"Zipping through the streets of Bangkok in a tuk-tuk, dilapidated shophouses streaking across my periphery, I marvel again at the way the gold stupas glint under a fireball sun and strings of marigolds spill out of the wholesale flower market. Pok and I have plans to check out some galleries and a riverfront café in Charoenkrung, but we scrap them to summit the temple of Wat Saket. Dubbed Golden Mount, it is set atop the highest hill in Bangkok—344 steps up with 360-degree views of the city—and has a magnificent gilded chedi, a sacred marble structure enshrining relics of the Buddha."