A favorite part of continuous travel is that there is no shortage of new people, customs, or places to visit.
View from the Taxi
I sent a message to a local Couchsurfer, Kaptain, who offered to show me around Bangkok later in the week after meeting for dinner one night. Kaptain, awesome name by the way, is a student my age who has also traveled quite a bit. He was the ideal local to accompany me because neither of us like to see places for too long. Our tour covered a lot of ground but we did not linger at each monument to observe and learn about obscure facts and details.
We met by the the river for a boat ride to the area of the city with the most important touristic sites. It was hot but the shade provided by the boat’s awning provided the perfect respite before our sightseeing.
A monk walking into a building in the Grand Palace, ???????????????
Most buildings looked like this
Changing of the guards. Now I have seen this in the U.K., the Vatican, Peru, Colombia and other countries.
Th e Grand Palace Grand Palace used to be the King’s home from the 18th century when the built the Palace in the 178o’s for King Rama I. I can explain this in more detail but I think the reason this is so significant because the King is so adored in Thailand. The current King’s photo is plastered everywhere from rest stop’s and highway billboards to private home’s and restaurants. It seems genuine too. But today’s King of Thailand, King Bhumibol Adulyadej
, lives at another palace.
Even though the King hasn’t lived there since the 194o’s, this palace is still used frequently for rituals and ceremonies such as funerals, weddings, and banquets.
After a brisk walk-through of the Grand Palace area we walked some block to Wat Pho, a Buddhist temple. I think this temple is so noteworthy because it’s where the famous Thai massage was created. Personally, I went for the Thai massage three times while in Thailand and thoroughly enjoyed it. It seems to be the standard massage worldwide that focuses on stretching and deep massage . It’s mostly a very physical massage its method was originally intended to align the energies of the body and originates from the time of the Buddha. In Thailand the cost of a one hour massage ranges between around US$7 to hundreds of dollars.
The site was the center of education and statues were created showing yoga positions.
Wat Pho is home to the The Temple of the Reclining Buddha.It was built forty-six meters long and fifteen meters high, decorated with gold plating.
Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd Lunch!
Andrew says
The palace looks awesome but the pic I liked the most was Lunch!–it made me hungry 🙂