By Sonny Hendrawan Saputra from the discussion with Thailand Colleague Phatraphon Uno [caption id="attachment_101467" align="aligncenter" width="560" caption="Street in front of Sanam Luang. Sanam Luang is covered by the wall (during renovation) as you see on the left part of the picture. Photo by Phatraphon Uno"]Enjoying Bangkok by walking and it is time to see Phra Thinag Sutthai Sawanyaprasa. Photoby Phatraphon Uno
There is no end when we talk about tourism attractions in Bangkok, Thailand. From the past, Bangkok had been globally recognized as Venice of the East because Bangkok had many canals along the city like in Venice Italy, (now there have been several canals closed for streets since people no longer use ships for main transportation). World today knows Bangkok with its Grand Palace, the place commonly used as symbolic icon representing Thailand to other countries; Khaosan street, the very famous  place for backpackers since they can easily find cheap hostels and the location is very strategic, so near from cultural and historical sites; Sukhumvit, one of the famous business districts with multicutural atmosphere because we can see Korean and Arab town here; and Patunam, the shopping area of clothings with cheap but qualified products.
In this article, we want to give different perspective in seeing Bangkok. We will not give very detail information about the tourism attractions, but it is about the perspective of walking man who pass Bangkok from Na Phra That Street to Sanam Chai street. It is just about 800 metres walking and takes 20 - 30 minutes only.
Okay, let's start our journey. [/caption]
First, we begin in Na Phra That street by seeing Sanam Luang or in English it is called as Royal Field. Sanam Luang is the spacious open air area which is free used for people. Monarch of Thailand usually uses this place for funeral ceremony of royal family that can be attended by public.  If you are lucky, you can see Royal Ploughing Ceremony. It is the festival symbolizing plantation time, around May in the beginning of rainy season. King makes celebration of  the start of plantation period to wish having good harvesting. After that, people can come and take the rice from royal's rice field provided by king. Thai people believe it can be something auspicious for them. The festival is typical for Thailand and Cambodia.  Then what can we see in Sanam Luang in normal time? It appears as large grassy area with so many people use it for relaxing. You can see people talking and exercising. But you will not easily find food sellers after renovation in current years.
[caption id="attachment_101470" align="aligncenter" width="560" caption="Thawon Watthu, the beautiful building with combination style between modern and traditional Thai. Photo by Phatraphon Uno"]
Then we continue to see Thawon Watthu, still in Na Phra That street. In the beginning, it was built as the permanent building of funeral ceremony of royal family. The permanent building here means as the innovation from King Chulangkon or King Rama V to save more money because usually in funeral ceremony, they used temporal building which was was destroyed after the funeral ceremony ended. That's why they always spent a lot of money. Unfortunately King Rama V died before the building finished. The following king make it as library. But now, the library has been moved in Thewet and it makes Thawon Watthu as empty building. People cannot get inside this building. Â They can only see long yellow wall with combination style between traditional and modern. You can still see typical style of Thai traditional roof but without golden and mirror.
[caption id="attachment_101472" align="aligncenter" width="560" caption="The most important temple in Thailand. Photo by Phatraphon Uno"]
Our next spot to see is Wat Phra Si Rattana Satsadaram, with the nick name is Wat Phra Kaeo in Na Phra Lan street. In English it is called as Temple of Emerald Buddha. Temple of Emerald Buddha is the most important temple for Thai people. Why is it essential? First, it is located inside the Grand Palace, secondly, it was used to be managed only for royal family. Now people can openly see and pray there. Royal family also still uses it for kingdom prayers; especially on the season changing period. Royal family changes the clothes of Buddha statue three times in a years according to the seasons: summer, rainy, and winter. As written in its name, the Buddha statue here is made from emerald stone. For foreigners, when they want to get inside Grand Palace including Wat Phra Kaeo, they have to pay THB 250 or around IDR 75,o00. During walking in front of it, you will see that building just like many other Thai traditional building, shiny with golden materials . Your vision will not be very clear when seeing that building because there is a big white wall and many buses pass in front of it. There is also term for visitors, "you cannot be called to have been in Thailand before visiting Temple of Emerald Buddha"
[caption id="attachment_101473" align="aligncenter" width="560" caption="Ministry of Defence Building with the unique collections of canons in front of it. Photo by Phatraphon Uno"][/caption]
Next, we stop in Ministry of Defence Building in Sanam Chai street. It was firstly built by King Rama V for the soldiers camp. It appears as western style building with yellow colour. The interesting part to see that building is you will find so many canons in front of it. Each of canon has the name. The biggest cannon is Phaya Tani which is taken from the Kingdom of Pattani, the southern part of Thailand. There is little unique story about the canon. In the past before there was conflict of south Thailand insurgency, the canons position were directed to Grand Palace (to the west). Some people noticed it was not good "Feng Shui" position because it was like the canon was ready to bombard the palace. So government changed the position of canons not to be directed to palace; now to the north and south.
