The Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha

We landed in Bangkok a few minutes after 7 am. The plan was to get to the city centre as fast as possible and hit the city right away. Once you're done with the immigration procedures, which took us some time, cause the queues were long, you're ready to go. In order to get to the city centre, you need Thai baht (THB). There are many currency exchanges at the airport, but my advice is to change just enough to get to the city centre. The exchange rate is much better once you get to the city.

We took the Sky Train (BTS) to Phaya Thai (45 THB/person) and then tuk tuk to our hostel (100 THB/both of us together). We left our luggage and off we went to explore Bangkok. Super excited, might I add. The first thing we did was to buy something to eat. There were plenty of places to choose from along our way. Soups, fruit, food on sticks, you name it. And all, most likely, delicious.

Our main goal for the day was to see the Grand Palace. Colourful, full of gold, red, navy blue and green. Richly ornamented, with such precision and attention to detail. Less crowded than I expected it to be, but rainy season probably plays its role here. It's been the residence of the Royal Family since late eighteenth century, when King Rama I ascended to the throne.

Once you buy your ticket, you can decide, whether you want to take the fast or the slow route to see the Grand Palace complex (you can change it in the meantime, so don't worry. You can even go around freely, not really following any of the paths). We chose the latter one. We were in no hurry, didn't have anything more planned for the day, se we wanted to devote as much time and attention to the palace as we could. We spent a lot of time inside, walking around and trying to look into every corner possible. Luckily, there wasn't too much sunlight, though it was still hot. So, in the end, we were exhausted anyway. But if you think that could stop us from seeing other places on that single day, you couldn't be more wrong ;)

One of the most important places in the complex is the Temple of the Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Kaew), being the home of the most importnat figure of Buddha - the Emerald Buddha (yeah, that was difficult to guess, I know). The image is dressed in one of three seasonal costumes (summer, rainy season, and winter), so it is changed three times a year.

A short history of the image from the leaflet:

"The Emerald Buddha is in fact carved from a block of green jade and was first discovered in 1434 in a stupa in Chiang Rai. At that time the image was covered with plaster and was thought to be an ordinary Buddha image. Later, however, the abbot who had found the image noticed that the plaster on the nose had flaked off, revealing the green stone underneath. The abbot initially thought that the stone was emerald and thus the legend of the Emerald Buddha image began."

Later, the image was moved to Lampang, then Chiang Mai. Then the image was taken to Laos, where it remained for 226 years, until Thai army under the command of Chao Phraya Chakri (who later became King Rama I) brought it back to Thailand in 1778. Once King Rama I moved the capital city to Bangkok, the Emerald Buddha was housed in the Royal Monastery. It is not allowed to take any pictures inside the temple, but there's a small window in the wall, through which you can see the Emerald Buddha. It's tiny and placed high above. But you can take a picture of it through that peep window ;)

The Royal Palace complex is huge, is colourful and is definitely worth visiting. But that's not the only place to visit in the area...

The Emerald Buddha in his rainy season (I suppose, since it still was rainy season when we visited) outfit.

Have you ever been to Bangkok? What did you like most about the city?