Wat Saket and the Golden Mount, Bangkok

The Golden Mount is a man-made hill in the grounds of Wat Saket, on the edge of the old royal island. Rama III began it as a great chedi, the soft ground collapsed under the weight, and the ruin was left to be overgrown until a smaller chedi was built on top of the mound a generation later. The result is the only real elevation in historic Bangkok.

A spiral stair of a few hundred steps winds up the outside, past bells that visitors ring as they climb and a small waterfall built into the slope. The terrace at the top runs right around the gilded chedi and gives an uninterrupted view over the low roofs of Rattanakosin - the one place in the old city where the layout makes sense from above.

The temple below is an ordinary working monastery and largely untroubled by visitors. In November the mount is wrapped in red cloth for its annual festival, and the surrounding lanes fill with a temple fair.