that was a good bed!! or perhaps we were too tired!
all hype up we were ready to leave!
this is the corridor outside outside our room.. swee hor! for a budget hotel.. it is swee de lor
first destination of the day: GRAND PALACE and temple of the emerald buddha
as we are worried that today it will be closed because it is their eve!
and eve of new year is their public holiday.. not the new year day itself!!
make sure with the concierge the day before and on the day itself..
and we happily made our way there
we learnt our lesson.
haha..
after breakfast..
we walked out and raised our hand to flag cab!
it's easy..
the cabbie are always friendly and we got to our destination very soon! and its cheap!
oh yah: always made sure u board the cab that is METERED. also, try not to take tuktuk!!
The Grand Palace is a complex of buildings in Bangkok, Thailand. It served as the official residence of the king of Thailand from the 18th century to the mid-20th century. After the death of King Ananda Mahidol in the Baromphiman Palace, King Bhumibol moved the official royal residence to Chitralada Palace. Construction of the palace complex began in 1782, during the reign of Rama I.
so many people on that day!! this is the entrance of the palace!
entrance fee is about 20 sing dollars if i am not wrong!
note: proper attire had to be worn! no sleeveless, long pants or skirt. covered shoe..
if not either u dun go in.. or u pay to rent clothing to go in..
One thing we learnt from this trip would be the culture of the thais and also the royal family..
the whole reign from the first to the present king..
the contributions they had done and how everyone in thailand worship their king..
it's truly fascinating..
see this 2 statues??!?! these are the statues that i meant early.. the exact replica is situated at the airport! thais are realli religious!
i must say.. i am captivated by the architecture and the way it is all designed..
i was so engrossed that i did not see the good deal infront of me..
lucky boi did!
there's a FREE english tour around the palace by a guide!
and its only at 10am.
yeap! 955am..
WE ARE IN LUCK! SMIRKS!
There were 2 pairs of angmoh who accompany us for the tour!
i must say the guide is realli patient and nice!
tho i have some trouble catching the stuffs he said.. :p
oh my.. the tour we had had given us a deeper understanding of the oalace and the temple of emerald buddha!
it is super informative!! =)
the guide also choose nice spots for us to take photos and help us take photos!!
some interesting facts:
Did you know that in Thailand that each day of the week is assigned a different colour for clothes you wear?
Sunday - red
Monday - cream/yellow
Tuesday - pink
Wednesday - green
Thursday - orange/brown
Friday - blue
Saturday - black/purple
wow!! no wonder we were wondering why every thai we saw today wore yellow!
guess wad!! i wore yellow on tt day too!! it was sunday!! i felt special during the whole trip!
the guide also told us that as the current king, Bhumibol Adulyadej was born on monday and that's why thai love to wore yellow!! so u will get to see some wearing a yellow tee even tho it's not monday!!
also, he also told us that.. not all the buildings in the palace are open for viewing.. however, there will be 8 days in a year where some special buildings will be open. sadly.. that day was not one of the days! one of the building.. if i did not remember wrongly is the palace library.. i think.. my memory do fails me!
Temple of emerald buddha
The Emerald Buddha is the palladium of the Kingdom of Thailand, a figurine of the sitting Buddha, made of green jade (rather than emerald), clothed in gold, and about 45 cm tall. It is kept in the Chapel of the Emerald Buddha on the grounds of the Grand Palace in Bangkok.
history:
the guide told us smth farnie..
the emerald buddha.. does not belong to thailand..
it was due to the Angkor wat war that the statue became the property of Thai..
so u know.. by just an artefect, how much history are we able to get from it?
so enriching!!!
next.. there are three season in thai..
and the temple will give different clothing for the buddha to wear for different season.
it only remembered it wore light during the summer!!
from these actions, we are able to see the love that the thais had towards their faith and religion.
okay.. pictures of the palace!!
the cute trees in the palace!
looking tru the leaves..
the temple of emerald buddha
walls of painting that depicts a story
this is a place where royal's funeral were held.. we were amazed at the different buildings meant for different occasion..
and what was more astonishing was that the next day, the beloved princess of the thai had passed away and this place that we saw that day will be used by the royal family.. more updates of the princess in the next post!
the guide teaching us to made pretty lotus flower
before we leave, the guide told us to cross the river to visit one of the temples before setting of to the reclining buddha!! what an unexpected find!
this is the place where we queue up for the boat. 3 baht nia!
on the boat!!
yeah!! we reached!
one of the temple in wat arun!
wat arun is the one that the tourguide had recommended us to go!
Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn, perhaps so named because the first light of morning is reflected off the surface of the temple with a pearly irridescence) is a buddhist temple (wat) in Bangkok, Thailand.
small children playing the goong.. very cute!
inside one of the temple.. there is like a blessing ceremony..
after taking the picture of the temple, we decide to follow the devotees.
kneel down and knelt towards the monk who will spray water on us and gives us yellow strings to tie around the wrist.. :)
wat arun!! its a scary experience for us! y? look down..
tadah!! tt's how steep it is.. easy to climb lea.. u look down.. yr leg will go numb..
got one angmoh just exclaimed to his friends and probably to us..
that he want them to give him an helicopter to bring him down..
at that point in time.. i wanna be his friends!!! hahahahaah.. and so i sit on the steps and one by one made my way down... -.-
bought my dancing shoes that i bought for emerge to thai.. gosh!! it's already in bad condition.. but hahaha.. too much walking and in the end.. my shoe became like tt..
i was so shy la.. hohoh..
after wat arun, we made our way for lunch!! board the boat back and saw a small "lookalike" kopitiam n went in for noodle!!
after the meal.. it's time for us to go to the reclining buddha!! before going in.. there's alot of worshipper praying and putting gold paper on the buddha to wish for better blessings. =)
Wat Pho is the one of the largest and oldest wat in Bangkok and is home to more than one thousand Buddha images, as well as one of the largest single Buddha images: the Reclining Buddha. Made as part of Rama III's restoration, the Reclining Buddha is forty-six metres long and fifteen metres high, decorated with gold plating on his body and mother of pearl on his eyes and the soles of his feet. The latter display 108 auspicious scenes in Chinese and Indian styles.
there's this charity, by giving any amt.. they will give u a bowl with coins and u can walk down this tin and put the coins in there.. think will bring good luck.. but my coins dun last till the last buckle.. dunno will matter not.. but it is fun!! =)
after the reclining buddha... it's our special event le!! hohoho.. the massage school! there's a famous massage school in the temple!! and its reputable! so we had made it as one of our agenda to go for it.. however.. its not cheap.. if i did not remember wrong.. it is 3500 baht! hahaha.. as there is a long queue at the temple there we were brough to their headquarter!
lucky we follow.. we got to have our turn quickly!! we both took the full body massage!!
i tot i and boi was separated.. but after awhile.. after much confusion.. i laid beside him..
we were brought to the training hall where one side was teaching ppl how to massage and the other was for us! if we go to the room below.. the room was dark.. hahah.. abit scary. but it seems like a very comfy environment.. newae.. the massage was rejuvenating!!
and i had small talks with the person!! she is a nice lady and her child came in to pay her a visit.. they were so cute.. i said hello but they say sawadeka.. and i quickly change back to the thai greetings.. they were so cute.. apparently.. the child can be here while their parents work.. the children slept beside me and i fell asleep too cos its too comfy..
dar slept truout.. hahahaha.. but there were some pain points where we cannot tahan tt keep us awake!! after the whole session!! We felt great! the tiredness from all the walking were gone and we decide to embark to another destination!!
inside this lane is where the massage school is!
so we sat at the busstop and decide where to go next! We did not plan so much activity as it was advised that one shld only travel at most 3 attractions! we did alot today!! hahaha.. so we decided to visit the khao san(backpackers haven) before we have our dinner!!
being to thai the first time.. i realli felt like taking the tuktuk altho it is not advisible! hahaha.. but its the experience.. wah.. some realli knows how to extort u!! lucky after much negotiation.. we got on a tuk tuk and off we go!!
khao san!! there's a lot of cheap stuff too but nah.. chatuchak is still the best.. we somehow got the chatuchak withdrawal symptons.. we do not want to buy any stuff anymore.. hahaha..
as it is new year's eve.. there are many beer stations set up for the angmohs there!! we wanted to have dinner there but the food wise is those restaurant-y.. we just walked down the road...
cool right?
din take much pictures here.. and after walking dwn this stretch we were like so early.. 5pm.. time to source for dinner.. and so we decide to bring our chinatown trip forward and went there to eat good stuff!!! took a cab down and oh my.. it's so cheena-y
we settled for the famousT&K seafood! they are all in green! (i mean the workers) and there's another competitor down the road all wearing red! hohohoho..
we were greeted by a thai who speaks in chinese! felt weird..
see the delicious food ma.. we ordered alot.. tink we are realli hungry.. we ordered our favourite coconut juice as well!! the meal was delicious!!! and it cost us 10bucks each nia!
after which i decide to explore chinatown more.. wanted to go to a place that is recommended by the guidebooks but it was closed..
however, we found this street where da pai dang and succulent fruits were sold!! hahaha
(we found out that the place was closed by 2 helpful chinese thai.. they can only speak lil chi but help us alot! am so grateful!!)
hahahaha.. oh well.. we were appetized by the meal we had.. and wanted more.. but chinatown dun have much stuff left.. so we cab down to mbk to look for more food and walk arnd.. hoping to catch a flim! but too bad.. the timing was bad!
so we end up eating this!
durian glutinus.. durian a lil nia! shld order mango sia!
since we are at the mbk area.. we decide to go walk arnd the shopping area!
walked to the area where we saw the setup of event the other day! wheet!
got live band performance and it was sponsored by a alcohol company!!
my leg were sore.. we walked realli far today!!!
the road were all cordoned off and the thai were celebrating along the road..
another things that we happened to see was there are alot of beggars in thailand..
in chatuchak too..
sometimes they seem so ke lian that u cant help but feeling very emo for awhile..
as the road is cordoned off.. there are no taxis!! argh.. in the end.. the best way to do is to walk to the train station.. but it was so far.. no choice.. we just have to walk there.. and drop off at some stn where we can get taxi.. but i am not wrong.. we somehow.. walked to our stn.. (I think la..)
back at the hotel.. i was so damn tired.. but before that i remember i bought this cute lil thing.. that is considered famous in thai..
i forgot all about it until we got back..
it had turned sour..
just took a photo for remembrance..
its sweet and shaped like different fruits!
after bath.. i think i lay there and watch tv.. before i knew it.. it was morning.. dar says he was stunned that i was the first to fall asleep and was sleeping so soundly.. hahahaha..
wad a tiring day!! but it was all worth it!!!
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