Today was a marathon day. I went to see two of Bangkok's most famous sights on the same day. They are very close to each other, and pretty far from my hostel so I decided to tackle them on the same day.
I left my hostel around 9am to walk over to take the river boat public transportation. In Bangkok, there are four modes of public transportation: Skytrain, Underground Metro, Bus and River Ferry. It was my first time taking the public transportation on the river, so it was great to see the city on the Chao Phraya. It was interesting to me that the river is quite uncongested with boats, and the roads are always at a standstill. I heard from one of the workers at the hostel that they are trying to encourage more public transportation on the river to try to open the roads. I felt very much in Thailand taking a longboat up the Chao Phraya river, seeing little houses right on the river and several Wats overlooking the city.
I first went to the Grand Palace, the home of the Thai royalty from the 1780's until a few decades ago. Within the palace grounds is also one of the most famous Buddhist temples in Thailand. It is called the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, but it has been discovered that the Buddha is actually made of Jade. The palace was exquisite and the temple was intriguing.
The palace was built in both traditional Thai and some European architecture. Most of the buildings were ornately decorated, with intricate carvings and gold details. It was unbelievable to see such a magnificent palace. It is so different from the palaces I have seen in my travels around East Asia. It was a place that couldn't be missed and really showed me the extravagance of the Thai Monarchy. They are regarded so highly in Thai society, and this palace is evidence of that.
The "Emerald" (Jade in reality) temple inside the palace grounds was also quite beautiful. Like the Goose Pagoda in Xian, the temple was built for this relic, the "Emerald" Buddha. It was found in the northern parts of Thailand. At the time it was covered in a plaster, most likely to protect it from thieves. When a part of the plaster was removed, it was discovered it was made of a bright green stone. It was instantly (and falsely) identified as Emerald, so the name stuck. It was later, when the temple was already built in the palace, that the stone was correctly identified as Jade. Another interesting thing about this temple is that the Buddha has different dress depending on the time of the year. For each season (Cool, Summer, and Rainy season), the King of Thailand changes the dress of the Buddha from different gold outer layers. I have never heard of such a thing at any of the other temples I have visited thus far.
After visiting the Grand Palace, I went to the nearby Wat Pho. Wat Pho was a place of education in Thai medicine during the third King Rama in the late 1700's. Parts of the temple are still a place of education. It is also home to the Reclining Buddha, a 140 ft long gold plated Buddha. The temple grounds also consist of over a thousand images of Buddha (Hannah, I know you want to go see all these Buddhas!) I really like the more peaceful atmosphere of this temple after the huge crowds at the palace. It was nice to walk around, listening to monks chanting, trying to count just how many Buddhas are in this Wat (I'll just say there are TOO MANY!)
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