Bangkok Site Seeing

Set off from the hotel to explore Bangkok. Felt a little hotter today but that was probably because I wore trousers and a shirt (they have a strict dress code in the Royal Palace, although they do loan out clothes for people who are unsuitably dressed). Went on the BTS Skytrain, which is one of the train systems they have here in Bangkok, its ultra modern and puts anything we have back home to shame. I think its about 5 or 6 years old, but it looks brand spanking new. Anyway, got the train a few stops down to the river, where you can get boats that go up and down to piers along the way, and you can hop on and off to go and visit parts of the city that are close by, which is pretty handy.

Went to see the Royal Palace, which also contains the Wat Phra Kaeo temple containing the Emerald Buddha. Just as I was arriving at the Royal Palace the heavens opened and the rain started, although thankfully it didn't last too long. While waiting for the rain to stop I discovered there was a free tour in English starting at 1:30 which I joined and we had a guide taking us around to some of the highlights of the Royal Palace. The Emerald Buddha has 3 different costumes that are changed depending on the seasons (by the king).

Wat Pho was next on my list of destinations, which contains the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. Also here, is a centre for traditional Thai medicine and massage. I was feeling a little weary after my couple of hours site seeing so decided to get a half hour massage.

Across the river from here is Wat Arun (The Temple of Dawn), which you get to by taking a 30 second boat trip to the other side of the river. This place is apparently Bangkok's most distinctive land mark. I walked up the steps as far as you can go up this thing, which was an experience. The second set of steps is incredibly steap, and each step is pretty high. Thai people aren't exactly that tall, so you'd wonder why they'd go and build something that is so difficult to get up! :)