Welcome to Bangkok, the capital of Thailand! We flew from Phuket into Bangkok yesterday afternoon and didn’t waste any time! Today was our tour day! Our tour guide Eddie picked us up at 8am – again my family wasn’t too happy about the early departure but it turned out to be a great day so they were OK with it! Today we would see The Golden Buddha, the reclining Buddha, and The Grand Palace, where we would also see the Emerald Buddha!
There are 32,000 temples in Thailand and 800 in Bangkok! The home of the Golden Buddha was smaller than I expected, and right in the center of the city’s hustle and bustle, near their China Town! A quick history of the statue which is just under 10 ft tall but weighs 5.5 tons: This Buddha, which was originally covered in plaster, had been in storage for many years while a new temple was being constructed. During the move to the new temple, the statue fell from the crane. This terrified the workers as they thought this would bring bad luck to the area. But the next day the workers noticed cracks in the plaster and discovered that beneath the plaster was gold!
Now it was off to the Grand Palace! This compound was built in 1782, the first year of Bangkok rule; is over 225 acres in size, and includes the former residence of the Thai King, the Royal court, and the administrative seat of government! It is the city’s biggest tourist attraction! The current King, Rama 9, lives elsewhere, but this facility is used for ceremonial occasions such as Coronation Day.
I’ve never seen so many different temples in one place. One could see where additional buildings had been added over the years as the architecture would be slightly different. It was very crowded and difficult to get good photos.
Within the Grand Palace is the home of the Emerald Buddha! Like the Golden Buddha, this small statue – only 25 inches tall – was also originally covered in plaster. This was done to help prevent valuable Buddhas from being stolen! And like the Golden Buddha, the Emerald was discover when the small buddha fell sometime during the 15th century! This Buddha was later stolen by Laotian invaders in the mid 16th century. It was 200 years before the Buddha was returned to Bangkok! But enough history – look at the pictures! The Buddha is draped with royal robes, one for each season and it is the Crown Prince of Thailand who changes the robes!
WOW! The Reclining Buddha! What else can I say – this was my favorite of the morning! This Buddha stands, well lies actually, 150 feet long, and is about 50 feet high! Buddha means awakened one or enlightened one. There are many different positions that one will find Buddhas in. The Reclining Buddha illustrates the passing of the Buddha into Nirvana, or the Buddha’s death. It is modeled out of plaster and finished in gold leaf. Mother-of -Pearl decorate the toes!
We were now officially on Buddha overload! TIme for lunch!! Eddie took us to a tiny mom & pop place where we had a fabulous traditional Thai meal. And it was only about $20 for the 5 of us! Gotta love local restaurants!
After refueling on a wonderful lunch it was time for the other thing Bangkok is known for – SHOPPING!! The Shivambers love to shop! “Designer inspired” merchandise is the specialty here! And Eddie knew of the perfect place for us! We entered a small shop that sold handbags. I didn’t see anything special at first. Then the owners took us towards the back of the store, and just like in the movies, a wall of shelves containing handbags opened and revealed a secret room! It was hilarious! Now these were the handbags I was hoping for!! Prada, Hermes, and Louis Vitton inspired handbags lined the shelves! Elise thought she had died and gone to heaven! I have to relay the funniest dialogue that occurred that afternoon! Elise asked the gentleman if it was LV handbags that were in the large garbage bag on the floor. (I think she could smell them!!) He said yes, opened the bag and began pulling out the traditional brown embossed bags. Then Elise asked if he had any in the black and cream check? Wait, you’re only 15 – you shouldn’t know these things yet!! Of course he did have some and she found her dream bag and was very happy! Sara also found a cute little purse, and I found an adorable yellow Hermes inspired purse! Leon sniffed out the watches and the negotiations began! It was actually a lot of fun!
The evening entertainment was the Calypso Caberet Show. A popular form of entertainment in Bangkok is the dinner show which feature men dressed as women performing a variety show. This was one such show. Our dinner was a buffet at the hotel where the show was to be, and it was just OK, nothing like the one at the Le Meridien where we are staying. I wasn’t sure how the girls would react to the performers, but I think they got use to the idea! And actually it was difficult to tell sometimes! The costumes were fabulous! The finale was Sara’s favorite Christmas song, Mariah Carey’s version of “All I want for Christmas”.
It had been a long day, but we enjoyed every minute of it!
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