The Grand Palace in Thailand

The Grand Palace (Phra Borom Maha Ratcha Wang in Thai) is a complex of buildings in Bangkok that once served as the official residence of the king of Thailand. King Bhumibol moved the official royal residence to Chitralada Palace. So if the old palace is beautiful and every bit as grand then how much more the new residences? This is of me in front of the Chakri Mahaprasad Hall.


The 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, which encloses an area of 218,400 square metres. Further out from the wall is a canal, which was also created for defensive purposes, making the area surrounding the palace an island, known as Rattana Kosin.





It was raining pretty hard when we went there and it took about 45 minutes for the downpour to weaken into a drizzle. But even with the somber skies and the rain, the Palace looked so beautiful. The architecture and the minute detail put into the design and the construction are simply mind-boggling. Like the Egyptian pyramids, it must have taken a long long time to construct this complex.

Wat Arun is one of the temples on the way to the Grand Palace. If we had more time we would have gone to every one of them.

Check out the pouring rain in this shot. The statue seems amused by his predicament.




Mai and the mythological giant known as Yak.



















Check out the miniature (if you can describe it as such) model of Cambodia's Angkor Wat. The real one is way huge and more majestic.