Amazing Bangkok: Day 2 - Grand Palace Tour

In today's travel topic, I'll be continuing with the sharing of my personal experience of Bangkok. I have to say that so far I have found the place, the food and the people to be quite a well rounded experience. I could do nothing but admire how charming the place was in all aspects. With all that said let me tell you the story of my 2nd day in Bangkok through the pictures I was able to take with my HTC One X.

Here is our Bangkok Adventure Day 2:

The address of The Grand Palace in Bangkok

We had to take the BTS Train Again to head to the River Port.  The River Port is where you'll find the boat tours that can bring you directly to the Grand Palace and other historical places.

This is the station where we are closest to. Everything at the station is easy to understand and getting around the place is a breeze once you figure it out.

While waiting for the train I couldn't pass up the opportunity to share this funny advertisement of Pedigree.  We found it hilarious when they used human teeth to demonstrate healthy doggy teeth

The train was always spacious and very clean.  I love the fact that the train had TV  showing commercials and telling us what the next stop would be.

At our stop at Saphan Taksin there was a cool palace just outside the BTS. What I loved though is that you can see the modern structures around it including the coke advertisement right beside it.

Saphan Taksin is just a stone throw away from the river port. You wouldn't need to get the tour package at the BTS here cause it is quite over priced.

This was where we got our tickets for the boat tour that went to the Grand Palace.  The ticket was good for the whole day.

This is the map of the tour and the historical sites that you would be seeing. The price of the fare was 150 Baht. You can also get a private boat at around 350 Baht.

It was quite comfortable inside the boat. There is also a speaking tour guide who was  very fun to listen to, talking about the different sites we were about to pass and teaching everyone where to go if ever we decide to dock on a particular site.

This is how the boats in the river mostly looked like, though the one depicted here is the private boat.

Here you can see our lovely Transvestite Tour Guide(I love the way the Thai Culture has accepted without prejudice the Gay and Lesbian community). She was very fun to listen to. Accent may not be perfect but was quite understandable.

Here is where you'll get to see some of the sites we found along the way.

The Hilton Hotel

The Boat Ticket with the tour guide map of the sites along the river, just in case you missed out.

Here is our lovely tour guide, who tirelessly talked and introduced the many historical sites to see along the river bank.

This is what the docking port looks like. Most if not all lead to a particular historical site or shopping district.

One of the beautiful buddhist temples along the river bank

Its cool to see the homes that are close to the river, boats like the ones we are riding in are often used as a mode of transportation for the locals.

Monks are a common site here in Bangkok, as many are required to go through this as compared to military service for most other asian countries.

One of the notable parks along the way, this one is an indicator that you are close to a temple.

The boats are quite colorful and are often well decorated with ornaments such as these.

This is where I really got excited, cause just at the river I could already see the Grand Palace.

The Grand Palace river view. It is quite hard to miss as the structure is quite massive.

This is the port where we got off. The Grand Palace is just a few mins walk away from here.

There are a lot of street vendors along the way. According to my companion it wasn't like that before, but nonetheless it was quite a cool site to see as they sold so many souvenir items that are worthy to look at.

Here you can see the many buddhist amulets that are for sale. Just be mindful of your wallet and gadgets as they have warned of many pickpockets in the area - More often than not it would be those that would be overly helpful and asking for your map so they can plot your path out that would be the likely pickpocket. I recommend going with a friend that is familiar with the area or speak only with officials and officers with IDs for assistance if ever you do get lost.

First stop though wasn't amulet shopping, but street food shopping. Everything looked so delicious.

Aside from the usual buddhist amulets, you'll find other novelty items along the street. I wouldn't recommend buying from them though if you have Chatuchak whole sale market place as part of your agenda.

Tuktuks, though am not sure if I spelled that right, irregardless at least I finally got to see one and ride one too. Compared to the cabs, this form of vehicle seems to have more access around the city.

This is Wat Pho, though I didn't get to go inside cause at the time we were there, an election's meeting was being conducted. Even the Grand Palace was closed for a few hours.

We decided to have a couple of drinks first and have a quick lunch at a cafe nearby.  There are many cafes along the Grand Palace and Wat Pho area, we decided to go to this one that served local Thai Cuisine.

Pad Thai Vegetarian style was delish. 

Pad Thai goes best with Thai Iced Tea. The Thai Iced tea is made with regular iced tea and Condensed milk. Sometimes they use traditional Pandan Iced Tea.

About to eat a scrumptious thai meal.

This is the regular Pad Thai. All you have to do now is just mix everything up and enjoy.

This is the Thai Iced tea. Stir well so that the condensed milk will mix well with the tea.

I am impressed with how they were able to maintain the old homes that surrounded the Temples and the Grand Palace. Just got a bit commercialized because of the businesses below.

We took a tuktuk ride to a Buddhist temple nearby as we waited for the Grand Palace to be open for visitors. The Buddhist temple we went too was that of the Black Buddha and is only open for visitors once a year. Luckily for us it was open on that day otherwise we'd be stuck waiting from 12nn to 2pm for the Grand Palace.

This is the temple we went to. We prayed for love, wealth and health here and so far after it seems to all be coming true. One special note though, if you see someone praying, dont block the door behind them as this is bad luck for them.

Entrance to the first prayer rooms for the Buddhist Gods. Remember to take your shoes off when you enter the temple.

After visiting the Black Buddhist Temple we finally took our tuktuk ride back to the Grand Palace. Below you shall get to see all the cool sites to wonder and behold. There are so many amazing things to see from the moment you enter till you are about to leave.

This is the entrance to the Grand Palace. It feel grandior walking in this path. Remember to wear pants cause you wont be allowed entry in shorts.

View of the Grand Palace and Temples along the walkway.

Admission price is 400 Baht per head. 

From here I wont be doing much talking and just let you enjoy the pictures we took of the entire place:

These are the mammoth gate gardians of the temples, you'll also see these at the Bangkok International Airport.

Remember to take your shoes off when you enter one of these temples.

This I found rather peculiar as it seems to be a miniature representation of another temple. I would presume in Cambodia like the Angkor Wat temple.

I found this cute as it looks like our pet Pekingese Xian. Must be the reason why the pekingese is considered a royal dog.

Which of these statues is the male and female guardians :) Clue - Look at what they are holding...

I saw a lot of these clay warriors being restored in the Grand Palace. They look quite menacing up close.

There are so many of these murals depicting the war among people and gods. Reminds me of one of those History Channel talks about Ancient Aliens that have influenced ancient civilizations. To be honest looking at them sent goosebumps on my skin.

I remember in the History Channel, this was cited as an example of an ancient record of Alien ships in contact with humans in the past. Eerie to think about but more so because the logic is quite plausible.

I just loved the way their roofs were made, so colorful and quite sturdy. The Thai people have really worked so hard at making sure that everything is in tiptop condition.

I have taken so many shots of this as it is quite hard to get your eyes off the massive Gold Temple Pointing Up to the sky. 

The amount of detail in the tile work of each temple in the Grand Palace was impressive. Everything was made and done by hand.

This is where the election meeting was being held thus we weren't allowed entry at this area. But just an outsiders point of view, the mansion was a delight to see.

Here we started walking away from the Temples of the Grand Palace and now moving towards the Grand Palace itself.

This was the entrance to the Golden Throne - Unfortunately one isn't allowed to take pictures of the throne for security purposes.

The Grand Palace is so beautiful, it is even more amazing in person than it is on film.

Royal Guards watch over the Main Entrances to the Palace. Unwavering from their posts.

The details they put into the architecture is mind-blowing. Every glass, ceramic, made and placed by hand.

I loved the way they trimmed the trees in the Palace Grounds, it makes it all look so quaint and really gives that air of royalty.

The Last Temple you'll see in the Grand Palace as you are about to exit the place.

One of the inner gardens that is getting restoration work done.

You'll also find some of the imperial cannons on display. Aside from this you'll also get to see all the ancient weapons from swords to firearms used to defend the Thai People.

Our last look at the Palace as we make our exit.

We had lot of these during our entire stay in Bangkok. They are quite refreshing and sweet. Kept cool in a bucket of ice like these and only for 20Baht.

A quick afternoon snack and shopping from street peddlers like the one below(we found a cool leash for our pet xian here.)

Every Shot I took of the Market was picture perfect. It shows how colorful and organized everyone is. 

The street food outside of the Grand Palace area all looks so colorful and tasty.

This was my first time to see multi-colored guavas.

We loved snacking on the fruits here, all so fresh and juicy.

Back at the port area waiting for our ride back to the BTS station.

They love putting advertisements where ever they can, but what's nice to see is that they still maintain its neatness and doesn't look out of place.

More temples along the way back. Will probably pay them a visit the next time we get to come back to Bangkok.

Back at Silom near Saladaeng, we decided to have an early dinner. Outside of the restaurant we took notice of how tasty the food seemed to be outside as well. Though across Bangkok the street vendors always maintain the cleanliness of their respective areas making it a joy to walk around them and even have a bite.

More Pad Thai - The Pad Thai everywhere in Bangkok was tasteful.

Water Spinach with Oyster Sauce

Shrimp Cakes are my Favorite.

More Thai Iced Teas.

AHa!! Caught another person Using an HTC One X. :) Cool thing about the Thai's is that they are quite technologically at par with the rest of the world. They are all so wired and connected. 

Happily Finished every ounce of the food :) Forgot to mention that Shrimp Curry laksa on the upper right was so delish I just ran out of rice and dared not to eat more as my tummy was getting bigger.

This is the name of the restaurant we ate in and the meal sets you and your friends can order and share. 

Full View of the Restaurant. It is quite comfortable and the food is amazing. 

Reminiscing on our Grand Palace Adventure

A quick drink from the streets. These freshly squeezed orange juices is very refreshing, but dont be surprised with the taste as the Thai's like their orange juice with a pinch of salt.

On our way home the street comes alive with all the other street vendors

That ends our Day 2 Adventure in Bangkok, Day 3 will be Featured soon, where I shall be showing the River Market.

Till Then....

-METZ-