Thailand - The Land of Smiles

The Grand Palace and Wat Po - Bangkok, part two

After fruitlessly seeking out the TAT we decided that the afternoon would be well spent checking out some cultural/touristy things in Bangkok. The major attraction being, of course, the Grand Palace - where the King and Queen live.

So we headed there in early afternoon - on foot - it's about a 20 minute walk from Khao San Road.

Inside the entrance at the Grand Palace - the Upper Terrace in the background

The Grand Palace was built in 1782 by King Rama I. It houses the throne halls, government offices and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha (closed for renovations while we were there).

One of the main attractions is the Upper Terrace where four monuments are found; a reliquary in the shape of a golden chedi; the mondop - a repository for Buddhist sacred scriptures; a miniature model of Angkor Wat (in Cambodia); and the Royal Pantheon where statues of former Kings are enshrined.

The reliquary on the Upper Terrace

Angkor Wat model

A statue guarding the Royal Pantheon

upon entering the main area - this is part of the Hor Phra Rajphongsanusorn.

Entrance to Hor Phra Monthian Dharma

It didn't take long to walk around the complex - a lot of it is closed off to tourists. The picture taking was amazing - so much colour and detail in all the buildings. I can't post them all here, but here are a few of the more artsy shots I took.

Looks like a really big hat! (sort of)

One of many statues around the Terrace.

A sort of hand/foot that is a stair railing.

A close up of the tiny gold squares that cover the reliquary. (you can see my shadow with Ranya beside me.)

More of the reliquary.

After sufficiently wandering around we left the Grand Palace complex and headed next door to Wat Po, or Temple of the Reclining Buddha. My camera battery died as we were on our way there - ARGH!!! I was really upset about it, but at least we had Ranya's camera!

Wat Po was built in the 16th century and is the oldest, largest and most active temple in Bangkok. It is considered to be Thailand's first university because many of the monuments and artwork explains principles of religion, science, and literature.

I'm not sure why the Big Buddha is called that because the reclining Buddha is about 100 times it's size! We weren't expecting it when we walked in, but it must be the biggest Buddha in the world!

The head of the Reclining Buddha

The backside of the head.

Me and Ranya standing near it's feet.

The underside of the feet - inlaid with mother of pearl... also the biggest toes i've ever seen!

Just to make things even more "picturesque" here are some shots from around the grounds of Wat Po...

Big bell

Some giant statues.

A smaller statue in the garden.

We probably could have spent a little more time there, but we were tired from walking all day and had a long trek back to Khao San. We left the temple and started walking back... but we ended up taking a tuk-tuk...

Stay tuned for more tales of Thailand... coming next is the floating market and the Tiger Temple...