Wat Yannawa

Rama III built the structure at Wat Yannawa in the 1840s for a specific reason: Chinese junks had carried Siam's trade for generations, steamships were replacing them, and he wanted a record of what a junk looked like before people forgot. So he had a masonry building constructed in the form of a full-size junk hull, complete with prow, stern and deck, with two white chedis rising where the masts would be, and a small museum inside. It is the only temple in Thailand shaped like a ship. The rest of the compound is a working temple with an ordination hall and a viharn. It sits by the river near Sathorn, minutes from the Saphan Taksin BTS station and the Asiatique boat pier, and is almost entirely ignored by visitors who pass within a hundred metres of it every day on the way to the river boats. Free, quiet, and takes half an hour.

What you actually see

• The junk-shaped hall - a masonry ship hull with chedis for masts.
• The purpose - built to record a vessel type Rama III expected to vanish.
• The small museum - inside the hull, on the temple and the ships.
• The riverside setting - by the Chao Phraya near Sathorn.

When to go

November to February. Any time of day; it is never busy. Half an hour to an hour, and it is a two-minute walk from Saphan Taksin BTS.

Honest expectations

Small and quickly seen. The museum inside the hull keeps irregular hours. Temple dress code applies. It is a working temple in a busy commercial area with traffic noise.

Nearby

Saphan Taksin BTS and the Chao Phraya boat piers are alongside; Asiatique is downriver.