2 Going 1 Way
A blog following the adventures of Sam and Georgi around the world. Join us on our adventure as we travel, eat, inspire.
Good evening from a sweaty Bangkok!
Today was the end of Buddhist lent, this meant that even Khaosan Road was quiet! No alcohol is being served until midnight so we decided to take our adventures further into Bangkok and be proper tourists for the day.
We had planned to visit the Grand Palace, but due to the country being in a state of mourning for the late King, only Thai nationals could enter the Palace grounds. Apparently this is the case until 31st October as many posters around the city will tell you.
We were very scepticle at first, as we had heard about scammers telling you temples were closed so they could take you else where. After witnessing tens of thousands of locals queueing up to enter the grounds, I can back up the claims that it does shut to us tourists … damn!
We will be back sometime in December so will have to give it a go then instead.
So we just played it by ear and winged it around Bangkok for the day.
Our first port of call was the National Museum, just opposite the Grand Palace and next to the university. 200BHT per person entry fee applies … if anything it’s worth it for the chilly air con in every room!
I would advise wearing slip ons as 70% of the buildings require you to take your shoes off. Also as with most temples/ museums it requires ladies to have their shoulders covered “appropriate clothing” is how they word it on big white boards on entry.
You DO NOT buy tickets outside the walls, or get guides from outside the entrance! Don’t fall for the scammers lurking just outside all of these big tourist attractions. There is a ticket office just inside where you have to also leave any backpacks. If you are ever in doubt, we have found that security guards are the most reliable source of truthful information.
The museum itself had some fantastic artefacts dating back from 2,500 years!
We’re not usually the type to walk around museums looking at endless antiques, but what we noticed with Thai culture is that everything jumps out at you! The colours are fantastic, so much gold, silver, jewels and glass have been used to decorative perfection!
I have only included a couple of pictures, but check out our video coming soon for the full picture!
After our previous days failed attempts at getting into Wat Pho (The temple of reclining Buddha) due to Georgi only having short shorts on … we went back to try again.
Success! We were in, and this was a spectacle I’m glad we didn’t miss. From the spires coming 42m out of the ground (Phra Maha Chedi si Rajakarn) to the reclining Buddha, this place was fantastic and well worth the 100TBH entry fee. Little tip: don’t worry about taking water into the temple, you get a free bottle of water with your entry ticket – boom everyone’s a winner.
Wat Pho was definitely our favourite visit of the day, you need to put aside a good 2 hours to experience everything within the temple walls. Again, check out the size of the reclining Buddha in the video. Until you experience it yourself it’s very hard to get a grip with the scale of this 15m high 46m long chilled out gold Buddha.
The heat of the day was taking its toll on us (my crazy welsh skin couldn’t handle much more) so we headed into China town for some food, but that’s a story for another day.
On the stroll back we bumped into another temple, Wat Ratchanatdaram, but unfortunately the gates had shut so all we could do was take a little selfie. I’m sure we’ll be popping back in the next couple of days to explore more. There is too much to see in Bangkok, so we just extended our stay another 3 nights.
More to come soon 🙂