Detailing

500 Baht seemed a huge amount for admission when most temples I’d been to were 10-50 Baht (500 Baht is abound 18 dollars). But boy was the Grand Palace GRAND in all aspects; design, intricacy and crowds (wow!!). I was almost knocked out by a Japanese lady’s umbrella on two occasions but once you got past the thousands of people swarmed in and around the temples and up close and personal you started to notice the detail and precision put into the facades, columns and entablatures. I kind of felt like I was at Park Guelle in Barcelona, excepts with hundreds of mirrors!! Oh and I met a Slovakian girl today called Marina on her way to study in China so she joined in on today’s adventure.

Intricately decorated and filled to the brim with every man, his dog and what felt like every school in Bangkok.

Alas, the reclining Buddha and probably the biggest Buddha I’ll ever see. The pearl patterned stone covers the soles of his feet and below this is a procession of tourists dropping coins for good luck in each of the cauldrons, lined up in a row which created a choir of pings and pangs throughout the temple.

After arriving at the Grand palace only to find out it was closed for 2 hours over lunch (we did see a royal procession drive into the palace as we were walking away disappointed) we walked, and walked and walked and got more and more lost trying to find pier 8 to head to our second temple option. Might I add, the maps here are so deceiving in making things seem way closer than they actually are. By pure coincidence we stumbled upon this incredible, mosaic detailed Buddhist temple, home of the reclining Budda (and gigantic in size).

I just ate the most delicious and decently spicy tom yum noodle soup which cost me all of 3.50, and I’m proud of my chilli efforts.

Today I realised I have absolutely no sense of direction, but this city is crazy and makes no sense so that cuts me a little bit of slack. It’s so incredibly hot here and there are so many smells that I was nauseous for half the day. I never really made it to any of the places I wanted to ultimately get to but my entire day cost next to nothing whilst being whirled around hundreds of Thai streets and neighbour hoods and getting caught up in harmless cheep Thai scams to make gas money for tuk tuk drivers.