Historical Bangkok

Our first Saturday in Thailand we went as a group to the Grand Palace, Wat Po, and the Siam Museum. It was really my first experience in Bangkok, because prior to that I had only been to a huge mall called MBK. The Skytrain lets out right into MBK, so I hadn’t been outside in Bangkok before! On the way there we saw vendors and shops lining the streets selling amulets, elephants and buddha sculptures, and more! I also had my first monk sighting, when I saw a monk buying something from a street vendor!

Outside and inside the Grand Palace were so crowded and crazy! Tourists and tour buses lined the roads outside of the palace. People selling everything from umbrellas to hats and postcards kept coming up to me asking me to buy their goods. Once inside the palace grounds, things got only slightly better crowd-wise, but there were much better things to look at. The Palace is huge, and absolutely beautiful! There are buildings upon buildings decorated with ceramics and glass of all colors. Shrines and statues were everywhere; there was even a model of Angkor Wat! 

Next stop was Wat Po. In Thai, Wat means temple. When we got off the bus at Wat Po, I was very confused; it looked exactly like the Palace! I thought we had just driven around in circles. The Wat was beautiful, decorated very similarly to the Grand Palace, but filled with endless Buddhas! The Wat features an enormous reclining Buddha, along with other shrines of Buddhas is various stances.

After viewing Buddhas and Shrines built by various kings, we went to a nearby market to eat lunch. I ate at a restaurant overlooking the Chao Praya river with a great view of the Temple of Dawn. There was also some great shopping, but I wasn’t feeling too well so I mostly just looked.

Next it was time for the Siam Museum. The Siam Museum explores the history of Thailand and its people. The museum was very well put together and interesting, but at that point in the day, I was so exhausted, I couldn’t enjoy the museum as much as I would have liked too.