Bangkok is a city of 8.28 million people, and is huge, so it took us about an hour by taxi to arrive at the number one tourist attraction, The Grand Palace. The Grand Palace was established in 1782 and it is made up of the royal residence and throne halls, government offices, and includes Wat Phra Kaew, The Emerald Buddha. Inside the Temple of the Emerald Buddha no photography is allowed, so you will not see it here. Inside was very ornate, with many Buddha figures in gold. The Emerald Buddha is carved out of one piece of the stone, emerald, and is partially covered in gold. It is quite stunning. The palace and center of administration was originally located in Thonburi, on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River. When King Rama I ascended to the throne, he considered the former capital to be unsuitable and decided to establish a new capital on the other side of the river. The grounds cover 218,000 square meters and are surrounded by four walls, 1900 meters in length. By royal command, King Rama I, wanted to have this new palace serve not only as the royal residence, but also as the site for the administrative offices. Since 1782, the royal compound has been known as The Grand Palace. I am in awe of the detail of every building both in architecture and design. Not only are the lines so interesting, but each tile, mirror and mural is so intricate. We witnessed individuals hand painting the murals, restoring them today, especially the gold areas. Each temple is unique, and one was done in green hues, similar to the Duomo in Florence, Italy. I particularly liked the blue ones, and favored a miniature re-creation of another temple that we saw toward the end of our visit here. The lotus flowers were eye catching to me, and it was different to see them upright and not floating in water. I truly found this place to be amazing, and would come to visit again, there is so much to see. -Mona
Today was a great day at the Grand Palace! I loved going in to The Temple of The Emerald Buddha it was absolutely amazing. When we first walked into the temple (with our shoes off) we did not notice the Emerald Buddha at the top of the structure. When we exited the Temple we started looking for the Emerald Buddha but then realized it was inside the Temple we just saw! I couldn´t believe that we hadn´t noticed it before, so we went back inside and looked at it. The Temple of the Emerald Buddha is regarded as the most sacred Buddhist temple in all of Thailand. How cool is that? The Emerald Buddha is a 19 inch wide and 26 inch tall, dark green statue, carved from a single jade stone. It has seasonal attire for the seasons in Thailand there are only three seasons. It is quite different for us in Denver. We are here in Thailand in the rainy season so I am pretty sure the attire was a pointed headpiece of enameled gold studded with sapphires; a gold-embossed monk's robe draped over one shoulder. The pictures below are of the Chakri Maha Prasat which is very beautiful, we did not go inside this building because it was off limits and we did not know about it until the end of our journey. The palace has been the official residence of the Kings of Siam (and later Thailand) since 1782. The king, his court and his royal government were based on the grounds of the palace until 1925. King Bhumibol Adulyadej, resided at the Chitralda Royal Villa and his successor King Vajiralongkorn at the Amphorm Satan Residential Hall, both in the Dusit Palace but the Grand Palace is still used for official events. Anyway, we saw so many pretty designs and shapes today, I loved it so much! -Angelina
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