A Week In Bangkok - June 2018: Day 3 - Grand Palace & the Reclining Buddha

[Melbatb]

I woke up at about 6.30am after a pretty good night's sleep. After a shower I headed downstairs for breakfast.

This was a buffet. As you can see I had fried eggs, beans and cheese. Plus a coffee! There was a lot of choice but I was trying to avoid the bread items!

I went back upstairs, wrote up the report for yesterday and left about 8am for the Grand Palace.

I walked over to the 5bht ferry to get across the river. It was already hot!

There was about a 5 minute wait for the Orange Express boat. There are lots of other people tring to sell you their boat tours at vastly inflated prices but the Orange desk is clear marked as is the queue!

I had to go down to stop number 9 to get to the Grand Palace stop. It took about 20 minutes.

This is one of the most visited sites in Bangkok. Surrounded by a 1.9km long wall it marks the foundation of Bangkok in 1782. It cost 500bht (about 17 euros) to get in.

In the building you can see is the Emerald Buddha - all 66cm of him! No photos allowed though.

There were a lot of very ornate constructions. Kings lived here until 1925.

I particularly liked this one with the statues holding up the monument.

All around were these heart bells. So you could constantly hear them ringing. That actually made it very restful despite the hoards of people.

It was clear that for the Thai people this was a very important place to visit.

I loved this window in one of the buildings. It is only on the photo that I can see the statues behind the glass. As the windows were high up you couldn't see them.

On the way out I saw the tailend of a ceremonial changing of the guards.

All in all I spent just over an hour here. Whilst the buildings were very impressive, I didn't really love it. I was glad to have visited but something was missing. Perhaps there were just too many people and I was very hot.

I walked about 10 minutes to Wat Pho - the reclining buddha. He was very spectacular and despite the number of people it was easy to get some good photos. I won't humiliate myself by showing my selfie - I was very very hot and sweaty by this point!

This is the oldest temple in Bangkok - and there is also a monastery and a traditional medicine school n the grounds.

The buddha messages 46m. This was one of my favourite photos of it.

I have to say that I loved the whole area around the temple housing the reclining buddha. There were lots of people who paid their 100bht and looked at the buddha then left, which meant the rest of the area was practically empty. There was a whole labyrinth of pathways and inner squares.

I went through one set of doors and came across these statues. And then at least another three similar squares.

One of my arty photos

Another very ornate statue hidden away! It really was a treasure trove of statues!

I also liked these lampposts- they were dotted around and really fitted in with the surroundings.

I needed to get the ferry across to the other side of the river to get the Orange boat back. Finding the ferry took a little while but I asked in a shop and they pointed me in the right direction!

It would have been the practical solution to now go to Wat Arun (you can see it in the photo) but I was a bit templed out and felt I would appreciate it more on another day!

The ferry cost 4 bhts!

The pier for the Orange boat was clearly signposted. It shared it with the Blue Tourist boat which was 50 bhts. I also couldn't work out if you also had to pay 30bhts each time you got off (it was hop on hop off) as one of their staff told a woman she had to pay and there was a sign! I stuck to the 15 bht orange boat! This took about 10 minutes to turn up.

I then had about a 15minute wait for the ferry across the river. Must have been the lunch break! There was somewhere to sit in the shade so I didn't mind.

I got back to the hotel and changed into my shorts. I also had a 30 minute rest!

I had stupidly left my cap in the taxi last night so I needed a new one. I can suffer from sun induced headaches so wanted to get one sooner rather than later! I looked up shopping malls and chose one that was on the Skytrain line - CentralWorld!

The ticket machine wa easy to use - choose your station and pay - 40bhts in my case!

The train was airconditioned! I got off at Siam station and the mall was clearly indicated. It was about a 10 minute walk along a raised walkway.

First stop was lunch. Not an easy choice but I eventually went for a very thin crust pizza. The waitress was very sour - that sort of why are you bothering me attitude but the pizza was tasty. Together with an iced tea it was 401bhts - about 12 euros.

I managed to find a lightweight cap in Uniqlo! It has a long brim too which is good for protecting my eyes!

Outside the shopping centre was a shrine. Again, these are really important worshiping places and lots of gifts are left for the gods - in this case Ganesha, the God of Success. Gifts to be left included bananas, sweet milk and marigolds together with 9 joss sticks.

There was a food market outside the mall too. I am not sure of the refrigeration of the food - some looks like it sits in the heat all day (I know - I worry too much!) However, everywhere does look very clean otherwise!

Across the road was obviously a locals' supermarket! It was enormous and very noisy! This was a quiet aisle! Most were heaving!

There were about 8 shrines around the Siam area!

This is one of the most famous ones - Erwan Shrine.This one celebrates the God of Creation and is dedicated to those who lost their lives in the building of the old Hotel Erwan. There were even dancers!

The next series of photographs show the chaos at traffic lights! The motorbikes weave to the front of the queue of traffic!

Then they are off - completely blocking all the cars!

Only for it to happen all over again at the next set of lights!

I got the skytrain back to the hotel and had a bit of a rest before going out for dinner locally! A vegetable korma - much hotter than I am used to! With rice it was 180bhts - about 5.5 euros.

I came back to the hotel and got my stuff ready for bed. It has taken a while to write the report up as the internet drops out all the time! Early start tomorrow so alarms have been set!

I walked just over 20km today! No wonder my legs are tired!

[app]

New Photo Added by Melbatb - 21 Jun 18 4:15 PM.

[mick]

A very busy day no wonder your legs were tired

Joan

[Jake71]

What beautiful statues and shrines. Crazy driving! Another excellent day.

[jocat]

Sounds a lovely day exploring and I’m loving the lampposts!

I’ve never seen that amount of motorbikes at a set of lights in my life! I bet the drivers of the cars get a bit fed up of them weaving in and out to get to the front each time.

[christybell]

Loving following along... thanks for taking the time to share your experiences

[Melbatb]

Originally Posted by mick

A very busy day no wonder your legs were tired

Joan

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I think I only ever do busy days on solo trips

[Melbatb]

Originally Posted by Jake71

What beautiful statues and shrines. Crazy driving! Another excellent day.

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The driving is mad! Stupidly mad!

The temples and shrines are beautiful - apparently 95% of Thais are Buddhists!

[Melbatb]

Originally Posted by jocat

Sounds a lovely day exploring and I’m loving the lampposts!

I’ve never seen that amount of motorbikes at a set of lights in my life! I bet the drivers of the cars get a bit fed up of them weaving in and out to get to the front each time.

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It was a lovely say! I thought the lampposts merited a mention

I guess as the roads are so busy using a motorbike us the only way to quickly get around. But at lights it is a sight to see!

[Melbatb]

Originally Posted by christybell

Loving following along... thanks for taking the time to share your experiences

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I hope it is whetting your appetite for next week