Wat Pho & The Grand Palace
27th July 2011.
Our final day on the land of the white elephant. We will be going again to Ratanakosin Island to visit the Grand Palace.
Since we only have half day before our flight back to KL in the afternoon, to save the time we take a cab to the Palace. On the way we bypass the Bangkok Chinatown. Chinese is the only race that I know having their own settlement in almost major city in the world.
The cab stop in front of Wat Pho, and since it is still early and Grand Palace is yet to open, we decide to have a look around. These are the three of the four main chedis in Wat Pho, dedicated to the four kings of the Chakry Dynasty (King Rama I, II, III and IV).
Wat Pho is one of the oldest wat in Bangkok. It was built 200 years prior to the shifting of the Thai capital from Ayutthaya. It is famous as it houses a gigantic gold plated reclining Buddha and being the first University in Thailand.
Inside Wat Pho. A monk is giving a morning speech to a group of visiting school kids.
One of the chedi at Wat Pho.
On close-up. Intricately decorated with flower motifs made of porcelain, the wat is as beautiful as it is fragile.
Rows of Buddha. The wat houses about thousand Buddha in total, mostly taken from the old kingdom of Ayutthaya and Sukhothai.
The Wat rooftops are decorated with chofa, a typical element of Thai architecture. The wavy decoration resembles the body parts of mystical Buddhism animal such as the garuda (half bird half demon) and the naga (a serpent like animal), the guardians of the holy boundaries. Something like gargoyles that adorns the western church and cathederals, although their function and meaning are different.
The enourmous gold plated sleeping buddha, the major attraction at Wat Pho. His soles are actually inlaid with mother pearls.
The inside of the wat that houses the reclining buddha is decorated with paintings depicting the life and stories of the Buddha.
At the other side of the wall is placed with row of alm bowls. Visitors make their wishes while filling the bowls with loose coins one by one to the last bowl, hoping for a fullfilled prayers.
A devotee praying at the altar.
On our way out, we spot a black feline, who made the wat her home.
Another two residents of the wat.
On the way to the Grand Palace, we notice a market selling dried sea products which we decide to pop and see. One of the seller pose for me, with his look I think he could better be in the film industry, instead of dried, salty fish business.
Dried squids.
The entrance to the market.
It is a bit quiet in the market despite the busy street outside, outshined by the grandeur of the nearby Wat Pho and Grand Palace.
Typical scene at the market.
Monks of nearby wat shopping for groceries.
Lotus buds on sell, commonly used for praying.
Massage oils compressed by Wat Pho masseurs and masseuses. Yup, Wat Pho is also the center and school teaching the art of traditional Thai massage, were some of the techniques could be found inscribed on the wall of the temple, dating as old as the reign of King Rama III.
From the market, we continue walking around the high concrete walls and finally arrived at the palace gate. Welcome to the Grand Palace!
The Grand Palace complex was established in 1782 by King Rama I and consists of not only the royal residence and throne halls, but also government office and and the renowned Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Previously, the royal palace and central administration was at Thonburi, located on the other side of the Chao Phraya river.
The entrance fee to the palace costs us 250B each, which we duly paid. Our first experience of the palace is the Wat Phra Keaw, or the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Upon entering the shrine we are greeted by the giant demon-guardian, Yak.
The walls of the wat are lavishly decorated with paitings of the Ramakian epic, the Thai version of Ramayana.
Garudas and nagas aligning the wall of Ubosot, the main assembly hall that houses the Emerald Buddha.
Not all that glitters are gold. The ubosot is decorated with golden paint and colorful mosaic mirrors which given it a splash of opulance and grandeur. The whole temple shining and glittering under the hot sun.
A lion statue guarding the main entrance to the Wat of the Emerald Buddha.
Before entering the temple, the devotees dip the lotus buds in the golden tray of holy water,
and sprinkle it on themselves. A cleansing ritual, maybe?
The Emerald Buddha in its summer costume. It is actually made of green jade, and was covered with plaster when founded in a stupa in Chiang Rai, year 1434. The head monk who made the discovery soon realized that the statue original color and thought it is of emerald, and thus became its namesake.
Outside the ubosot, we caught up with demon gods upholding the golden pagodas. From the look of their faces, it must be really heavy.
Restoration work in progress.
The wat with four different styles of architecture at the upper terrace.
The Royal Pantheon, where the statues of the royal family of the Chakri dynasty are enshrined.
Scattered around the terrace are sculptures of mystical beings, such as the five headed naga.
And the giant demon Yaksha, guarding all the entrances.
But I’m more interested with the bird and the bee, swarming the blooming lotus at the court yard.
A bird resting on the chofa.
A sneak peek of the Borom Phiman Mansion, the royal residence of King Bhumibol. Visitors are not allowed in; this picture is taken through the gate. I hope I could see a glimpse of His Majesty.
The Chakri Maha Prasat, or the Royal Reception Hall that we pass through on our way out. An english style architecture with a hint of Thai.
A soldier guarding the entrance to the palace, which is well guarded with human and demon alike. Think twice before trespassing. 
It is already noon; we have to go back to check out from the hotel and head to the airport to catch our 5.30pm flight to KL. We hop into the boat from Maharaj Pier to the Sathorn Pier, which interlink with BTS station Saphan Thaksin. Above is the view of the Grand Palace complex that we have just visited.
On the other side is Wat Arun, the Temple of the Dawn.
A brief walk outside the Sathorn pier, we stumble into food stalls serving halal foods, sandwiched in between 7-11 and some shoplots . Midday, and lunch is most welcome.
Our simple lunch, tom yum beehoon and kah feh yen. The sellers do not understand english at all and they don’t have the menu; so we just pointing to our neighbours food. Anything, as long it is halal. The tom yam is a bit different from what we usually ate backhome, a regional version perhaps. The devilish red and spicy that we usually ate is the southern version. Here the tom yam is serves in clear soup; you have to stir with the tom yam paste to get the taste.
Lunch over, we take the BTS back to the hotel and check out. To the airport, we simply take the MRT from Sam Yan to Asok, where we change to skytrain to Phaya Thai station (which interlink with the airport rail line).
The spartan interior of the Suvarnabumi airport. It is quite a walk to the departure hall, plus queuing for check in and immigration is long and troublesome; thus being early for your flight is a good advise (while queuing there are actually a few overloaded visitors whose done shopping a little bit too much and trying to compromise on the luggage fee – most of our valuable time is wasted waiting for them settling their issues).
While waiting for DH being thoroughly checked by the immigration officers (yup, he’s been requested to remove his belt and some are asked to take out the socks!) I linger around and notice this nice sculpture. On later research I found out it means “The churning of the ocean milk”, one of the important episode in the Mahabrata epic.
FD3575 to Kuala Lumpur is already calling.
At the departure hall, waiting for our flight.
The last view of Suvarnabumi airport before we take off. Good bye Bangkok and till we meet again!
