A white building with a red-tiled roof, a café with pink umbrellas and a gilded railing stands on the bank of a canal, with a sign pointing to the entrance of Vimanmek Mansion. King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) laid out Dusit Garden after his journey to Europe in 1897, and Vimanmek, the largest golden teak mansion in the world, was its first royal residence, inaugurated in 1901.