royal grounds

Well, time to make up for lost time!

First off, quite a while ago we went on a tour of the Grand Palace here in Bangkok and saw some of the most famous parts of the city. We got to see the most sacred wat (temple) in Thailand, Wat Phra Kaew. I should mention that there are no strict and perfect roman translations for anything in Thailand, so if you are ever trying to search for a topic, try multiple spellings (Wat Phra Kaew, Wat Prakaaw, Wat Prakaew, Wat Phrakaew, etc...). Anyway, this particular wat houses the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred image of Buddha in Thailand. It was great to see all the historic buildings, and the architecture was incredible. Everything was immaculately detailed and most things were very shiny, too. Here are some pictures and a video of the Phra Sri Ratana chedi. And yes, I do mention in the video that the covering you see on the stupa is actual gold. It is not leaf, it is many small squares of 24k gold from Italy.

Here are some more pictures of various buildings located on the grounds:












And here are some snapshots of the very interesting murals around. I believe that the majority of the murals depict parts of the Ramakien, the national Thai epic story (but don't quote me on that). The murals are done in a pretty interesting style. Look closely to see very interesting scenes (a giant eating a bunch of people, etc...). Notice almost everyone isn't human. I heard our tour-guide say something about in old times, the monks would have to be asked "Are you human?" before entering a temple, due to some idea about these demons.

Lastly, here's a picture of one of the more modern parts of the grounds, with some trees that look like they are straight out of Dr. Seuss (they are actually hundreds of years old). Right off of the picture to my left was a gate that, at one time, only one man was ever allowed to walk through--the king. Now the Royal Palace has been moved to a different location (though the throne room remains on these royal grounds).Well, that is all I have for this trip! Will post more later!