Bangkok With a Bang

It was time to leave the scenic southern Thailand and trade for paved streets and nonstop traffic of cars and people. After a 10-hour, pretty enjoyable overnight bus later we arrived in Bangkok at 6am. Surprisingly even at that time, the streets are jam packed with cars. We arrived at our hotel that Roy’s friend Geoff recommended to us and took a nice shower to rid ourselves of our lake and bus musk we had going. One thing we have learned is that you always, ALWAYS take advantage of a good shower with excellent water pressure and heat because you never know when you will again! After some breakfast and a quick nap we were ready to go explore the city.

Seeing as we planned on spending only one day in Bangkok, we wanted to hit the major attractions right away. Most famous is the Grand Palace. So we hopped on the subway, switched lines, hopped on a river boat ferry express and made our way. For those who do not know, Bangkok is full of rivers. Some even call it "the Venice of Asia" due to the vast amount of waterways. These rivers were very important because it gave Bangkok protection from its enemies but also gave an invitation to trade with foreigners. Although Bangkok does not heavily rely on these waterways as much anymore, they do still provide a scenic transportation to many places around the area.

We arrived to the entrance of the Grand Palace and saw many fascinating gold spires and mirrored roofs poking out from the other side of the wall. We were very excited to go inside but had to wait due to the fact that Roy was underdressed wearing shorts and a tank top. Luckily the palace provides free clothes for tourists with this issue. So after a quick change we were ready to go!

We entered the palace and were in awe, being surrounded by so much gold, delicate art, and beautiful buildings. You did not know where to look first. It was like walking into a golden dream!....with hundreds of tourists.

The Grand Palace was established in 1782 by King Rama I. The large wall surrounding the Palace has the largest painted mural of the story Ramayana. (If you have been reading along, we watched a dance in Bali based on this story!) 

These beautiful walls encompass the royal residences, libraries full of ancient writings, temples, chedis that obtain Buddha relics and government halls. Each King following King Rama either added an additional building or added embellishment to the existing buildings already there. Although none of the royal family lives in the palace today, many important figures have stayed a few nights as guests such as President Clinton and the Queen of England.

One of the most famous parts of the palace is the temple of the Emerald Buddha where people come from all over Thailand to pay respect. The Emerald Buddha which is in fact made out of jade was mysteriously found in Chiang Rai (Northern Thailand) encased in plaster in 1434. There it was transferred to Chiang Mai where it sat until 1552 when it was transferred to Laos. It was 22 years later when it was finally brought it back to Thailand, inside of the palace. It currently sits on a golden pedestal where people can pay respects to Buddha and his teachings.

Next to the beautiful palace were a few important government buildings still used today for banquets and some important meetings.

After the palace, we thought we would check out the Museum of Siam to learn more about the history of Thailand. We were so thrilled that we arrived at 4:01pm due to the free admission after 4pm. Hurray! The Museum, which is advertised as a "discovery museum" was very informative and interactive. We read lots of facts, played games, watched movies, and reenactments all about the beginnings of Siam to modern day Thailand. We learned lots about Bangkok and even more about the ancient Capital Ayutthaya that we planned on seeing the next day.

Outside of the museum we walked right into an Indie music festival. There were many small booths selling music, and artsy items as well as a few food stalls that stood around a huge mass of people who were listening to live music. It was a really cool vibe.

We would have stayed longer, but we had to go to the train station to buy tickets to Chiang Mai. After about an hour on the sky train, and an hour taxi ride in the opposite direction of where we needed to go, we found out that the train was still out of service due to construction and maintenance on the rails. Supposedly there has been frequent derailments in the previous months so they finally realized it was time to make some improvements. We would have to take a bus. We wish we had known that before our two hour journey! With all this running around, we were exhausted and decided to pass on going to the night market to the north. We ate lots of Indian food down the street from our hotel and then hit the pillow for Ayutthaya in the morning.