Exploring old Bangkok (July 31)

This is my last day in Thailand, and I finally made it into old Bangkok! I took a skytrain to the river, and the switched to the Chao express boat for a ride up the Chao Praya river to the Grand Palace. The highlight of the ride was going by Wat Arun (temple of dawn), this is the temple that often occurs on the covers of guidebooks to Thailand. 

Wat Arun

The Grand Palace is the official residence of the Thai king, although he lives elsewhere now. The Grand Palace was very impressive, as was Wat Phra Kaew (wat = temple), a temple in the Grand Palace compound which houses the emerald Buddha image, the most sacred Buddha in Thailand. The temple had statues and paintings of many fantastical creatures, here are pictures of a couple of them:

Guarding the entrance to Wat Phra Kaew

With some of my favorite creatures that I met at Wat Phra Kaew

Wat Phra Kaew

View from the outside

 I spent a couple hours there, and then took a walk down the river, picking up some snacks for lunch on the way, to Wat Pho, which is another large Buddhist temple. Wat Pho is a large temple complex with many buildings, but it is most famous for the 46 m long and 15 m high reclining Buddha figure, which is covered in gold leaf. 

Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho

After the temples, I hopped back on the river boat, and rode down to Chinatown. I wandered around and looked at various shops selling all kinds of things. Chinatown is famous for having some of the best street food in Bangkok, but unfortunately there was some kind of event today, so many of the vendors weren’t there. I was getting pretty tired by this time, so I headed back to the hostel and got dinner nearby. Then time to pack up and get ready for my early morning departure from Thailand.

Looking back on the past five weeks, it has been a great trip. It was fun and relaxing going to the beach and seeing the sights in Bangkok, but I think that the time in Chaiyaphum was the highlight because of the great people I met there and the chance to really learn about the community and culture there. Hopefully I’ll be back soon sometime!