Bangkok

We spent two full days in Bangkok, one to relax and adjust to the time zone, the second to see some sights. Our second day in Bangkok we visited with my friend Mai and her little sister Fern. They took us to some sights and showed around. It was wonderful to have people you can trust telling you where to go and not trying to milk you for all your baht.

First we went to see the Grand Palace. The public can only visit the outer two sections as the Princess lives within the third section. Words can hardly describe the beauty of the grounds here. The complex was built by various Thai kings, each with his own style. The buildings with the Chinese influence were built my King Rama III, while the buildings with European influence were built by King Rama V. Thais love their gold so there is gold everywhere, everywhere.

palace pics

palace pics

The world longest painting wraps around the one section and in amazing detail describes how Thailand was founded. We were told how a demon kidnapped the human queen because she was so beautiful. But the demons were too tall for the people to fight so the king created an army of magic flying moneys to bring the queen home. The painting is detailed with lots off gold. To think that it has been outdoors in this humidity for so long is amazing.  It is well protected by three meters of roof so the rain does not reach it.

worlds largest painting

We had an English tour around the place which was interesting as we were told the history and meaning of each building instead of just observing.  The guide was interesting to say the least. A lot of dirty jokes directed towards Chris about Thai girls...awkward!!!

Angkor Wat model at palace

We went into the kings's personal temple, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. This is the only temple in Thailand with no monks as the kings is the only one permitted to be a monk here. The Emerald Buddha is really jade but the largest single piece of jade I have ever seen. The king changes the Buddha's outfit three times a year. All three outfits are gold with precious stones. We saw the rainy season version. There was so much gold in the temple with the Buddha it was almost hard to look at the splendour.

After the Grand Palace we went to Queen Sirikit's Museum of Textiles and saw how Thai silk is made and some of the patterns as well as pieces of the queen's wardrobe. I never realized how labour intensive it was and how much the queen supports women working. She has been a wonderful inspiration.

Mai and Fern took us across the river for lunch over a crowded market with a river view. We asked Mai to order for us and she did a wonderful job, lunch was fantastic! The ferry was only 3 baht a person, not bad at all.  We walked around the market after lunch and Mai bought us all a ice coconut dessert item. It had pink crunchy coconut-y tapioca-y balls, large chunks of coconut flesh, pink and green noodles, ice and coconut milk. It was pretty good for coconut, Fish loved it. It was very sweet of them to buy it for us.

After lunch Mai took us to the Golden Mount. A large temple on top of a mountain in Bangkok. The whole top is gold and has a great view.  It started raining and we proceeded back to the hotel and said goodbye to our friends. Our jet lag has been really good, we have stayed up past 8pm on all nights!


Strange highlight of Fish's day: watching a man drop is pants and squat in the middle of a beautiful sidewalk on the nicest boulevard near the Grand Palace.

Cheers,
Chel
Xoxoxo