810. Bangkok Part 16 | Golden Mount Temple/Wat Saket and Wat Paknam

We visited a few lesser-known (by tourists) temples in Bangkok including these two - Wat Paknam and Golden Mount Temple. Well I just assume they are lesser-known as I haven't heard or seen them mentioned much in Bangkok travel videos or online travel guides. I'd say the most popular attractions in the city are of course Grand Palace, Temple of the Emerald Buddha, Wat Arun and Wat Pho. If you have a bit of extra time I'd personally recommend visiting Maeklong Railway Market and also Damnoen Floating Market that I recently posted about. These two temples that I'm posting about now I would recommend only if you have extra time.

I thought this giant golden buddha would be really cool to see, as I love things in large scale. It's one of the largest buddhas in the country and fairly new. As you can see it's still under contruction but near completion. Unfortunately it was raining when we arrived so we didn't walk outside around the complex that much. There was a large indoor/covered area though with many different rooms. There was also an outdoor garden where people could feed fish.

Golden Mount Temple is located atop a mountain with beautiful views over the city.

Starting in the 1820s, there was widespread Cholera in Bangkok which resulted in more than 30,000 deaths. The dead bodies had to be brought to this temple, Wat Saket, to be buried or cremated. Due to the sheer volume of dead bodies not being disposed of in time, vultures began coming to devour them. The disease continued until 1881. Hundreds would be dying each day with more and more dead bodies piling up. The temple became full of vultures who came as their main feeding ground. It must have been a pretty gruesome scene.

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