Grand Palace, Gongs and Thai Dance

 Pictures of the monarchy are all over Bangkok-

The ceremonial home of the Thai royal family is at The Grand Palace, the city’s most famous and visited site.  

It was built over time but begun when Bangkok was established at Siam’s capital in the 18th century.  Apart from the residential palace itself- built in the early 1900s in the French style- it is quite ornate

It hosts the most sacred Buddha in Thailand, the Emerald Buddha, origin unknown but dating at least to the 1400s. 

Pictures can’t capture the Emerald Buddha’s exquisite appearance 

The place was so crowded on the day I went that if you stopped for a moment you were likely to be swept up in one of the seemingly innumerable visiting Chinese tour groups. 

I went to see a traditional (think mythological)Thai dance show afterwards and it was quite interesting . The costumes were exquisite themselves and the mythical story (posted above the stage) fun to follow-

I climbed another temple to get a view of the city and rang a gong along the way to get the monks off their iPhones-

It seemed to work-

As I have had some issues with my hips and hamstrings, I decided to get a traditional Thai massage to see if it might help, tho I wondered where I might find one.  Fortuitously there was one right next to my hotel. Well gentle and pleasant it wasn’t. If pressure and pain help, then my hips and hamstrings are as good as new. 

Thailand finis. A very fun and enjoyable country. I can see why people flock here- warm, great beaches, beautiful islands, great food, inexpensive (except for the beach resorts), safe, and very friendly and considerate people. I would come for the street food alone. 

Bangkok; Wat's Up?

 I arrived in Bankok from Phukett (1 hr flight) and for some ineffable reason immediately felt welcome-

My taxi ride to my hotel was a bit of an adventure   The driver got lost and eventually stopped and suggested I walk   I looked at Google Maps and it said over an hour so politely declined  I then gave him my phone with directions which seemed to help tho at various points I had to yell out turn left!  A bad sign when the passenger is more familiar with Bangkok then the taxi driver  

I decided to immediately visit 2 of the city's most famous and revered Buddhist temples, Wat Phro and Wat Arun.  Wat Phro holds the largest collection of Buddas and houses the famous and enormous Golden Reclining Buddha which is impossible to adequately capture in a photo (it takes up a whole building)-

To enter any Buddhist temple. you must take off your shoes, which leads to a lot of on and off with footwear.  The feet of the Reclining Buddha tell of his spiritual journey-

Apparently Buddha himself is not obligated to remove his shoes in his own temple.  

The Wat Phro complex is huge (about 20 acres?). 

 It is interesting and somewhat incongruous to see people praying to Buddha amidst throngs of tourists, but perhaps one would observe the essentially the same thing at St. Peter's in Rome or other famous Christian sites.  In any case, the monks seem to take it all in stride and welcome any tourist participation (so long as shoes are off) as I later saw tourists helping the monks wrap a Buddha.  Still can’t quite grasp this

The older site of Wat Phro is right across the Chao Phraya river, which runs through much of central Bangkok.  In fact, it is quite convenient (and cheap- 70 cents) to take the ferry up and down the Chao Phraya to visit certain places.

  They don't mess around on that ferry when embarking and disembarking.  The small official lady hounds you to line up and when they pull in they virtually toss you  off (or on) the boat and they are out of that stop in less than a minute.  Thai efficiency, I guess.  

Wat Phro- which was founded about the same time as Bangkok itself in the mid- 18th century- appears to attract a lot of Thais in traditional garb who come to honor and pray to Buddha here.  

The temple has a stunning style and texture 

1. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   The temple is quite impressive at night- 

On my walk back I stumbled into my favorite Thai thing, a street market-

Phi Phi and Monkey Business

 I spent my last day in Phuket on a cruise by speedboat to Ko Phi Phi (Phi Phi Island for those not fluent in

 Phi Phi is probably 40+ miles south in Phang Nga Bay from the Phuket pier, so a good distance to cover.  

 Bought myself an elephant shirt which are popular here s o I could blend with the locals. I think it comes off and I could probably be taken for a Thai-

I will skip my standard joke about it being deserted and just say I have never seen so many fairly large boats, all trying to get into the little lagoon there-  

 

Q

It is pretty, but not THAT pretty in my estimation (at least not that much prettier than other islands so as to justify all of that boat traffic).  But still pretty-

 

It is also known for its powdery white sand beach-

Looks and feels great, but not so easy to get off the feet once stuck, tho. 

We also visited this beach in the Phi Phi group (the Thais have a knack for naming their islands) called -

And it lived up to its moniker-

They seemed a relatively civilized group.  I spotted one monkey headed toward the rest rooms (not sure whether man or woman's or gender neutral) to do its business-

Apart from the speedboat v. the larger cruise boat,the trip mostly differed my earlier cruise in that it offered snorkeling near a couple of the islands.  It was no Galapagos but you could see quite a few colorful fish and a lot of interesting coral.  

So, worthwhile  

There was still some fairly stunning island scenery-

That wrapped up my visit to Phuket which really is a major international destination (with crowds and congestion to prove it.  The trip from my hotel to the airport -  about 12 miles- took just under an hour each way).  I was surprised to find how many people flew directly to Phuket from their home countres (tons of Europeans here).  The Norwegians, for example, got a direct flight to Phuket from Oslo.

Onto to the big city of Bangkok and ita famous temples-