Wat Arun — Temple of Dawn
An 80-metre spire wearing a skin of broken porcelain, guarding the river's west bank.
It's named for Aruna, the Hindu god of dawn — yet the temple faces west, so its most famous view is at sunset, glowing against the dusk from across the river. The Temple of Dawn is, in practice, Bangkok's temple of dusk.
Its glittering skin is garbage, transfigured: tons of broken Chinese porcelain — much of it ballast dumped by trading ships — pressed into the plaster as flowers, demons and soldiers. Look closely and you can spot whole teacups.
Before Bangkok existed, this was King Taksin's royal temple, and for 6 years it housed the Emerald Buddha itself. When the capital — and the Buddha — crossed the river in the 1780s, Wat Arun kept only its sunset. Many say it kept the better half.