I thought it interesting historically that temple (wat) Arunratchawararam, the Temple of the Dawn, which, although it is now a Buddhist temple, is actually named after Aruna, the Hindu god of the dawn. The Baha'i teaching that all religions are from the same God, and that we should study them all, means that every now and then I get to make a connection like that. Anyway, Wat Arunratchawararam is situated on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, and at 80+ meters is still a major landmark despite the many modern skyskrapers .
Wat Arun was built in the days of Thailand's ancient capital of Ayutthaya, and was originally known as Wat Makok ("Olive Temple"). The outstanding feature of Wat Arun is its central prang (a prang is a Khmer-style pagoda), which is about 80 meters tall and symbolizes the legendary Mount Meru, center of the universe. If this was in Canada no one would be allowed up these stairs because the steps are just short of vertical. Aja decided to stay on the lower levels while Layli and I climbed the prang up the very steep exterior steps to top terrace. With the spectacular view of the city I think that, even though it is named after the dawn, it would be spectacular to see the view at sunset. Although climbing down or up in anything but full daylight might be a challenge for most.
See pictures at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26080359@N08/sets/72157623473775787/
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