Grand Palace

Our first stop is the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha were built after King Rama I ascended the throne as the founder of the Chakri Dynasty on 6 April 1782. We compete with loads of tourists and Thai people dressed in black that queue for ages to visit the King Bhumibol Adulyadej's remains. I had a long conversation with our guide on this, as I find it bizarre crazy and fascinating all at once that people are so committed to go through all this trouble to spend 5 minutes at a body. The Thai people loved their king as he went above and beyond to visit average people in small villages to know what their needs are. He was considered extremely hardworking since he came to power when he was 18. He passed away ending seven decades on the throne during which he became a unifying father figure and rare source of stability in a country that has weathered more than a dozen times.

The Grand Palace consists of several buildings with different styles of impressive architecture. Wat Phra Kaeo is renowned as the most beautiful and important Buddhist temple in Thailand. It houses Phra Kaeo Morakot (the Emerald Buddha), the most highly revered Buddha image carved from a single block of fine jade. Personally I thought its going to be gigantic but it is a pretty average size, the Buddha's dress was gold and pretty glam.

Scattered in the temple grounds are numerous interesting sculptures of artistic value, including the fanciful animals in mythology, the fierce-looking giants standing guard at the gates, the six pairs of Cambodian-style bronze lions and the stone figures from China. We really enjoyed the palace and was taken by surprise. Our guide that Sarah and Mark recommended was so much fun and shared really informative facts. Pang is only 25 years old but a real trooper.

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