท่าเรือผ่านฟ้า), where we have an adventurous time walking through a narrow scaffold right away.

 

 

Our walk here today should be short but sweet, and incorporate another three temples. Also, we're again quite close to the other two areas we visited in the city. In fact, they almost form and equilateral triangle.

First, there's the sights of the city, including a water taxi running along the channels.

And now: Temples. First there's Wat Ratchanatdaram Worawihan (วัด​ราชนัดดารามวรวิหาร​).

 

 

Inside, we are privy to an unexpected event: Buddhist monks chanting in front of the golden Buddha statue.

Next to the temple, there's a whole aisle of souvenir stores. And here I finally find what I've been looking for: A pair of cute mouse figurines. Here's hoping I manage to bring them home in one piece.

Moving on from there, we walk for but a short distance...

...before arriving at the next temple: Wat Thep Thidaram Worawihan (วัดเทพธิดารามวรวิหาร).

Following that, we need to walk just a little bit further to reach our destination for today.

 

The Golden Mount of Wat Saket Ratchawora Mahawihan (วัดสระเกศราชวรมหาวิหาร)! This is 70m tall artificial hill with a golden stupa on top, which is going to give us a great view of the city around us, and hopefully also allows us to see a nice sunset.

Admission is only 100฿ per nose, which is really cheap for such an amazing experience. A sign at the entrance also says you're not supposed to wear shorts, but they still let me inside. Maybe it's because I'm wearing all orange today. Anyway, the ascent is 344 steps, but since most of these steps are relatively shallow, I'd say it's more like 200 regular-sized steps or so.

 

 The ascent is nice and shady for the biggest part. Also, there's a koi pond early on.

Here's a depiction of the three wise monkeys in human form. As a reminder, they're supposed to symbolise: Don't talk trash, don't listen to people who say bad things, and don't look at bad things. Especially that last one is something that I think it's important that more people would take to heart in the age of social media and doomscrolling.

Going further up, I notice statues of the zodiac animals flanking the staircase.

Also, halfway up, there's a Golden Mount cafe, because why not?

There's also many bells and gongs you can ring on the way up. This big one also has the twelve zodiac animals on it.

 

 Eventually, we reach the foot of the proper stupa. It's still some way to the top, but we can keep going.

 Of course we already get great views on the way up.

 

And then, we reach on the top of the staircase, where for once people are asked to keep their shoes on. There's signs all over, and even a multilingual announcement saying "Keep your shoes on", and yet...

Anyway, we're now inside the stupa with its many sights.

  

 

Those include Buddhas with mantras for every day of the week (two for Wednesday, depending whether it's day or night).

And also drink vending machines as well as an AC, because it's important to stay cool and hydrated.

A few more steps is all that's left, and then we made it all the way to the rooftop.

From here, we get a great panorama view in all directions.

There's also these cute little prayer chimes filling the air with ambience sound all the time, because as you can imagine, it's quite windy up here.

 And here's the view down. Quite a drop.

Now for the reason we've come here. I wanted to watch the sunset with my beloved Chella. but unfortunately, some clouds get in the way.

In the end, the closest we get is a scar of the heavens, where the sun peeks through a little window in the clouds.

However, a few minutes after sunset, we do get to see something nice: A glowing cloud as the light of the sun behind the horizon reflects off the bottom of aforementioned clouds.

As twilight settles in and the lights of the city turn on, we get a nice view of the many temples all around us, now clearly highlighted. One of these is certainly Wat Pho, which we visited on our very first day together.

After that, we head back down.

  

 

And there's more sights on the way down, such as the Buddha's footprint. That must be like what? Size 255?

 

By the time we get to the bottom, it's already quite dark. From the temple, we make our way through the dark streets with low-hanging wires...

...until we reach a nice little restaurant advertising authentic southern Thai cuisine.

 

There, I have a meal of shrimp with very tasty Sataw beans, while Chella has coiled pork ribs with sour Cha-Muang leaves. That's a tree that grows everywhere here and is known for its sour leaves that taste a bit like lemon.

After a tasty dinner, we make our way back to the bus stop.

As we wait, I take note of the schedule of the nearby traffic light. It's 120 seconds of red, followed by 50 seconds of green.

 

And then we're on our way back to the Airbnb. Naturally the bus doesn't take the exact same route back, but I especially like the bit where it goes up one side of the channel, and then down the other.

Observe the behaviour of the Bankok Common Motorcyclist (weavus trafficus): At crossroads, it makes use of any free spaces (such as turn-left-lanes) to cut in front of larger vehicles, in order to get a head start once the lights turn green.

 

Along the ride, we also pass the ACME company.

 

And near the end, the bus gets quite crowded.

But we still manage to get off somehow. 

We walk the Path of the Tiger one last time...

...and then we're back at the Airbnb.

We have one last night together, and then, tomorrow it's time for me to depart. It's sad to think about it, but I'm happy about the time I got to spend here with my Chella. My cute little Specklefur Flirial Ven. Even though the climate here is hot and humid, I still had a good time here in Thailand thanks to her. I hope you enjoyed reading about my experiences here. I'm still going to cover the trip back, so you can look forward to that. Until then, stay tuned, and be of great cheer! =^,^=