100% success

After two and a half months in Bangkok, Mariela and I finally visited the magnificent Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew, the temple of the Emerald Buddha. Why the delay in visiting this Thai landmark?

We just got our work ID badges on Thursday. One of the perks of having this particular badge is that we get into the Grand Palace complex for free (rather than 350B). We also get to pay the "Thai price" for all national parks.

We were pumped about getting to go through the "Free for Thai" line at the gate.

The grounds were beautiful. The architecture looked a lot like what we saw at the palace in Cambodia, only bigger.

We arrived at 10:25 - just in time for a free tour. Our guide was nice and he had a sense of humor.

He told us about the different buildings. One houses the ashes of royal family members. One is covered in pastel-colored pieces of Chinese ceramic pottery. Two golden stupas are held up by monkeys and demons. Everything is covered in either gold leaf or tiny, shiny bits of color.

The actual palace looks rather European, until you get to the roof, which is made of red, orange, blue, and green ceramic tiles with curly gold flourishes rising up from the corners. And then there are the funny trees out front that look like something from a Dr. Seuss book.




The grounds also house the longest painting in the world. It's a massive mural of the story of Ramakian, the Thai version of the Indian epic, The Ramayana. Too bad it's been four years since I read that book. I don't remember anything about it. We're planning to go to a traditional Thai performance of Ramakian at some point this year. I'll need to brush up on Rama's adventures.