We started our day awaiting our
tour of the Grand Palace, Wat Po, and Temple of Dawn. It took about 30 minutes
from our hotel to get to the Grand Palace. Once we were there, Khun Not was
generous enough to drive us around the wall of the Palace so that we would know
how to get to Wat Po and Temple of Dawn from there. We get down and are thrown
right into husslers. Over the intercom, a woman was giving a warning to not be
scammed and rightly so. A man standing right in front of the Grand Palace
entrance was telling people that the entrance was around the corner. We were
like dude it’s right there! Once we entered the Palace a woman wanted to be our
tour guide for 400 Baht. We chose not to get her as a guide which was good
because once we paid our entrance fee of 400 Baht (the palace is not free) we
found a free guide inside. Walking around the Grand Palace was a little
overwhelming because it was a very hot, humid and sunny day. Shawn and I were
not prepared. We did not have an umbrella or cool towel and on top of that you
have to cover up when in the palace. So we were wearing Jeans, tennis shoes and
sleeved shirts! We also didn’t know what to when we got in the temple. This may
sound closed minded, but being Christian we were a little unsure because we
were going into a Buddhist temple, where Buddhists would be worshipping. But we
also knew that we wanted to observe and even though we didn’t worship Buddha,
we could still observe and delight in its beauty. Walking around the Palace, everything
was very beautiful, and there was lots of attention to detail. All the art was
symmetrical and beautifully hand crafted. It was an overwhelming amount of
beautiful art mixed with very spiritual feeling and respect for the king. There
was a mixture of art from Thailand, China, Europe, and India. All the walls
were painted with the tale of the demon king (Ravana) vs. King Ramayana and the
monkey army. In the story, the Demon took Ramayana’s wife and the monkey army fought
to get her back. Our tour guide was awesome. She was very knowledgeable and
stopped to take pictures of our group. At the end of our tour, Shawn and I were
taking one last picture together, when suddenly Shawn was bombarded by Japanese
tourists. We guessed that they thought he was famous or something! It was so
funny! Shawn was very surprised but was a good sport about it.
After the Grand Palace, we walked
over to Wat Po. Wat Po was very
beautiful as well. It is home to the school of Thai massage, thus the original
Thai massage. We had the Original Thai massage for 30 min’s which cost 520 THB
total. It was kind of rough because elbows and knees were used. The weird thing was that we were fully clothed
and sweaty. We left with all our bones popped and feeling refreshed.
After that we took a 3 THB ferry
to Temple of Dawn which is 10 cents! Temple of Dawn is very tall. There were
some steps you could walk up to the highest point allowed. The one thing I learned
is that no one in Thailand is there to stop you or question your judgment. So be a no one stopped us, we decided to walk
up the steps. Going up isn’t so bad, but once we got to the top, I was a
gonner! The walkway around the Temple was very narrow and there were sharp
turns. So after we walked along the top it was time to get down! I don’t think
I’ve ever had a panic attack or been so fearful of something in my life. I
could not hold it together to climb down for the life of me. Shawn was trying
to be supportive but I don’t think he realized that I was actually having a
panic attack. He tried to calm me down and went down before me. He suggested
going down like a ladder with your face to the steps, but I couldn’t fathom
turning around on the stairs. So instead I went down holding onto one side of
the rail and almost sitting on each step I made it safely. So when people come
to visit I will be sitting at the bottom on the ground waiting for them to
climb those steps!
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