Travel: The Golden Mount

The Golden Mount is part of the Wat Saket temple located just outside the old royal city precincts, next to the Pom Mahakhan fort. The mount has a somewhat unusual history. It was started by King Rama III early in the 19th century, who wanted to build a large chedi/stupa on the site to mark the entrance to the city. However, the soft marshy ground could not support such a large structure and it collapsed before it was completed.
Later on, Rama IV built a small chedi housing a Buddha relic on top of the mud and brick mound. The chedi was rebuilt again towards the end of the 19th century by his son Rama V when the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon, made a gift of a Buddha relic excavated from the town where Buddha was believed to have been born. The concrete cap was built during WW II to keep the artificial hill from eroding further.
Although the top of the mount has been encased in concrete, the base is still a jumble of bricks and plaster overgrown with trees and bushes. Somewhat curiously, in amongst the vegetation around the base are numerous shrines to departed people. This "graveyard" of sorts includes everything from small plaques to large shrines with Buddha images.
From the ground, a wide stairway spirals up and around the sides of the mount. There are about 300 very short steps in all. Its not a strenuous climb at all, as the slope is quite gentle and there a numerous spots to stop and see something. However, I have been told that the best time to visit the temple is during the cool season from late November to January, when not only is the temperature much cooler, but the frangipani trees around the base are in bloom, giving off their wonderful Jasmine-like smell.
The interior of the stupa is a large, rather plain and undecorated room with windows along the outside walls while in the center lies the square outer walls of the shrine. A short stairway in the center of each side leads up to the shrine holding the Buddha relic, which lies directly under the chedi on the roof. The shrine is encased in many layers of gold leaf applied by the devout for more than 100 years.
In the corner of the room that is to your right as you enter is a narrow stairway up to the roof. The first thing you will see upon emerging onto the roof is the huge chedi covered with thousands of gold mosaic tiles. From the rooftop terrace you have a 360 degree view of Bangkok. To the west you can see the prangs and rooftops of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha at the old Grand Palace. Closer in you can see the tips of the Democracy Monument as well as the peaks of Wat Ratchanadda. To the northwest you can see the single pylon of the new Rama VI bridge with its golden threads of suspension cables. Looking east you can see the towers of Bangkok's business district and our apartment!
If you exit via the back entrance to the temple, you come out onto a street lined with wood shops. The sights, sounds and smells are definitely be worth a stroll.