photos from 500D, travel, voyage

Crossing Chao Phraya River to Meet Wat Arun

Before I went to Bangkok, I have prepared my itinerary and all information I could gather about it *well, it’s in my blood that I need to prepare everything before doing something big*. So, after several considerations, I decided to go to Wat Arun as the first place to visit in Bangkok!

Wat Arun, also known as the Temple of the Dawn, is one of the best known landmarks of Bangkok. From what I read here, the name Temple of the Dawn comes from the fact that the first light of morning reflects off the surface of the temple with a pearly iridescence.

The central prang in Wat Arun. To reach the top, you need to climb up quite steep stairs.
All prangs are creatively decorated with colorful tiny ceramics
To reach Wat Arun, you need to cross the Chao Phraya river with a boat from Tha Tien pier. However, it is quite tricky to find the entrance to it. So, here is a little hint of what the entrance looks like. It costs 3 Baht for one boat trip.
Across Chao Phraya river, you can see the central prang (Khmer-style tower) and four smaller ones. The entrance fee is 50 Baht.
Seal of King Buddha Loetla Nabhalai (or King Rama II), "a garuda hold the nāgas"
Most people hang on to the rails when they climb up
The statue of demon. Demons are amidst the creatures that support the central prang
A seven-pronged trident on top of Wat Arun
From the top of Wat Arun, you can see the skyline of Bangkok from several angles. Here, you can see under-renovation-Wat-Pho and Grand Palace

Well, I felt like I didn’t spend enough time around Wat Arun (I spent only 1-hour). There are more to see around Wat Arun that I haven’t got the chance to explore. So, I suggest you can spare about 1.5 hours here to be able to get the best experience of Wat Arun and if you can wait till dusk to get the beautiful sunset view in Wat Arun, that’d be great. Wat Arun is open from 9.00 AM to 5.00 PM, so you can arrange your time to visit this beautiful landmark.

From Wat Arun, I continued my trip to Wat Saket. So, stick around to find out about Wat Saket, the Golden Mountain.

Au revoir!

6 thoughts on “Crossing Chao Phraya River to Meet Wat Arun”

  3. Hey Storm! Thanks for liking it 🙂
    I’m planning (to try) to post every night on my trip to Thailand. And I hope my posts can give you a little bit description of what awaits you there 🙂

    Reply

  4. Really appreciate the time you are taking to share the photos and stories from your solo journey. Admittedly, Thailand and Bangkok are some of the many geographic areas I am very unfamiliar with – so this is like an education!

    In these photos I notice a lot of religious imagery. I take it that Temple of the Dawn (and other similar destinations) are heavily influenced by Buddhism?

    Reply

    1. Thanks Shane! I do hope I can share as much useful information as I can. Because before I went to Thailand, I really found information shared around the web are extremely useful for independent travelers. It helped me a lot!
      And yes, Buddhism’s influence is quite strong there. Not only in the tourist destinations but also in Thais’ everyday life. You’ll spot many orange-robed monks around Bangkok.

      Reply

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