Bangkok: The Grand Palace

On May 30th we woke up bright and early to start our day out at The Grand Palace.

We loaded into a small boat to take us over the river:

The Grand Palace was established in 1782, and the complex consists of the royal residence and throne halls, the famous Temple of the Emerald Buddha, as well as a number of government offices.

In order to gain entrance into The Grand Palace your shoulders and ankles must be covered.  As we arrived, everyone took out their pants and t-shirts from their bags and pilled on layers of clothing. This led to a very very sweaty visit, as it was around 35 degrees Celsius! For those who didn’t have the proper attire, they could rent appropriate pants or shirts… but it wasn’t ideal! Kate rented a bright Hawaiian T-Shirt for the visit, and another guy on our tour rented some MC-Hammer looking pyjama pants!

Once we were inside the complex it was breathtakingly beautiful! There are gorgeous buildings designed with incredible detail, and most of them covered in gold.

Below is a photo of The Royal Monastery of the Emerald Buddha. Inside lies the famous Emerald Buddha. When I walked in I couldn’t even find the Buddha… I had assumed it would be large, but I finally spotted it almost at the ceiling on a very tall throne. The Emerald Buddha is about 45 cm tall. We all had to sit, and make sure we pointed our feet away from the Buddha.

The Buddha is dressed in seasonal costumes (one for the summer, another for rainy season and another for winter), and the costumes are changed 3 times a year in a ceremony presided over by His Majesty the King. Unfortunately we were not allowed cameras inside, so I couldn’t take a photo of the famous Buddha.

There are galleries surrounding the Royal Monastery, with walls painted with scenes from the Ramakien – painted during the reign of King Rama I. All of the scenes tell a story, and they used these scenes to pass on history through generations.

By the time we finished admiring the complex, the entire group was soaked in sweat. The heat was excruciating!! We were dying to take off our layers of clothing and get back into shorts and tank tops! As we left the complex you could see everyone stripping off layers and sighing in relief!

We took a little boat tour through the canals, and it was very interesting to see people’s houses, built on stilts in the water:

After a relaxing afternoon of a Thai Massage and swimming by the hotel pool, we boarded a 15 hour overnight train ride to Chiang Mai (in the north of Thailand). The sleeping quarters were very interesting, different than sleeping trains I’ve used in Europe.

The sleeping train was one long cart, without any separate rooms. Originally when we boarded the train there were seats for us, but as night fall came, the seats folded down into bunk beds.

It was a pretty good train ride, and in the morning we were all ready for our day in Chiang Mai!