The Deck, Bangkok: You Pay For The View

 I just got back from Bangkok, Thailand. It was my first trip in 2014. Yay! Bangkok is a city of shopaholic and heritage lovers. Bangkok offers lots of shopping malls for the shopaholic, and for the heritage lovers it offers temples, museums and Grand Palace. As for me, it’s a perfect combo. Hahaha. One temple that captivated me was Wat Arun which standing in the Thonburi side of the Chao Phraya River. Wat Arun or the Temple of Dawn, is named after Aruna, the Indian God of Dawn. Despite the name, the most spectacular view of the glittering temple can be seen from the east side of Chao Phraya river when the Sun goes down. The sun behind Wat Arun makes an impressive silhouette against the skyline! The question is, where is the “best spot” to view this?

Wat Arun in frame

As stated before, to see the sunset over Wat Arun is from the east side of Chao Phraya River. This side of Chao Phraya River, the location of Tha Tien Pier, is a place to start the journey to Wat Arun, Wat Pho and Grand Palace. You can go to Tha Tien Pier by Chao Phraya Express Boat which only costs you 15 baht from Saphan Taksin Pier, near Saphan Taksin BTS station. Remember 15 bath is for non-blue-flag boat. When you face Wat Arun from the pier, the sun is on the right side of the temple. Thus, to get the best view with the sun behind Wat Arun, you need to go to the left side of Tha Tien Pier (facing Chao Phraya River). As you go to the left, you will pass alleys with no pier or space to go to the river, but you will see some cafes around there. One that I tried was The Deck.

The Deck

Map from their website

The Deck is located in Arun Residence hostel  in 36-38 Soe pratu Nokyung, Maharat Road. Amorosa bar, located on the 4^th rooftop, is a place where I was headed. Within the bar, there are only five tables that offer a direct view of Wat Arun and I was not that lucky to have one of those though I came pretty early at 5:30pm. The bar offers finger food and drinks. Those who don’t feel like having alcohol may order coffee, tea, or juice instead. Yes, That is one of bars that offers coffee and tea. I ordered a mojito to accompany me waiting the sun to set. The mojito costs me 150baht which is equal to a tall greentea latte in Starbucks. But hey, where else you could drink a mojito with Wat Arun as the view and dramatic sunset as the background? As I love to photograph sunset, I considered this as an investment. A good photo is an investment, IMO.

Amorosa Bar

Wat Arun’s silhouette

Luckily, the sky that afternoon was so damn good, not cloudy, and the sun was in its perfect shape! As the sun went down, I moved closer to the balcony to capture it. In 15 minutes, the sun set and left us with a beauty pinkish sky. Ah, it was worth every baht I spent in that mojito :p

Wat Arun & Pinkish Sky