Grand Palace and Thai Wats

During our first couple days in Bangkok when we tried to go to the Grand Palace, we kept getting re-routed by some random local who insisted it was too late in the day for us to go (we had jet-lag in Bangkok and slept in a lot) and had a better idea for something to do. So, our last morning we took no chances and made a plan to get there ourselves, with no interruptions. This plan also gave us a chance to do something I was looking forward to - take a boat ride on the Chao Phraya river that intersects Bangkok. The river basically acts as another highway for the city and traveling by boat is a very common thing for people around here. We hopped on one of the frequent ferry boats and settled in for the 20 minute ride upriver. There were a few nice sights along the way - lots of wats (Buddhist temples) - but mostly it was just dirty brown water.

The Grand Palace is the former residence of the King and also home to the Temple of the Emerald Buddha (it's jade but who's counting). The Emerald Buddha has been around for hundreds of years and is revered as the symbol of the Thai state. It's outfit is changed three times a year based on the season (rainy, cool, hot).

There are lots of other small temples, statues, and a huge mural to look at.

Part of a huge mural depicting wars and all kinds of stuff

Even though the king doesn't live there anymore, they don't really let you into the Grand Palace, but the statues and landscaping around it are really cool. We especially liked the "giant bonsai" trees.

After the Grand Palace we walked to nearby Wat Pho, home of the world's largest reclining buddha. I would have thought it was the "world's only" reclining buddha, but I guess there are a lot. Every wat has at least one buddha statue in it, sometimes ten or more, and there are thousands of wats. I guess you have to get creative to stand out. The outside of the wats is generally the same - lots of intricate gold, colored stones, and carvings covering every inch of the exterior. Wat Pho has just the one, albeit giant, golden buddha laying on it's side, filling the entire room.

Wats are like 7-11's here - there's one on every other block. They're pretty cool, but after a while they all started looking the same to us. Here's a couple more pics to close us out.