Yesterday (July 29) was yet another amazing day in Bangkok. We went with Mama and Papa D to the Grand Palace, Wat Pho and Wat Arun. They were some amazing sights!
The Grand Palace is the "official" residence of the kings of Thailand, and the royal family and the government used to be based out of this palace until 1925. Now, the palace is used for official ceremonies, like weddings and coronations, but the family lives elsewhere. On the palace grounds is a temple - Wat Phra Kaew. This is the most sacred temple in Thailand, and the one the king uses for worship. The temple is also known as the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. The Buddha isn't actually made from emerald but a solid piece of jade. And each season, the Buddha gets a different costume. While this is a common practice throughout Thailand, this Buddha's clothes are changed by the king himself.
The Grand Palace complex is beautiful and so colorful. Most of the decorations were hand-painted - either murals directly on walls or on pieces of porcelain. And the eaves of the roofs have bells hung on them, so every time a breeze blows, there is a beautiful tinkling noise.
After lunch, we went to Wat Pho, aka the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. This Buddha is 43 meters long and 15 meters high. It was quite difficult to get the whole Buddha in one picture.
Finally, before the rain, we crossed the Chao Prya River and went to Wat Arun, or the Temple of the Dawn. This temple is probably one of the most famous silhouettes of Bangkok. You can climb up to the top of the temple for a view of the area, but we did not since it was about to rain.
 |
| The Grand Palace |
 |
| Mural at the Grand Palace - these are scenes of life of Rama, Haruman and Tosakan |
 |
| Yaksha - friendly demon guardian of the palace |
 |
| Wat Phra Kaen |
 |
| Bells on the eaves of the roof |
 |
| Emerald Buddha - it is very hard to see the color in the picture |
 |
| The palace portion of the Grand Palace - built by Rama V in a mixed Victorian and Thai style |
 |
| Reclining Buddha - can you see his feet? |
 |
| Buddha's giant feet |
 |
| Wat Arun from across the Chao Prya River |
 |
| Wat Arun |
 |
| View of Bangkok |
No comments:
Post a Comment