A Walk to Old Town

a large portrait of the king

This weekend, the weather was perfect! I decided to take a walk. I headed out away from the skytrain and downtown area on foot, past Dusit Palace where a big cultural fair was taking place, and towards the Old Town.

royal throne hall

 I ended up walking nearly 5 kilometers, all the way from my apartment to the Golden Mount. Along the way, I discovered cool old areas I had never been to before. As I got away from downtown, everything became quiet slower. There was barely any traffic down these narrow, leafy streets.

streets in the old town

I don't even know why I started walking, really. I just felt like going on a bit of an adventure in the cooler weather.

old buildings in Bangkok

I set off without any sort of plan at all, past the UN building and towards an area that I had only ever been to by bus or boat.

At one point, I even saw a baby water monitor poking his head up from the sewers to say "hi".

baby water monitor

 Eventually, I made my way to the Golden Mount Temple. I had come to a sort of hidden back entrance into the temple's Bodhi Garden, which I didn't even know existed! Even though this is one of my very favorite places in Bangkok, even the Golden Mount still has a few surprises for me.

The garden was cool and shady. Only a few people were there: a couple old men sitting and relaxing in the shade and a few amateur photographers.

I still like finding new areas in Bangkok, and seeing my old familiar areas in a new perspective. After five years, the city can still feel new to me sometimes.

When I first moved to Bangkok, the rooftops of the Loha Prasat were painted black. The building was under renovation for years, but all of the spires are finally completely gold. I admit, it looks good.

I also made my way down to the Giant Swing at Wat Sutat. It's another famous Bangkok landmark, but one I don't always think about. It was once used in a big annual Brahman ceremony, but that was stopped about a hundred years ago after too many people swinging from the Giant Swing had gotten injured.

Further on, I found a small park. I think this land was once an old prison, but that was long ago. One of the guard towers still stands over the park though.

This isn't really much of a blog post, but I had a nice day walking through the old town, and I wanted to share some of the areas I discovered. It's nice that Bangkok can still show me new things even after living here for so long. I really do love this city!