From the map and many tour articles, we read that the palace is just located beside Wat Pho. So we decided that we could just walk from Wat Pho to the palace.
Well, technically we weren't wrong; it was within walking distance. The problem was just that it was noon time and the burning sun was shining right on top of us. Even though it wasn't too far, it wasn't exactly just next door either. The palace occupied a huge compound, and the entrance was on the north side of the wall while we were at the south side (i think). To walk such a distance under the hot weather simply made the distance feel a lot further.
We reached the palace drenched in our own sweat. The admission fee was THB200 per person. Oh, and by the way, all these admission fees to the palaces and temples are only chargeable to the tourists. Thai gets to visit all these places for free.
This is the most expensive of all the places we visited, but the fee actually included admission to the Vimanmek Mansion Museum, Abhisek Dusit Throne Hall, Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall and Sanam Chandra Palace. Wherever these places may be, they weren't in our itinerary.
At the entrance, there were brochures of different languages with maps and guides to the palace.
On the map, all the places of interest were marked. I think we'd need more than half-a-day to explore all the places in details.
There were many people visiting the palace that day (or is it like that everyday?). There was also this huge group of Thai people dressed in black with lotus flowers in their hands. We actually saw groups like these in our visits to other temples. I wonder if these people are on a tour to the 9 sacred places of Bangkok.
As we entered the palace and were looking at the mural painting on the interior walls, the guard instructed us to move away for this group of Thai in black. I was rather annoyed by it, as it was supposed to be the land of smiles and that wasn't a right way to treat the tourists.
Well, i guess it just wasn't a good day for me, because the battery of my camera died on me! That is probably one of the worst things that could happen when you go sight-seeing. I have only myself to blame, for forgetting to charge the battery on the night before. So for the rest of the trip for that day, 貝 and i could only take pictures either with out mobile phones (thank God for camera in mobiles), or to use the cameras of Sui and Carol (Ting's camera soon ran out of battery too!).
Anyway, here are the pictures we took at the Grand Palace (there are may buildings decorated in gold!)
The pointed roofs piercing into the sky (yes, if you notice, i like to take pictures of the rooflines of buildings).
The symbolic monuments found on the upper terrace.
Here's our first group photo of the trip. The statues of the giants could be seen at a lot of places, even at the airport. (Somehow, the statue on the right was like stabbing his sword right into my head... what an unfortunate angle i had in the photo.)
Another group photo with Wat Phra Kaew in the background.
One of the halls in the Grand Palace.
貝 and i, in front of the hall, under the bright sun.
Before we left the palace, we spent some time appreciating the interesting mural paintings along the interior walls. The paintings seemed to be telling a story, but we couldn't figure it out as we didn't have a tour guide with us (even though there are plenty around and we kinda eavesdropped on their explanations to the other tourists sometimes). A search on the Web indicates that the paintings were about the Ramakien (Thailand's national epic).
We only spent 2hrs+ in the palace, which pretty much tells that we didn't really tour the place thoroughly. It was just too darn hot and everyone wanted to have lunch in an air conditioned restaurant.
We had some more walking again to look for a restaurant recommended by Carol's brother. I can't recall the name of the restaurant, but we did find it in the end and had our lunch there. The food was ok, and the cold fruit juice was simply excellent. I'm not sure if it was really that good, or was it because we were too thirsty and anything that could down the heat would be delicious.
After having recharged some of our energy in the air-con restaurant, we were back in the heat again, walking back to the pier to take a ferry across to Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn.
Wat Arun is the only main attraction that is located on the other side of the river, but it is by far the most famous landmark of all. It is one of the most featured images of Bangkok, especially its silhouette against the setting sun.
In Sui's previous trip to Bangkok, she had actually visited both Wat Pho and Grand Palace. She didn't manage to visit Wat Arun though, because she was stopped by a stranger telling her that the temple was closed for a holiday or something. He then recommended her to go to some other places, which she didn't follow but did believe that the temple was closed and hence didn't visit it.
This was actually an infamous scam in Bangkok that is targeted at tourists. We came across a few persons on the streets trying to pull such trick on us but we just ignored them. I wonder why the authority did not do anything about it, but instead just let these people continue cheating the tourists and damaging the image of their country.
The ferry crossing was only available from the Tha Tien pier. The ferry ride is not part of the day ticket, and the fare was THB3 per person. The admission fee to Wat Arun is THB50.
The iconic central prang (pagoda) is porcelain encrusted and more than 70 meters in height.
It is a very unique architecture i must say. It, however, looked more stunning from afar than when it is near. Not that it wasn't beautiful in nearer sight; it's just that the beauty of this kind of tall architectures is normally more amplified from further distance.
There are figures of soldiers and animals around the prangs
For a person who is almost acrophobia like me, it's considered a challenge to climb up the prang. No kidding, the stairs were rather steep and narrow. I climbed up the prang with my trembling legs, not daring to look down or letting go of my hands from the handrails.
Once reached the top, we got a nice view of the river and the city.
And needless to say, descending the prang was harder than ascending it, because it was a must to look down to see where you feet were stepping on.
Anyway, i had my feet on the ground again safe and sound. We then took the ferry back to the other side of the river. We wanted to visit the Golden Mount again because we didn't get to climb to the top on the day before.
As we were contemplating what transportation mode we should opt for to go from the pier to the Golden Mount, we met a helpful auntie who spoke Cantonese. We asked her if it was far to walk from where we were to the Golden Mount and she wasn't very clear on her reply. We thought we heard her saying it was about a 20-minute walk or so, and we decided that the place might have closed for the day if we were to walk (and we were too tired to do more walking anyway).
So, we hailed a tuk-tuk, and with the help of the auntie who bargained in Thai with the driver, we managed to get a ride for THB40. Fortunately we didn't choose to walk, because after the ride, we realized that there was no way we could ever reach there by walking within 20 minutes time. It was more like a 45-minute walk.
When we were at the bottom of the Golden Mount, we looked for a booth to pay for the admission. We didn't see anyone selling tickets and so decided to go ahead climbing the stairs.
Walking up the 318 steps wasn't as demanding as we had thought. At the top of the mount was the entrance to the temple, where the entrance fee of THB10 was to be paid by dropping the money into a donation box.
We went into the center of the temple, which was within the golden cupola that kept the Buddha relics.
We did not get out to the rooftop, as it seemed to be closed. It was a pity because i've read that we would get a panoramic view of the city from the rooftop.
After a short visit to the Golden Mount, we took the tuk-tuk back to the pier where we had seen some seafood restaurants earlier. Without the help of the auntie this time, we only managed to bargain to THB50 for the ride back.
At the pier, we checked out the menus of the restaurants and settled for the Fisherman's Seafood restaurant.
The food was excellent, though the price was a bit steep.
Other than paying for the fresh seafood, we were probably also paying for the beautiful sunset view that accompanied our sumptuous dinner.
There's nothing like a nice meal after a long and tiring day. Everyone was happy (behind the smiley faces, everyone was really smiling).
After dinner, we took the last boat at 7:30pm back to the Saphan Taksin station, followed by the BTS skytrain back to the hotel. On the train, we saw a trailer of a funny Thai animation. Even though we couldn't understand the language, i thought it was really entertaining and the graphics were very well done.
Here's the trailer of that animation that 貝 found on YouTube:
貝 told me that his brother had bought a VCD of another Thai animation, and he had seen it at home back in BM. We checked out the trailer too and it seemed very interesting as well. We decided to watch it in our next trip back to his hometown.
The original plan for Day 2 evening was to visit the night market, but everyone was too bushed to visit another crowded place. So everyone went back to their own room and called it a day. Sui and Ting went for a Thai massage across the street. 貝 and i didn't join them and decided to have an early night.
Labels: travel
