A Day at the Palace

One of the Bangkok tourist attractions I knew I wanted to see was The Grand Palace. It is basically this giant complex of these elaborately decorated buildings, monuments, and statues that used to house the king of Thailand. I decided to see this on my first full day in Bangkok. Lucky for me, I had a personal tour guide I had met the night before, Eve. She was very nice to show me around the place and could give good answers to my stupid questions because she is a Buddhist and had been there a bunch of times.

This post is mostly pictures, so enjoy.

A walkway leading to the Palace

Some statue that I thought was cool, but can't remember who it is. The background shows some of the amazing decor of the Palace.

This is a statue believed to have healing power.

Just showing the real solid gold tiles

This is a replica of Ayuthaya. Looks like a nice place.

I just love this photo of the columns

Here was a giant painted wall mural

I posed for a pic with a royal guard. I think I make him look like a little girl.

This statue was carved out of stone with a ball inside the mouth that rolls around. really amazing work.

The Vimanmek Palace

A little accident I had with my iced coffee at the Vimanmek Palace coffee shop when I was trying to put the lid on it.

My ticket to the Grand Palace also got me into this place called the Vimanmek Palace, which I was somewhat more impressed with than the Grand Palace. The Vimanmek houses all of these gifts what were given to the king and the queen, so it was basically filled with golden boats, thrones, etc. which were also covered in diamonds and small pieces of beetle wing. I know that sounds weird, but the beetle wings had this very vibrant green color. I was hoping they would sell some beetle wings at the gift shop, but they didn't. Unfortunately, this place did not allow photography.

My favorite part of all of the exhibits at the Palace was that they listed the time and number of artisans it took to create each piece. For example, this one giant (approximately) 8' x 10' wood carving with elaborate flowers and animals and people said that it took a year and a half and about 50 artisans to create. Some of the items took up to two year/200 artisans. You could say they really like the King.