Page 88 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Bangkok

86 ❯❯ Bangkok Area by Area

Erawan Shrine
4 lawns, and shady trees, it is busy
from dawn with locals walking,
MAP Q3 • Corner of
Ratchadamri and Ploenchit roads jogging, and performing t’ai chi in
An island of spirituality in a sea of groups. From February to April, it
commerce, the Erawan Shrine is one is a popular site for kite-flying.
of Bangkok’s quirkiest sights, with
Oriental Hotel
the Skytrain zipping by and 7
shopping malls hemming it MAP M5 • 48 Oriental
in. Thailand’s most famous Avenue • 02 659 9000
spirit house gained its fame • www.mandarinoriental.
in 1956 when its instal- com/bangkok
lation was credited with Bangkok’s oldest
halting a string of fatal hotel enjoys double
accidents at the construc- billing as both historic
tion site of the former sight and luxurious
Erawan Hotel. A accom moda tion option.
constant stream of It has hosted several
supplicants offer famous writers,
marigolds, incense, and including Joseph
candles, along with Conrad and Somerset
silent wishes. Erawan Shrine Maugham, in the
Authors’ Wing. Built in
Suan Pakkad
5 1876, this original part of the hotel is
now dwarfed by the Garden and River
MAP Q1 • 352–354 Sri
Ayudhya Road • 02 246 1775–6 Wings, but still attracts visitors for
• Open 9am–4pm daily • Adm • www. afternoon tea in its Authors’ Lounge.
suanpakkad.com/main_eng.php
Siam Square
This compound of traditional houses 8
was assembled in the 1950s by MAP P2 • Corner of Rama I and
Prince and Princess Chumbhot on Phaya Thai roads
former farmland (the name means Flanked by multistory malls, Siam
“cabbage patch”). The com pound Square is a grid of streets packed
has a varied collection of statues, with shopping arcades. The numer-
paintings, porcelain, khon theater ous tiny shops, some with no more
masks, and musical instruments. than a meter frontage, make it a
popular shopping area, especially
Lumphini Park
6 for students from the neighboring
Chulalongkorn University, who
MAP Q4 • Corner of
Ratchadamri and Rama IV roads congregate around Center Point’s
• Open 5am–8pm daily milk bars and fast-food outlets at the
It is difficult to imagine how Bangkok south ern end of the square. There
might be without this green lung that are also shops selling designer
occupies a huge block in the heart of clothes and fashion accessories, the
the commercial and entertain- creation of enterprising young Thai
ment district. Consisting of a designers, plus a good selection of
large lake, well-tended cafés, restaurants, and cinemas.
The lake at Lumphini Park

Eyewitness Travel – Top 10 series LAYERS PRINTED:
Two-column, 8.5pt grid “UK” LAYER
(SourceReport v.1.9)
084-087_Top_10_Bangkok.indd 86 22/05/2017 12:37
Date 24th June 2015
Size 100mm x 191mm