2 Best Sights in Chinatown, Bangkok

While this temple isn't especially notable for its architecture, off to its side is a small chapel containing the world's largest solid-gold Buddha, cast about nine centuries ago in the Sukhothai style. Weighing 5½ tons and standing 10 feet high, the statue is considered a symbol of strength and power. It's believed that the statue was brought first to Ayutthaya. When the Burmese were about to sack the city, it was covered in plaster. Two centuries later, still in plaster, it was thought to be worth very little; when it was being moved to a new Bangkok temple in the 1950s, it slipped from a crane and was left in the mud by the workmen. In the morning a temple monk, who had dreamed that the statue was divinely inspired, went to see it. Through a crack in the plaster, he saw a glint of yellow. In addition to the Buddha, Wat Traimit's museum devoted to Thai-Chinese history is worth checking out.

In classic Chinese style, this 150-year-old temple has a glazed ceramic roof topped with fearsome dragons. Known in Chinese as Leng Noi Yee, the central shrines contain not only statues of Buddha but other art that incorporate Confucian and Taoist elements. The wat is especially colorful during Chinese New Year, when thousands of Thais visit the temple to burn incense to pay respect and make merit.