Wat Arun
This riverside Buddhist monastery is inspiring at sunrise, but it's even more marvelous toward dusk, when the setting sun throws amber tones over the entire area. In front of the monastery facing the river is a square courtyard containing an impressive 270-foot-tall prang (Khmer-style tower) surrounded by four smaller ones. All five prangs are covered in mosaics assembled from broken Chinese porcelain originally used as ballast on ships coming from China. Away from the river, among the monastic residences, is a respected meditation center open to the public and overseen by English-speaking instructor Hartanto Gunawan.
