A MUST SEE
No trip to Bangkok is complete without visiting the city’s most famous and lavish landmark, The Grand Palace! Needless to say, it was number one on our tourist destination/attraction checklist. Totally well worth the walk and the 500 Baht/$15 entry fee.
The crowd of visitors at around 11am, on a Saturday, is huge! But things are pretty organized and seem to flow fairly easily. Fellow tourists, for the most part, are friendly and polite with one another. We are after all, in a sacred place. Everyone understands that we all want pictures to cherish this moment, and don’t want to be photo bombed – this seems to be a pleasant universal etiquette. As such, people politely moved or ducked out of the way, or assisted each other in taking group shots. Patience and a chill attitude is definitely a required virtue.
SHEER OPULENCE
The Grand Palace is actually a complex of buildings—the most important and magnificent being the Temple of the Emerald Buddha or Wat Phra Kaeo. This will probably be the first thing you will see.
As soon as we entered this first leg of the tour, we were spinning around trying to take in all of the sheer opulence surrounding us. So, this is how the royals of yesteryear lived. Over the top! Everywhere the eye landed was something awesome. Statues of mythical creatures. Sky-kissing golden spires. Towering guardian demons. Gold, lots of gold. Bright colors! Glimmering jewels. Beautiful, ornate patterns. After about an hour on the compound, I went into opulence overload.
One thing that struck me as kind of out-of-place, was the mini-scale model of Cambodia’s Angkor Wat right next to the Wat Phra Kaew (Emerald Buddha Temple). Beautiful without doubt, but very odd. Check out a pic of it in slideshow below.
Grand Palace Slideshow. Swipe/click and walk through to see all the bling for yourself!
Of course, all of the other structures are a lead up to the Temple of the Emerald Buddha! All reports are true, this building is indeed impressive and a thing of great beauty. There is just so much intricacy and artistic detail in every inch of this tall and majestic shrine. Check it out in the slideshow below.
Wat Phra Kaew/Temple of the Emerald Buddha Slideshow. Swipe/click to view.
WAIT, WHERES THE EMERALD BUDDHA?
Big spoiler alert, no one is allowed up close to the Emerald Buddha and it is forbidden to take photographs within the temple. The biggest surprise for me was that the statue of the Emerald Buddha, carved from one piece of jade, is actually quite small—about 2-feet tall, and it sits way up high, on a stepped-up pyramid platform. It’s also contained within a glass box. So you can’t really get a good look at it. There is a small, gated area for Thai people only to come a little closer and bow down in prayer. The walls inside the temple, are amazing, each wall details the stories from the Jatake Tales— the epic life story of Gautama Buddha, and his many incarnations in various forms, his evolutionary journey of awakening and enlightenment.
The legend of the actual two-foot Emerald Buddha statue is that its existence dates back to the 15th century. Supposedly, in 1434 A.D. the Emerald Buddha was found in a chedi in Chiangrai, in Northern Thailand. From there on out this sacred jade statue was the cause of several wars before ending up in Bangkok. In 1778, during the Thonburi period, King Rama I brought the Emerald Buddha back to Thailand. With the establishment of Bangkok as the capital, the statue was moved from Thonburi to the Temple of the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok on March 22, 1784.
The Emerald Buddha is considered a talisman and holds tremendous significance for Thailand and the Thai people. To this date, only the king himself can get anywhere close to the revered statue, and only to change the ‘robe’ worn by the statue, 3 times each year, at the start of each season: A diamond encrusted gold robe during the hot season, a solid gold robe in the cool season and a gilded monk’s robe in the rainy season.
Upon exiting the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, visitors are guided along to other parts of the complex. There is a worship area for folks to light incense, make an offering, pray and give thanks for blessings received. All of other buildings at the Grand Palace, are mostly museums. They are also in a more subdued European architectural style, well other than the roofs! The royal family has not resided at here since around 1925. Today, the palace complex is still used for hosting royal ceremonies and welcoming the king’s state guests and other foreign dignitaries.
Section of Grand Palace after leaving the Temple of Emerald Buddha area
Before completely leaving the compound and heading over to Wat Pho, there is a nice café to grab a mango smoothie, a fresh coconut, ice cream, or whatever snack you may be craving to cool off and decompress!
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