We were all up and dressed well before 8 a.m. Matt and Melissa went in search of coffee and came back with French pastries, as well. We ate and headed out the door. Chinda is going to Chinatown to spend time with her cousin who lives in the house she grew up in. She is also going to get her hair done and buy her grandson some gold bracelets. The rest of us headed to the BTS Sky Train and transferred to the MRT (subway) to go to the Grand Palace.
It was a hot walk from the subway station to the entrance of the Grand Palace. I kept taking photos along the way of things like the Ministry of Defence Building. Matt said, “You are about to see things way more amazing than that.” Nothing could have prepared me for the extravagance of the Grand Palace area. It is simply layer upon layer of incredible edifices.
Everywhere you turn there is something amazing to see.
There are statues everywhere.
This one is of the mythological Tan ti ma bird.
The wall that surrounds the Temple of the Emerald Buddha has a mural of the Ramakien tale, the Thai version of the Indian epic the Ramayana. On the walls are 178 panels of colorful paintings of this classic story about the battle of good versus evil.
There is a school of fine arts on the grounds of the Grand Palace and some of their students were working on refurbishing the murals.
The Phra Siranta Chedi enshrines relics of the Buddha. We weren’t allowed inside but the outside was incredible all on its own. It did make me wonder about the beauty that must exist inside the buildings we could not enter.
There is a model of Angkor Wat on the grounds, which is where we are headed after Bangkok.
Some of the doors are inlaid with mother of pearl.
Buildings are painted gold and inlaid with mirror pieces to make them absolutely sparkle.
Every building, every statue, every thing is magnificent.
Yves was a trooper but it was blistering hot. We stopped for a time and sat in front of fan to cool the poor child….and his parents down.
We wound ourselves around to the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. We took off our shoes before entering. Matt, Melissa and Yves made merit but I cannot kneel with my bad knees. You are not allowed to take photos inside the temple but outside Matt captured this photo of the Buddha through the open doorway. The Buddha’s clothing changes for the seasons. It is winter here (unlike any winter I have ever experienced) so he is wearing a coat.
By the time we made it to the Grand Palace we were all hot and sticky.
I snapped more photos as we found our way to an air conditioned building that served slushies. Yves was very happy about the air conditioning.
By then we had seen all the beauty our brains and feet could stand. We headed in search of a bathroom and food. The toilet was very civilized and came with intricate directions on its use. When I told Matt I used all the settings but massage he asked me to stop talking.
On our way to find food we walked through the amulet market. It seemed complicated. There are certain “authentic” stalls that sell real amulets made by monks. I couldn’t tell the inauthentic from the authentic. So I decided I wasn’t worthy of having one.
We found a cool place to eat lunch. I went for the kra pow, the dish I enjoyed the night before, with a crispy egg. It was delicious but very spicy. We made it to the water taxi just as it was leaving the dock.
What an excellent way to move through the city and see its beauty.
We were headed to Chinatown to meet up with Chinda. I am so fascinated by all the wires of this city.
You can find everything in Chinatown from gold to shoes to street food.
We made it to Chinda’s family home where her cousin E.Muay now lives. E.Muay got to experience the happy smiling Yves she didn’t get to experience the night before.
She ordered us Thai iced coffee and it was delivered to the door in plastic bags with a straw poking out the top. It was delicious — strong and cold and sweet! She had her helper but it in little buckets for us to drink more easily.
Melissa and Chinda went back to our rental by Grab. Matt, Yves and I took the MRT to the BTS Sky Train. Matt and I being from the same competitive family tried to see if we could beat them back using public transportation but they won the contest they didn’t even know they were in.
We had reservations tonight to Burapa, the nice restaurant down the block that is set up to look like you are traveling in the Orient Express train. We went early because this group has an infant and two elderly ladies. We had the place to ourselves for the first hour. We were seated in Business Class. Matt must be an auditory guy because again he pointed out the Musak. It was very odd. We decided the genre was “Cover Songs by Dust Bowl Oliver Twist meets Big Band with Gospel Choir Back Up Singers”. It took us a bit of time to place the genre.
The floor above was reserved for First Class.
Matt and I left the ordering to the experts — Chinda and Melissa. It was all delicious.
We ended the meal with mango sticky rice (of course) and Bananas Bananas — a combination of three different ways to serve bananas. I had seen bananas being grilled on the street today and I was eager to see how they tasted. I loved the steamed bananas in coconut topped with a dusting of brown sugar. I see why Chinda was looking forward to the food.
More than sated we walked back to our AirBnB. I stayed up to work on this blog and my fellow travelers did the sensible thing and went to bed. “Sleep while Yves is sleeping” is a good motto.
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