The bridge named after King Taksin is a useful introduction to the man himself: significant, somewhat overlooked, and carrying a story that ends badly.

Opened in 1982 to celebrate Bangkok's 200th birthday, it was the sixth bridge across the Chao Phraya and connects Bangkok to Thonburi, the short-lived capital Taksin established after driving the Burmese out of Siam in 1767.

Taksin was half-Chinese, the son of an immigrant, and a general who reunified a shattered kingdom fast. He crowned himself king at 34. Fourteen years later, his religious fervour had convinced him he was a god. A rebellion removed him from power, and he was executed in the traditional manner: placed in a silk sack and beaten to death with a scented sandalwood club.

VoiceMap's self-guided audio tours begin at the bridge and follow Taksin's riverside city through the Chinese communities, temples and political upheavals that grew from its foundations.