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<\/a>About to enter the Grand Palace.<\/p>\nI can\u2019t imagine anything being more gilded than these temples and shrines.\u00a0 The Thai people love gold leaf.\u00a0 Everywhere, gold, gold, gold!\u00a0 Beautiful buildings with elaborate architecture and it all seems to relate to beliefs and the mythology of the beliefs (as they said).\u00a0 Along the interior walls surrounding the temple area are 178 murals depicting the history of Thailand since 1782 to now.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t sound like much till you see them, with all the intricate drawing and gold leaf.<\/p>\n
After the Grand Palace, we took a short ride to Wat Pho, the largest Buddhist Temple in Thailand and the home of the Reclining Buddha.\u00a0 It\u2019s huge, as you can see from the photos.\u00a0 While we were in the Temple, we heard singing and came upon a singing contest with small student groups from schools all over Thailand.\u00a0 There were judges and everything.\u00a0 It made me feel right at home.\u00a0 There were also groups warming up in various places around the temple.\u00a0There was music everywhere!<\/p>\n Judy standing next to her birthday Buddha. \u00a0Our guide looked up the day of her birth (Monday), and she was able to put some gold leaf on her own Buddha. \u00a0Each day of the week had it’s own Buddha.<\/p>\n After the temple, we were dropped at the Bangkok Flower Market.\u00a0 It\u2019s a 24-hour facility with workers hauling lots of flowers, plants, vegetables, and herbs all over the building.\u00a0 This is the only wholesale site for these items so it\u2019s really busy.<\/p>\n A few blocks from the Flower Market, we arrived at the river \u201cChao Phraya\u201d.\u00a0 It\u2019s the main river of Bangkok, with boats and ferries everywhere.\u00a0A steady stream of huge barges tied together were pulled and pushed through this segment of the river as we watched.<\/p>\n Lunch was good, with a few different Thai dishes picked out by Boe.\u00a0 It\u2019s hot and humid today, and the air-conditioning feels really good.\u00a0We took our time finishing.\u00a0 After lunch, we went down to the pier and boarded our own long-tail boat for a ride across the river to Thonburi, the ancient capital of Thailand.<\/p>\n A large variety of residences line these canals.\u00a0 As we entered the residence canal area from the river, there was a set of locks where we waited as the water level was brought up to match the canal. (The river level was down slightly)\u00a0 As we cruised through the canals, we had an occasional stop to visit some different temples.<\/p>\n Boe told us yesterday that water monitors were very prevalent in Thailand.\u00a0 He showed us some \u201cwater monitor\u201d key chains and large stuffed animals in the markets.\u00a0 We saw some big ones today that weren\u2019t stuffed.\u00a0 They\u2019re big, but apparently not aggressive unless harassed.\u00a0 They like to climb up on the docks along the canals and sun themselves.<\/p>\n After the last temple stop, we caught a ferry back across the river to Bangkok, near the Grand Palace, and boarded our car back to the hotel.\u00a0 We\u2019ve had two amazing days of activities and sights.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad we were finally able to visit the city of Bangkok, and not just the airport as we flew thru headed to other destinations.<\/p>\n After breakfast, we met Boe and our driver at 8:00am, and made the short drive to the Grand Palace.\u00a0We arrived just before the 8:30 opening, giving Boe the chance to give us some of the basic info about the Grand … Continue reading <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0Wall mural samples<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>Student singing contest with judges<\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0A scale model of Angor Wat.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0The reclining Buddha<\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a>\u00a0Orchids<\/a>Lots of Thai pepper heat!<\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0Chao Phraya<\/a>Big barges<\/p>\n<\/a>Lots of chop as we cross the Chao Phraya.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a> <\/a> <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"