Journey To The Grand Palace, Chao Phraya River & Temple of Dawn, Bangkok

The Grand Palace (Thai: พระบรมมหาราชวัง, Phra Borom Maha Ratcha Wang) is a complex of buildings in Bangkok, Thailand. It served as the official residence of the king of Thailand from the 18th century to the mid-20th century.

Source Wikipedia

If you ever stop by Bangkok, Grand Palace is a place you would not want to miss. Tonnes of picture opportunities!

The mythological giant yak, some sort of a guardian to the Thai culture.

Look at the structure, impressive.


Within the palace complex are several impressive buildings including Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha), which contains the small, very famous and greatly revered Emerald Buddha that dates back to the 14th century. The robes on the Buddha are changed with the seasons by HM The King of Thailand, and forms an important ritual in the Buddhist calendar. Thai Kings stopped living in the palace around the turn of the twentieth century, but the palace complex is still used to mark all kinds of other ceremonial and auspicious happenings.

Source: Wikipedia

What do you think? Kinda creepy if you ask me.

There are hallways with paintings. This is one of them, and the paintings tell a story.

On the way out…

Chakri Mahaprasad Throne Hall in Grand Palace.

The Grand Palace complex sits on the east bank of the Chao Phraya River. The other approaches to the palace are protected by a defensive wall of 1,900 metres in length.

There are different types of boats you can take at the pier. Some are tourist boats with a guide and some are for locals. All at different prices. We took the local boat, it’s just like taking the train. There’s a map provided and you can just stop at whichever pier you wanted to get off at…………………

You can see people using the boats to travel up and down the river.

This is our stop Tha Tien. From here we are taking another boat across the river. Ya the boat just moves across the river which cost about 3.5 baht per person (about 35 cents).

This is Wat Arun, better known as the Temple of Dawn.

The outstanding feature of Wat Arun is its central prang (Khmer-style tower). Steep steps lead to the two terraces. The height is reported by different sources as between 80 m and 86 m. The corners are surrounded by 4 smaller satellite prangs. The prangs are decorated by seashells and bits of porcelain which had previously been used as ballast by boats coming to Bangkok from China. Around the base of the prangs are various figures of ancient Chinese soldiers and animals.

Source Wikipedia

You can see the Grand Palace from Wat Arun and that’s Chao Phraya river.

I enjoy all the sight seeing when i was in Bangkok. Their architecture is exquisite. Now i understand why some of their shows are impressive just like their buildings and its details.

2 Responses

  • Hi (Fallen) Angel,

    Anyway, I linked to your blog post on my site neardeals.com(http://neardeals.com/blogs/94). It’s my final year project at University and I am geotagging stories so people can see whats happening around them. I.e people can see your blog if they are interested in Thailand/bangkok area.

    Do take a quick look and let me know of any feedback you have.

  • Those are really nice pictures! Keep up the good work!

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