Spiritual Sathorn and the Teochew Cemetery

Sathorn is one of Bangkok's fifty districts and a major part of the downtown CBD. With towering skyscrapers, expensive condo towers, shops, malls, restaurants, and major international company headquarters, it's one of the last places in Bangkok you might expect to have a secret spiritual side.

I took the MRT to Silom Station, then set out on foot down Sathorn Road. It was a bright sunny day, but since it's technically winter, the weather was relatively cool, and it was a pleasant walk.

First, I passed by the Chong Nonsi Canal Park, a tiny city park located alongside and atop bridges spanning the Chong Nonsi Canal. Spanning 4.5 kilometers (2.8 mi) on both sides of the canal, the park is the longest and narrowest city park in Bangkok.

I crossed the busy road via the park, then made my way down the sidewalk on a 20-or-so minute walk to the Java Mosque. The old Indonesian-style masjid dates back to the reign of King Rama IV. In 1946, Haji Muhammad Soleh bin Hasan, a Javanese trader, donated 500 square meters of his own land in Bangkok to build a mosque for his community.

The mosque was built in traditional Javanese architectural style with a three-tiered pyramid roof and was painted green, the symbolic color of Islam. The design was meant to resemble the Great Mosque of Kauman in Yogyakarta (albeit in a much smaller scale).

Out back is a cemetery a small plot of land dotted with dozens of hand-painted wooden grave markers.

In Thailand, a Buddhist country, it's most common to cremate the dead. There are a few rare exceptions. The Christians (who have their own cemetery and a graveyard at the back of Christ Church), the Muslims (who build graveyards behind their mosques like this one), and the Chinese community.

That wasn't the cemetery I had come to visit, though. A few minutes later, I reached my destination, Wat Don Graveyard, also known as the Teochew Cemetery.

Founded in 1899 by Teochew migrants, the cemetery behind Wat Don is a large one made up of traditional Chinese graves. The graves are typically horseshoe-shaped, with curved stone walls that cradle the burial site and face outward according to feng shui principals meant to bring protection and good fortune to descendants of the deceased.

During festivals such as Qingming (the "Tomb-Sweeping Festival"), families return to clean the graves, burn incense and joss paper, and leave food and drink similar to Dia de los Muertos.

In 1996, the cemetery, which had become rundown and overgrown, was converted by the city into a public park. Today, it's home to walking and jogging trails and a public open-air weightlifting gym.

Apparently, the cemetery is one of the premier birdwatching spots in Bangkok, but when I arrived it was midafternoon, and I didn't spot anything interesting. I guess I'd have to come back in the morning sometime.

At the center of the park is a large Chinese-style shrine dedicated to the Chinese monk Tai Hong Kong, known in Thailand as Po Teck Tung. As a matter of fact, the graves at the park are still maintained by the Po Teck Tung Foundation.

Dedicated to a Song-dynasty Chinese monk famed for rescuing the poor, the sick, and the unclaimed dead, the shrine serves as a place of worship for Po Tek Tung, who is revered in Thailand as a Boddhisatva and a symbol of compassion and selfless service.

It's a beautiful and serene spot, and it's a shame that the park isn't more popular.

Even though it's located in one of the busiest parts of Bangkok, the park is always quiet and rarely has more than a handful of visitors. This is because it is widely believed to be one of the most haunted places in Bangkok.

As I made my way back to the BTS station, I passed Wat Vishnu, or the Vishnu Temple, a Hindu temple dedicated to (you guessed it!) the Hindu god Vishnu.

Wat Vishnu is the oldest Hindu temple in Bangkok. It is a northern Indian temple that is very popular with those who trace their ancestry to the Uttar Pradesh region of India where Vishnu is worshiped as the highest god in the Trimurti (the Hindu "holy trinity" consisting of Brahma the Creator, Shiva the Destroyer, and Vishnu the Preserver).

The Vishnu Temple was completed in 1920 and contains a collection of 24 beautiful marble statues brought from Jaipur.

It's always nice to discover new hidden gems in the city I've lived in for so long. Living in Bangkok never gets old, and it seems that I'm always discovering something new.

Bangkok Port and the Doulos Hope

In all of my years living in Bangkok, I had never made my way down to Bangkok Port, but on a recent rainy afternoon, Pinky and I found ourselves sitting in the back of a songthaew making our way down to Pier 3 where the MV Doulos Hope had docked for the month.

Bangkok Port, also called Khlong Toei Port, is one of the busiest container ports in the world. Located along the lower part of the Chao Phraya River, not far from where the river meets the sea, Bangkok Port is one of the most important cargo hubs in Southeast Asia and accounts for a large part of the Thai economy.

The Port Authority of Thailand manages the oceangoing shipping in and out of Bangkok, and also manages Port FC, a team in the Thai Football League's Division 1 that has a large and loyal following among expats. I'm not sure why most foreigners seem to choose to support Port over other Bangkok-based soccer teams, but I'd love to attend a game someday to find out. We passed by Port's stadium on our way to visit the Doulos Hope.

Launched in 1989 as the cruise ship Lady Sarah, the Doulos Hope was retired and reoutfitted in 2022 when it was purchased by the German faith-based charity Gute Bücher für Alle (which means "Good Books for All", in case that wasn't completely obvious!).

It had been storming fiercely all day, and we had to walk over a sort of makeshift bridge made from wooden pallets to reach the ship. We climbed up a steep ladder and stepped on board the Doulos Hope.

Today, Doulos Hope, whose name means "Servant of Hope", is a floating book fair that sails around the world docking for weeks at a time in major cities. It, along with its larger sister ship the MV Logos Hope, share the same mission.

Proceeds from the book sales raise money to purchase books and supply aid and community care for underfunded schools, hospitals, orphanages, and prisons around the world. I think that education is one of the most important things in life, and I believe that the mission of GBA is a really noble one. I was more than happy to buy several books at the fair.

After buying two bags full of books (both Pinky and I have a problem that prevents us from not buying books whenever we have the change), we headed up to the top deck, which had a tarp stretched overhead to protect us from the rain. The ship runs a small cafe, and we ordered coffee and sat down to enjoy the cool river breeze.

That evening, we headed back home with our new books. It had been a really cool experience to visit the Doulos Hope, and I was glad to help support their good works.

Phra Pathom Chedi and Putthamonthon

Recently, my friend Wind invited our friend Kat and me to go with him on a day trip to Nakhon Pathom, his home province, which lies just west of Bangkok.

Kat and I met up at Chatuchak Park MRT Station early on a Saturday morning and took the metro about 45 minutes out of town to the end of the Purple Line, where Wind was waiting to pick us up in his car.

Our first stop was the Phra Pathom Chedi, the largest Buddhist stupa in Thailand and second largest in the world (the first, I believe, is somewhere in Myanmar).

Today, the chedi is surrounded by a huge, vibrant market full of lots and lots of incredible snacks and food.

Nakhon Pathom is said to be the place in Thailand where Buddhism was first introduced to the kingdom, brought by missionaries from Sri Lanka sometime in the 6th century.

An ancient chedi was constructed on the site, though it eventually fell into ruin. A new chedi was later built over the original, and the third, and current, structure was constructed on top of the second in the 1850s under the orders of King Mongkut (Rama IV), who had discovered the decaying temple in the 1830s while he was still a prince of Siam.

The renovations took nearly twenty years to complete. Two new canals were dug to make travel by boat between Bangkok and Nakhon Pathom easier. Although King Rama IV did not live to see his grand project finished, his son, King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), fulfilled his vision by adding belfries and importing golden tiles from China to complete the outer layer of the grand stupa.

The chedi is one of the kingdom's major historical and religious sites and is very popular as a pilgrimage site with people from all around Thailand and throughout the Buddhist world.

We left the temple and walked to the nearby Nai Chua Roasted Pork, and old and very famous shop inside the local market.

Khao moo krob moo daeng is one of my favorite hearty Thai street food dishes. It consists of a plate of rice served with moo krob (crispy fried pork belly) and moo daeng (red barbecued pork) covered in a sweet gravy flavored with Chinese five-spice and typically served with a stewed egg and slices of cucumber. I'm a big fan of this dish, but this was one of the best I've ever had!

After lunch, we drove on to Kawa, a cafe and hostel located on a beautiful canal. Even though we were close to Bangkok, it was quiet and peaceful here, and it really felt like we were out of the country.

I've been thinking a lot lately about getting a car. I never really thought I'd need one, and truthfully, even after more than a decade living in Bangkok, I can get around just fine without one. However, it would be nice to be able to get out of the city more easily, and there are so many hidden gems around Bangkok that aren't easy to get to without driving.

After a break for coffee and a game of Exploding Kittens, we got back in the car and headed on our way to our next destination.

Phutthamonthon is a vast Buddhist park and pilgrimage site west of Bangkok, created in 1957 to honor the 2,500th anniversary of the Buddha’s enlightenment. The park is an expansive, serene space featuring landscaped gardens, quiet walking paths, and several important religious monuments.

At its center stands a towering bronze Buddha statue surrounded by a circular plaza used for ceremonies and meditation.

The towering statue was designed by none other than Mr. Corrado Feroci AKA Professor Silpa Bhirasri, an Italian who nationalized as a Thai citizen after the Second World War and who is considered to be the Father of Thai Modern Art. He designed many of the kingdom's most famous monuments including Democracy Monument, Independence Monument, and the statue of King Rama VI at Lumphini Park.

One significant building at Putthamonthon is the Marble Viharn, a temple-like building made from marble and roofed in dark blue tiles.

The inside of the viharn is opulent, the roofs are painted in red and gold and the upper parts of the walls contain stunning murals depicting stories from the life of the Buddha.

Contained within are 1,418 large marble stelas, tablets embossed in golden lettering which contain the entire Buddhist canon written out in Pali Sanskrit, the liturgical language of Theravada Buddhism.

At the center of the marble hall is a domed room with a marble statue of a seated monk in the center. I tried to learn more about who was depicted but unfortunately wasn't able to find any results in English.

The interior of the dome, too, depicts what appears to be the same seated monk surrounded by Buddhist imagery.

We continued our walk through the sprawling park, passing the official residence of the Sangharaja (Supreme Patriarch of Thailand), the chief and most senior monk of the Thai Sangha. The residence was dark and empty when we passed. The current Supreme Patriarch is 98 years old and does not travel much anymore. Nowadays, he spends most of his time at a temple in Bangkok.

The large Buddha statue looks even more magnificent at night when it's lit up so that it appears to glow.

As night fell, we returned to the car and Wind drove us to a local Issan restaurant near his house for dinner.

We ate somtam, fried pork intestines with chili sauce (which I liked in spite of myself), pork rib soup (which was incredible), and sticky rice.

After dinner, Wind dropped me and Kat off back at the MRT station, and we rode together back to Bangkok. It had been a long day, but super fun. It's been nice getting out of the city more often recently. I've been trying to be more active, and having a friend who owns a car definitely helps with that.

Wind and Kat have become very good friends in a short time, and it's been really nice hanging out with them and exploring Thailand together recently.

Samut Songkhram

Recently after leading one of my birding meetups at the park near my condo, Wind, a new friend from my meetup group, invited me along on a day trip to Samut Songkhram Province, one of the coastal provinces west of Bangkok.

After a three-hour morning birdwatching walk in the park, I followed Wind to his car along with Kat (a girl from Seattle who has two cats that are patients of my wife), and Sidney (from Illinois, a friend of Wind's).

It had been a beautiful sunny morning at the park, but it started raining on us as we drove out of Bangkok, and traffic slowed down to a crawl as we made our way along Rama II Road (aka, Highway 35). A few hours later, the skies cleared up, and we arrived at our first stop: lunch! After a big morning of walking outside and a long car ride, you can imagine how hungry we had become.

Kaomai Plamun Ampawa is a restaurant specializing in coastal central Thai seafood. 

Since we were near the coast, it was only fitting to order a feast of seafood to share Thai-style. We had a gargantuan platter of crab fried rice, a bowl of crab dip with vegetables, shrimp "donut" rings and sweet honey sauce, squid stir-fry, and a big bowl of sour shrimp soup.

By the time we left, I was so full that I could hardly walk, although we had to end up leaving some food at the table... we had ordered too much.

We got back in the car and drove down the highway along the coast. Soon, we were hit by the salty smell of sea air.

Don Hoi Lot is a beach and sandbar in Samut Songkhram Province at the northwestern tip of the Bay of Bangkok. The Mae Khlong River empties out into the bay here, and the rich sediment that it deposits forms a system of mudflats; the perfect breeding ground for the razor clams ("hoi lot") from which the beach gets its name.

Just off of the beach is the shrine to Admiral Prince Abhakara Kiartivongse, Prince of Chumphon, the "Father of the Thai Navy".

Prince Chumphon was the son of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V), the reformist monarch who modernized Siam in the early 20th century. The prince studied naval science abroad and played a key role in establishing and professionalizing Thailand’s modern naval forces.

Prince Chumphon remains a beloved figure in Thai history, and his shrines across the country continue to draw both sailors and everyday worshippers who come to pay their respects.

 There were a lot of people out at the beach, picnicking and enjoying the pleasant afternoon. We walked around the beach for a while and explored the local market. Then, we were back on the road. It was time to head back to Bangkok, but not before taking another stop along the way.

Salt Lake De Maeklong is a small café just off the highway on the Samut Songkhram salt flats, one of Thailand’s traditional salt-farming regions. 

Sprawling fields of muddy black sand and dozens of glimmering and reflective salt evaporation pools spread out before us as far as the eye could see.

The salt flats are a peaceful, otherworldly place where you can feel the ocean breeze drifting inland and appreciate a glimpse into one of the country’s oldest coastal industries while enjoying a drink at the cafe's quiet roadside viewpoint.

I ordered a salt coffee. It was an iced caramel latte made with locally harvested salt to give it a sweet, salty flavor.