My Long and Weird Journey to Wat Saket

It was a sunny morning when I decided to go to Wat Saket. Widely known as Temple of the Golden Mount, I feel like this place was a very nice place to visit. It’s so easy to get there and the ticket entrance price was very affordable. Also, this is a highly recommended destination for those who want to see the landscape of Bangkok City with a nice deal.

What you'll see inside of the Wat Saket (my own photo)

How I got there?

If you know the route, it was not supposed to be complicated at all. But since that was my first time, my route was kind complicated. Definitely a lesson to learn.

I started my journey by getting on BTS Station Phaya Thai. My hotel was legit 3 minutes walking to the station. Very convenient. It only took me 1 station to get off the train. I got off at Ratchathewi Station (N1) (Sukhumvit Line). I took the exit number 1 then turned around and walked straight until about 200 meter. After 200 meter walking, I should’ve turned right to the Khlong Pier. But because I was reckless when walking, I accidentally walked pass the Khlong Saen Seab Pier. So I had to turned back and ask people about the Khlong Pier location. The Khlong Pier’s location was much hidden. Be careful because you might pass them, just like me.

We waited the boat to come. It only took us about 1 minute until a boat finally came. I asked the man who was supposed to be the money collector “WAT SAKET? PHAN FHA PIER?” Yes, I shouted because the boat machine was noisy. He, who didn’t know how to speak English just pointed his finger to the opposite direction. Me and my friends thought ‘oh maybe we should wait at the next pier.’ So, we legit walked to the direction that he pointed.

At first I was calm and snapchating myself walking along the small river. But the distance we walk in got too far and I began to feel anxious. We finally saw a hope, which what we thought was the next pier. But nope, turned out it was just a small food stall beside the river. Dang!

There were some foreigners beside us but we hesitated to ask them questions. A nice woman from the food stall looked at us with the look that said ‘ask me, I can help.’ I then asked her “Wat Saket?” while pointing at the direction that the man earlier told us. “Phan Fha Pier?”

She then replied, “Go to Khlong Saen Seab Pier there,” while pointing at the direction we walked from. “Go to the boat to there” while pointing at the direction that the man told us.

Now I get it. What that man meant was, I was supposed to wait for the other boat that went to the opposite direction, not his boat. I misinterpreted it as, I was the one that should walk there.

Oh Lord.

So I went back to the first Pier. If I’m not mistaken, that distance alone was already more than 2 km. I legit spent more than 45 minutes only to walk. Not to mention, the summer heat that welcomed me that morning was extra hot.

While I was walking back, I saw many boats that went to the right direction passed us. If only I could get on from whenever I wanted…

At the Khlong Saen Seab Pier I waited for about 15 minutes. There were no price information so we couldn’t prepare the exact amount of money needed. I asked a foreigner about the price and he didn’t know either.

The view from where I stood (my own photo)

Fifteen minutes has passed by. Our boat had finally arrived. I was pretty surprised because we had to get in the boat, even when it hadn’t completely stopped moving! I really needed to have a good balance. Lol. I wore wedges and skirt so it was no doubt a bit of a struggle. I didn’t get a seat so I had to stand up on my way there. It was a nice experience riding a small boat in a small river.

The price was very affordable. It cost 4 Baht (around Rp 1.600 or $0.1) per person. Be careful if you don’t use the exact money though. My friend’s change was 10 baht less than it should be. We didn’t realize this until later when we went back.

I saw the view of people’s house that was built beside the river. There were some food stalls as well. It somehow felt so relaxing to know and to see how the local lives. However, it was such a shame that some people still threw trash in the river.

After stopping at some Pier, I finally arrived at Khlong Saen Seab Pier. Again, I had to get off from the boat even when the boat hadn’t completely stopped moving. It might be terrifying for some people.

We climbed the stairs from the pier only to further be confused. I searched on google maps for the direction to Wat Saket. It was not too far, it said on google maps.

But when we decided to walk there, a man came up to us. He definitely saw our confused faces. He approached us nicely and talk about a lot of things like “where you come from? Holiday? Working?” with a little compliment to my friend “oh, you look like Thai person.” Which then in the end he said “oh Wat Saket right now is closed to public. People pray. 2 o’clock open” I saw my phone and 2 PM is still 2 hours to go.

He then offered us to ride Tuk-tuk to 3 places before Wat Saket for 40 Baht. He said we could go to Big Buddha, famous temple, and export shop. Learning from my previous mistake (I was ripped by this modus), I asked “no fuel? No gas? 40 baht for 3 person? All place 40 baht?” He said “yes.” So we agreed.

The view from when I sit down in the tuk-tuk (my own photo)

Turned out, he wasn’t the Tuk-Tuk driver. He called his friend and we rode the tuk-tuk. I felt what just happened was absurd and weird. I then searched on google. My suspicion was proofed. Wat saket had opened to public since early morning. He was lying. We were trapped in this Tuk-tuk adventure.

Luckily though, it was only for 40 baht, so I didn’t really mind.

Nobody but us was here (my own photo)

First stop was supposed to be big Buddha. I wrote ‘supposed’ because it was far from my expectation. The place was very quiet and definitely not a tourist destination. It was a real temple for local to pray. No one was there but us. This. Was. So. Absurd. There were only 1 monk and 1 security guy. They welcomed us and let us in to take many photos. Beside the temple there was a school.

Where lots of locals were praying (my own photo)

Second stop was supposed to be another famous temple, according to what that man who deceived us said. Of course, we were lied to again. Since it was Thailand’s New Year, that place was packed by people. But not tourist like us, instead, real Buddhists who came to pray. Another absurd thing just happened to us. Of course we didn’t even take any photo and just directly went out from there.

I finally arrived at Wat Saket (my own photo)

Third place, I thought we’re going to export shopping place. But nope. We directly went to Wat Saket. Just as I was expected, Wat Saket was already opened to public. A lot of people were already there.

We offered to pay 40 baht, but –another absurd thing happened- he refused. What? He said with broken English which meant he would wait there (at the place where I was deceived by the other man) and we could just paid him there. We absurdly agreed with his request.

What’s in Wat Saket?

I entered the gate and walked about 200 meters until I found the ticket place. It cost us only 20 baht per person. Affordable right.

It was so funny because we were thankful to see many foreigners there. Why you ask? Because all day, we haven't seen many tourists. Most of the people we saw were only locals. Lol. We felt a bit relax because it's clear that this is the right destination. A place for tourists to come. 

Just me adoring the view (my own photo)

I had to climb many stairs to the top. But it was nice for me because the view was amazing. Also, there were some nice spots along the way where I could take many nice photos. Since I was very excited to take as much photo as possible, I legit lost my sunglasses there. Oh no.

That day was very windy though. It wasn’t a good decision for me to wear skirt. Thankfully I bought a big scarf. Being creative, I wrapped my scarf on my waist. It helped.

Although I was very excited, my friend was super tired. They lost their energy. I did understand them because just as I stated above, we had walked great distance to get here. Lol.

The view from the top of Wat Saket (my own photo)

From the top of Wat Saket, I could saw the landscape of Bangkok. It was very pretty! I took so many photos. The Buddha statue was very beautiful as well. Although you had to take off your shoes, lots of people didn’t obey that rule.

After about 1.5 hours exploring, we went back downstairs. Though I was planning to take more photos, since my friends were already too exhausted, no more photos were taken. *crying inside* But all good though. Being able to get here itself already made me grateful.

This was very fresh and nice (my own photo)

On our way back, we saw many people brought fresh looking Thai tea. Thank God because when we walked outside the gate we found the tea place. Being super thirsty, of course we bought some nice glasses of Thai tea. It tasted like heaven in the middle of summer.

I walked back to the Khlong Pier. On my way back I saw the man who deceived us was talking to another ‘prey.’ They were talking while laughing, just like us about 2 hours ago.

We planned to pay the Tuk-tuk driver. However, we didn’t see him there. I said “ok let’s go back without paying.” Of course my friend was afraid. Lol. We then waited for about 10 minutes. Standing there drinking the tea while waiting for the tuk-tuk driver to come. Of course he didn’t come.

We then decided, okay we’ve waited for 10 minutes, he wasn’t here, let’s just go back. Feeling guilty, we went back to Khlong Pier. Having that guilt bothering her, my friend asked if we could just give the money to the man who deceived us. I agreed. We then walked back again, climbing the stairs to that place. The man who deceived us was right in front of us. We thought he would notice us and asked us for the money. Turned out, though he saw us, he didn’t ask us for the money.

Being hesitant to come to him, we finally made a conclusion that, okay they didn’t want the money. Let’s really go back. We then in the end went back to the pier. The boat was already there waiting to be filled with people. We got on the boat feeling guilty and anxious at the same time. We’re talking about what if the tuk-tuk driver saw us in here and shouted our name. What if they went to Siam and asked us the money. What if he gossiped about us and we were blacklisted by the tuk-tuk drivers. Or even further, what if he came to Jakarta and asked us to pay, since we told the man who deceived us that we came from Indonesia, Jakarta. Lol. But of course that didn’t happen. After being anxious on the boat for about 15 minutes, the boat finally took off, going back to our first pier that morning.

This was a really unique experience. Starting from walking too far from the station then we had to turn back trying to find the hidden pier, walking back and forth in a great distance trying to figure out the right pier, struggling to get on the moving boat, paying too much for the boat, being deceived by a random man, going to some what’s supposed to be non-tourist places, losing my favorite sunglasses, and lastly not paying the tuk-tuk.

These moments are definitely unforgettable. When I’m older, I’ll definitely giggle every time I remember this story.