Thailand: Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew

Date: 2/14/2011

The Grand Palace was one of the places on my Must See list.  It is a Lonely Planet pick and, while it is a tourist trap, it also was just something you go seen when in Bangkok.  It was gold, and gaudy, and over the top, but it was great.  I went on my 2nd day in Bangkok--out of order, I know!--but it kinda made me feel like I was actually in Thailand.

Our tour guide from Intrepid took us to the local market in the morning and then we took the Chao Phro Express to the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew.

Bangkok--the Venice of Asia

We get to the Wat (temple) and have to change.  Dress is conservative at temples and you need to wear long pants/skirt below your shins and your shoulders and chest must be covered.

We buy our ticket--which is actually kinda expensive.  About 400 baht--which is the most expensive temple in Thailand.  For those of you who don't know the baht to US $ converstion (seriously, who doesn't know that?) it's about 30 baht to 1 US $--or for those of you in Korea, it's about 30 baht per 1000 Korean Won.   Sidenote: I was having an awesome time in Thailand because randomly I would think, "Oh that's only 10,000 won...not bad--WAIT! Holy Freaking COW!"  I have spent most of my time in Korea trying to get myself to think in terms on Won--not US dollars.  But then I go to Thailand and I was thinking in won.  It resulted in me doing extremely random happy dances in the middle of side streets--which got me more looks, but it made me smile.

We walk in and are immediately greeted with the awe-inspiring-ness of the Grand Palace/Wat Phra Kaew.  For your information: They are basically in the same fort-like walls, so you see both.

First sight of the Wat.

funny little man who greeted us

The Intrepid Group (minus 2).  I have fond memories of this photo because the guy who took it was Japanese--which means I got to practice my rusty Japanese skills on someone!  写真が撮るか？

These guys are guardians.

Not only was it super busy--but it was so gorgeous.

We ran into this statue and I went, "Isn't he the guy from Pirates of the Caribbean?  Captain of the Black Pearl, or something?"

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These strange people are half human-half bird/chicken, to be specific.  They are from the Buddhist version of limbo--or maybe it's just a magical land you go to if you're really really good.  Dragons and flying people are also from this world. 

Besides just being huge and pretty, the Grand Palace is also known for it's mural collection.  On the wall surrounding the Palace is a giant mural collection, commemorating the each journey of the epic story of Ramayana.  There are some insanely large amount of journeys...I don't remember the exact number, but it was enough that I kinda went, "Wow...that's a lot of pictures..." 

In the hectic overload that was starting to fry our brains (or was that the sun?) we discovered a few moments of quiet tranquility.

Oh, nope, back to the overload.  Another Chicken Man.

 These guys are demons.   They are charged with holding up really heavy towers for eternity.

 Tourists are demons too!

Now we move on to the actual Temple part of the Grand Palace.  This is where the Emerald Buddha is housed.  The Emerald Buddha became the symbolic figure of the formation of Thailand back in the 1800s.  In the 1600s, the Buddha was stolen by Cambodia (who knows if it was actually stolen, or who had rights in the first places, I mean, back then, there wasn't even a "Thailand", let alone Siam, so that's where the details get fuzzy for me. But that is what the brochure said so that is what I am sharing.)  The General Chief who had ambitions to be King made reclaiming the Buddha as a sign that he was the man rightfully meant to be on the thrown.  So, this Buddha became a sign of sovereignty.   

To enter the building, you have to take off your shoes and you can bless yourself with holy water dripped from a lotus flower. 

Shh...I wasn't suppose to take this photo.   The Emerald Buddha is that guy in at the top of the pyramid.  This is actually a Buddhist temple, infront of all the people you see are some people kneeling and praying.

In case you want a better look, here is the buddha from super zoom outside the temple.

He's a little guy, only 2 ft tall.  Strange he becomes the symbol of a man's divine right to rule.  Oh, and he's not made out of Emerald.  He's made from Jade.  His clothes are gold, and get changed every season.

An imp in me (maybe a demon from holding up the statues...?) possessed me as we were walking by these statues.  Watch out, Demon-Guard-Things, Dong-chim!

 There were these funny dragon/dog like things-statues all over the place.  This one looked particularly sad, so I wanted to give him a hug.

 On to Grand Palace.  No one actually lives here, I don't think, but is more like an optional house for royalty.

I took this photo for a couple reasons:
1: they can make a bush look like this--a shape from that limbo land in Buddhism.
2: look at the horses on either side.  They are running one direction, but facing behind them.  Yeah...I don't get that.

 Just in case you wanted a closer look.  It actually makes my neck hurt just looking at this photo.

Okay, that was the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew.  It was a quick tour through the glitter, sparkles, and steeples, but it was good.

I'll leave you with me smelling some flowers: