Page 80 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Bangkok

78 ❯❯ Bangkok Area by Area

Wat Mangkon Kamalawat, Chinatown’s most revered temple
Wat Mangkon
Sampeng Lane
6 7
Kamalawat (Wat
MAP L3 • Open 8am–8pm daily
Leng Noi Yee) This narrow, frenetic lane, also
MAP E5 • Charoen Krung Road • 02 known as Soi Wanit 1, stretches for
222 3975 • Open 6am–6pm daily about half a mile (1 km) through the
Established in 1871, this is the most very heart of Chinatown and is not
important of Chinatown’s many for the fainthearted. Cars cannot
Chinese temples. Wat Mangkon even squeeze their way down here,
Kamalawat, or Dragon Flower but motorbikes and porters carrying
Temple, is particularly active during stacks of goods try to weave through
the Vegetarian Festival in October, the slow-moving sea of humanity.
when devotees flock here to make People pause every few steps to
offerings. Also known as Wat Leng examine the goods on offer – from
Noi Yee, it has an impressive entrance computer games, to toys and clothes.
gateway and the complex contains
Wat Ga Buang Kim
Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian 8
shrines. It is constantly busy with MAP D6 • Trok Krai,
people making offerings, and vendors Anuwong Road
selling religious goods outside the Set around a small, enclosed
temple do a brisk business. courtyard, this neighborhood temple
is remarkable for its beautifully
ornamented “vegetarian hall,” which
YAOWARAT GOLD has an altar framed by intricately
The strong Chinese influence on Thai carved, gold-painted miniatures.
culture is evident in the love many The hall’s outer wall is decorated
Thais have for gold, a tradi tionally with tableaux as well, and finely
Chinese commodity. Thais display their crafted ceramic figurines drawn
status by wearing chunky bracelets from Chinese opera stories adorn
and thick-linked watch straps. Gold in the doorway at the top of the stairs.
Bangkok is sold not by ounce but by A second building in the temple
baht, and some see it as more reliable
than the country’s currency. compound functions as a stage
for Chinese opera performances.

Eyewitness Travel – Top 10 series LAYERS PRINTED:
Two-column, 8.5pt grid “UK” LAYER
(SourceReport v.1.9)
076-079_Top_10_Bangkok.indd 78 22/05/2017 12:13
Date 24th June 2015
Size 100mm x 191mm