Nik and I arrived at the Grand Palace right when they opened, to beat the inevitable crowds and the scorching heat that gets worse as the day goes on. I thought I was super-prepared when it came to proper attire, but I definitely wasn't. I had on black jeggings, a short skirt over, and brought along a rather large scarf for my shoulders, but this was not enough and I ended up having to rent some clothes to be allowed to enter (you put a deposit down and it was returned to you in full at the end of your visit, so it wasn't the end of the world.) So! Don't wear "tight pants" and a scarf to cover your shoulders does not cut it if you are planning a visit here; they are super-strict!
We were lucky enough to have an overcast day, so the sun wasn't too much of a killer for us, but it was very crowded (I was pretty good at NOT including people in my photos.) Walking around with our mouths gaping open and taking in the old temples took most of the morning into the afternoon. There is so much detail in every single surface area here, but I found it pretty interesting that they regularly paint/refurbish every single thing. We came upon many workers painstakingly touching up old murals or applying stencils on ceilings and columns. Weird! I guess I thought everything would just be preserved as is...
Anyways, the Grand Palace lived up to it's hype and was one of my favorite sights that we saw on our trip!
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| Loved these pointy roofs |
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| Don't mess. |
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| Bling Bling! Note tiny golden tiles that make up the entire thing... |
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| So. Much. Detail. |
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| Loved these murals, but I was the only that did apparently! There was never anyone checking them out and they were all over the place. The art history lover in my geeked out over them. |
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| Detail |
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| Small scale model of Angkor Wat, in Cambodia |
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| Holy detail! |
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| So much gold. |
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| Even on the ceilings! Insane! |
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| Really pretty grounds outside the Grand Palace walls. |
After we finished walking around the Grand Palace, we moseyed over to
Wat Pho, or the Reclining Buddha, which is pretty close by. The giant Reclining Buddha was cool, I guess, but you spent the majority of the time fighting other tourists to stand in the few spots where you can get a good photo. So, a little annoying! But, I LOVED the rest of this site. Everyone pretty much comes to see the Reclining Buddha, and then books it outta there, but Nik and I wandered around for a long time and were pretty much on our own. And in a crowded city like Bangkok, that was pretty golden. I kinda loved how the grounds of this place were not as pristine as the Grand Palace, and had more of a run-down ancient feel to them. We enjoyed the silence and the little hidden corners and temples we kept stumbling upon. So glad we explored the rest of this area.
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| Tummy! |
Honeymooning: Bangkok, Thailand Part 1 can be found here
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Thanks for mentioning how strict they are about your clothing at the Grand Palace, I'm planning a trip in the not too distant future and I'd have totally assumed leggings, a t-shirt and a scarf to cover my shoulders would be fine. The more I read about SE Asia the more I think that I may have to re-asses my travel wardrobe!
ReplyDeleteI ended up wrapping my scarf around my waist as a make-shift skirt and that was fine. I had to borrow a shirt and it was a very over-sized button up tee, so you might be okay with a tee as long as the sleeves are on the longer side. The Grand Palace was the strictest place we went to, and I was able to wear my tights and just the scarf around my shoulders everywhere else.
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