This is our second to the last day in Bangkok. As for Ton, this is her last day because she'll be going back to Manila a day earlier than us. This is actually my second time now in the grand palace (first time here) and it still never fails to amaze me. I mean guys, if you have to visit at least one temple, then this is it.
As usual, there are a lot of tourists, especially Chinese people in the temples. And even with the high number of tourists, they are still strict in terms of dress code. For one, my mother was asked to cover her knees even though her shorts are just above the knee. And that's one thing I really admire about them, they really put the rules in effect and make sure everyone follows it.
Just a quick background, Thailand's Grand Palace is one of the most sacred places for Thais. This used to be the home of the kings since King Rama I. Personally, the reason why I like this temple so much is because of how intricate the design of the temples is. The walls are carefully carved, the gigantic statues, even the ceiling was very much thought of. And even as a second timer, I am still in awe with every structure I see. I think the only downside on both occasions I visited the grand palace is that there are a lot of visitors that it is hard to go around.
You cannot really marvel at its beauty because there are just people in every corner.
One of the reason too why this place is famous is because it houses the temple of the Emerald Buddha, which ironically is not really emerald but rather jade. The Emerald Buddha itself has a long history. It was originally found in Thailand with no artifacts as to who made or where it was originally from.
For 200 years, the emerald buddha was in Vientiane, Laos after it was taken by Lao invaders until it was taken back by King Taksin. And now, the grand temple is the permanent home of the emerald buddha. The Buddha was famous because it was known to give prosperity and luck among others. There are also beliefs that the Buddha originally came from India to Sri Lanka, to Angkor Wat in Cambodia.
Imagine, this is just the history of the emerald buddha, what more of the whole Indochina. Indochina's history is just very complex that visiting these countries is not enough to understand. But as to what I always say, I like learning history through visiting the country. It's face to face with history itself.
Photo ops inside the temple of the Emerald Buddha are prohibited, so yeah... No photos.
We had lunch right after then went back to our Airbnb to rest before we have our dinner cruise at the Chao Phraya river. I am excited about this dinner because this is my first time to do this in Bangkok even with countless visits. What can I say? The food is just okay. I mean not really exceptional but let's just say above average. The desserts though is not that yummy. But what I liked the most aside from the food is the view. You can see some of the temples being lightened up. Even the grand palace! Too bad I wasn't able to take a good photo of it at night because it gets blurry.
The grand palace at night is so stunning. It's sad we can only see it from the outside because it closes at just about 3pm-ish so entry to the palace at night is not permitted though even with just the façade being visible, it is still so beautiful.
There are also singers and entertainers on board who are serenading the guests. All in all, I think it took us almost 2 hours? In the dinner cruise.
And that's it. If you're interested in booking the Chao Phraya dinner cruise too, we got our tickets from Klook. You can sign by clicking this link and get P150 off on your first booking. ;)
Welcome to my personal space where I document my life, mostly travels and just normal 20-ish stuff written down for documentation. I hope you find something interesting in this blog while reading it. Cheers! xx
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