The Grand Palace and Other Temples in Bangkok : Kingdom in a Metropolis

                   As usual we got up early on the second day of our Bangkok trip and we ate at a restaurant around the Khao San area. I didn't take note of the name of the place. I'm really not cut out to be a food connoisseur as I don't take note of the details of the food I eat or the places I eat at. What matters to me is I get stuffed with something that's not bland. We ordered my favorite seafood rice.It cost 60 baht per serving. One of the things I like in Thailand is the generous portions of food. When they say seafood rice expect to see generous amount of seafood in your order (not just a piece of shrimp or two).

                  After breakfast we played charades with the locals. The category was landmarks and the first landmark to guess was RAMA VIII bridge. NO, we actually asked for directions to the bridge and we spent forever making all the hand gestures that we could as nobody could understand us. Aside from the fact that most Thai don't speak English , I also learned that the locals have other names for their tourist spots and other places in their country, so if a tourist mentions the name of a famous landmark it might not ring a bell to them.What made things worse was the fact that Thai words are actually pronounced differently from how they're written. Suvarnabhumi ( the airport) for example is pronounced as Suwanaphoom and Mo Chit (the bus station) is pronounced as Mo Cheet.Hhmm.
                We were looking for RAMA VIII bridge. I don't know why but I'm so fascinated with bridges. RAMA VIII is a suspension bridge named after the predecessor of the present King of Thailand who happened to be his brother. We got so frustrated after asking several people for directions and nobody could give us a clear answer that we just started walking towards the direction where we thought the bridge was located. The Bangkok map we had was totally useless, the place had a totally different lay out in reality .After we had gotten past a dozen shops and restaurants we came across a white fortress. It was the Phra Sumen fortress. On the other side of its walls was a small park by the Chao Phraya river. When we got to the park we saw the magnificent bridge. It was just so stunning. I was not contented seeing it from a distance so I convinced Anna to get near the bridge. We walked through alleys and we passed by a bunch of schoolkids having their breakfast on the sidewalk. It seemed like a lot of households in Bangkok don't prepare breakfast. They just eat at small holes-in-the-wall that had set up tables on the sidewalk. The sight reminded me of Manila which I didn't like because I hate feeling at home when I travel abroad for sight-seeing. After seeing the bridge up close we took a bus to the Grand Palace. Another thing that reminded me of Metro Manila are the non-airconditioned buses that still operate throughout Bangkok (you can ride some of those buses for free). The good thing about them is that the drivers and conductors are much kinder to their passengers. They never rushed us and screamed at us to move faster. If we were in Manila we would have heard the conductor shouting "galaw galaw" (move) while hitting the metal handrail with a coin as if it's a timer for passengers who are getting off the bus. They usually hit it five times in succession which is like five seconds. Yes, five seconds and one should get his ass off the freaking bus. BRUTAL!!!

               After few minutes we reached our next stop, The Grand Palace which was the royal residence of King Rama I to Rama V. The complex which is surrounded by white walls is consists of temples , ceremonial halls, royal residence and government offices. We paid an entrance fee of  350 baht. The Grand Palace complex is smaller than I'd imagined. There's not much space between the temples and other buildings. It's like they're five steps away from each other.
              The temples though beautiful with their walls covered with exquisite and colorful tile mosaic were not as impressive as the Angkor temples. They didn't have the same appeal as their Angkor counterparts, maybe it had something to do with their location being in the middle of a bustling metropolis. Good thing the architecture of the temples in the Grand Palace is different from the ones in Angkor so it's still worth a visit. Most of the temples were closed so we only got to enter Wat Phra Kaew, also known as the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Wat Phra Kaew is said to be the most important temple in Thailand because it is where the Emerald Buddha is enshrined. The Emerald Buddha is the most revered Buddha image in Thailand. It is believed to bring good fortune to their country. Inside the temple I could barely see the Buddha because it was seated high on its golden altar and probably the intense light outside had also hurt my eyes. We stayed for a while and observed the worshippers. The colorful murals on the walls inside also caught my attention. The dominant colors of red and gold made them eye catchy.

               When we're done with the Wat Phra Kaew temple I felt that the Bangkok weather was already too much for doing a tour. I could sense that the western tourists had lost interest and were no longer paying attention to their guide. They all looked dehydrated to me.
               Our next stop was the Chakri Throne Hall. It's so magnificent and befitting for any royalty. It's a fusion of Thai and European architecture. On the third floor there's a balcony where the king would stand when he needed to address the people. I also noticed the well-manicured lawn in front of the hall.We had our picture taken right next to the guards standing in front of the palace. They looked so intimidating as they were not smiling nor moving at all.
               We were about to leave when I saw people making their way to the basement of the palace. We checked it out and we found ourselves inside a museum of weapons. They had an impressive collections of guns ,daggers and spears. Too bad , taking pictures was prohibited. There were guns that could measure up to two meters in length. There were also other weapons that I could not identify and I never thought had existed.
               It was noontime when we made our way to the exit and we came across an enormous gate that once again reminded us that we were at the
Grand Palace.

                                           
              On the third floor is a balcony where the King would stand if he needed to address the people

Bangkok : First Impressions

             We got up early on the day we're leaving for Bangkok and we took our free breakfast of french bread, scrambled eggs and slices of tropical fruits. All our efforts to get up early was wasted because the van that would pick us up did not arrive until 8:30 AM. It ruined our plan. We were hoping to reach Bangkok before 5pm so we could go to a night market. We were transferred from a van to a bus at around 9AM . The bus roamed around Siem Reap to pick up the other passengers from their respective guesthouses and hotels .

Back in Bangkok


                                

                  The trip back to Bangkok from Siem Reap took so much longer than we had expected. It went smoothly at first until we reached the suburbs of Bangkok. The road became congested and that's where we got stuck. We had been traveling for 8 hours and I had been putting up with the Thai songs blaring from the bus' stereo since I didn't have my earphone with me. I kept on complaining to Anna that everything in Bangkok so far looked like Manila. It was already 7 pm when we arrived at the Mo Chit bus station. I thought the bus station was just a walking distance from the skytrain station. I was wrong. According to everyone we asked , we had to take a cab.We were staying at my friend's place not so far from Khao San, the famous backpacker's area in Bangkok. I just can't remember the name of the street. It's a challenge when you're dealing with Thai nouns which usually are consist of consonants that outnumber the vowels by a mile. To avoid being stuck in traffic the original plan was to take the skytrain from the Mo chit station and get off at the Saphan Taksin station then walk to the Central Pier (then maybe pass out for a few minutes) and take the boat along Chao Phraya river to get to Pier 13 (again I can't remember its name but each pier has a corresponding number).We paid the cab driver 70 baht to get to the skytrain station. I slammed the door at him because he initially refused to take us to our destination. He just  had no choice since it's his turn to pick up passengers otherwise he would have to queue up again and wait forever for his next turn. There is no skytrain station near Khao San so our plan would have been the best way to avoid the dreaded traffic.The thing was the boats that ply the Chao Phraya routes only operate until 6pm so that was out of the question. We took a bus instead from the National Stadium station to Khao San area. We arrived at our destination in no time since it was already 9pm and the roads were almost empty. We were dropped off near a 7-11 store.We hadn't eaten dinner yet so we bought cup noodles and shortly after I had my introduction to Thai flavor.It was so hot and spicy that I felt sick afterwards.


                                

                                          

             We walked towards the area near the Democracy Monument and there we found my friend. My friend is a fellow Filipino who works as a teacher in Bangkok. He lives at an apartment near Khao San and he would be our host for the next four days. I didn't feel like sleeping yet even though I was tired so I left Anna with my friend. Neither one of them could accompany me, Anna was dog-tired and my friend had to go to bed early since he had classes the following day. After we settled our things at my friend's place I went out alone to explore Khao San.
             I was hoping that my first impressions about Bangkok wouldn't last as nothing so far that I had seen impressed me.

Angkor Thom and the Other Ancient Temples In Angkor

                  When we were done exploring Angkor Wat we went back to Bana, our tuktuk driver and he suggested we visit Angkor Thom next. In Angkor there are actually dozens of temples. The others are not as popular as Angkor Wat but they're also worth a visit. A lot of those lesser-known temples are located within Angkor Thom which is an ancient city in the Angkor region . Like Angkor Wat , Angkor Thom is surrounded by a moat and is one of the largest of all the Khmer cities. Bana gave us instructions on how to find him after we explore Angkor Thom and then he dropped us off on the avenue leading to the gate of the ancient city. We walked through the impressive avenue lined with statues of guardian gods (devas) and asuras (demons). On the left side were figures of the gods and on the right were the asuras (demons), who had fierce grimaces on their faces.Not knowing what they were, I kept on posing right next to the asuras.

Avenue leading to Angkor Thom

               The avenue leads to the gate of Angkor Thom which is no less impressive. The gate looked so magnificent. It's made of stone and had an arch capped by a face-tower that faced the four directions . It had an enormous wooden doors that were swung open. When we saw an elephant carrying tourists on its back and was walking slowly through the gate , the more I felt like we'd been transported back to the 12th century. Our first stop was the spot where ladies were selling the $15-dollar tickets for a 30-minute elephant ride. They told us that we had to come back at around 3pm because it was already too hot for the elephants to be walking around. We knew we wouldn't be coming back in the afternoon. We were already exhausted, starving and dehydrating so we thought of trying the elephant ride in Bangkok instead.

                                          

One of the Face Towers Of Bayon

             Just in front of us was an ancient temple, the Bayon. From afar it looked like just a mere pile of stones but if you get closer you can make out the massive stone faces on its towers which is the distinctive feature of the Bayon . The towers of Bayon resemble the tower on the gate of Angkor Thom. The Bayon may not be as magnificent as the more famous Angkor Wat but it's definitely worth a visit. Aside from the towers I also admired its ornate carvings. The entire structure looked fragile though. It seemed like it would crumble down at the slightest tremor.There were so many tourists at the temple and I stumbled upon a group of Korean- (or maybe Japanese, how could I tell? ) looking tourists.

Carvings on the Elephant Terrace

          We didn't spend much time at the Bayon.We made our way to an open field at the center of Angkor Thom. Every few meters a kid would approach us. I knew what they were up to. I'd learned that those kids would start telling you bits of information about the temples then would ask for money as payment after. We ignored them and continued to walk to the open field. The field is surrounded with ancient structures and I learned later that it was actually the city square in the early days where functions were held. One of the structures that look out over the field was a long terrace with nice carvings of elephants on its walls. The carvings gave the terrace its modern name, the Elephant Terrace. On the other side of the field lined a couple of reddish towers , the Prasat Suor Prat. Unfortunately, we were too weak to walk towards them. We would have passed out in the middle of the field had we dared. We looked for our driver instead but still that required us to walk hundreds of meters. Walking a long distance under the oppressive sunlight every time we had to look for our driver was something that I hated the most on this tour. Apparently,  there were only designated spots where they could park. We walked across a dusty field before we found Bana. Our last stop was Ta Phrom , famed for being the location of the Angelina-Jolie movie Tomb Raider. Upon reaching the place I remembered one particular spot in the temple that had become popular because of the movie. I kept on looking for it. I pictured out a spot where a tree had grown intertwined among the ruins but there were about a dozen of those silk-cotton trees that did it. Ta Phrom is in a partly collapsed state. We saw cranes in the area which meant that restoration work was ongoing.

Cotton Tree At Ta Phrom

Location of the Angelina Jolie-Movie Tomb Raider

                                  

                   Finally, we're done temple hopping. We were templed-out (that day) but I was sure that I wanted  to come back. I suggest that one buys the three-day pass so there will be time to rest in between the temple hopping.