Must Sees in South East Asia – The Kinetic Canuck

Kratie – Home of the Irrawaddy Dolphins

Our final stop in Cambodia was in Kratie, a small city located North-East of Phnom Phen. We booked our transportation ahead of time with Cambodian Pride Tours and I was glad we did. It was a 6 hour drive from Angkor National park, and I was happy to not have to do it in a crowded van! Being in a car also meant that we could appreciate the countryside more, which was really nice. I feel like we got to see so much of Cambodia while we were there!

Kratie is located right on the Mekong River.

Kratie is a lot less touristy than Siem Reap, and it was nice to get away from the crowds. Kratie is both the name of this small city and the province where it’s located, and there isn’t a whole heck of a lot to see here, based on what the internet has to say anyway. Other than the Irrawaddy Dolphins (which I’ll get to in a bit), Kratie’s biggest attraction is that is runs along the mighty Mekong River, and there are lots of great sights as a result.

One of the first things we saw in Kratie! This was right in the city…I don’t think anyone was herding them either…but nobody seemed to care much!

We met this little heart-breaker at the hotel, hanging out with the Tuk Tuk drivers. He asked me for a kiss within about 2 minutes of meeting me. He settled for a picture and the use of my camera

Taken by my new beau. With that helmet and that face, who WOULDN’T be asking me for kisses?? hahaha!

As happy as I was to get away from all the tourism though, I was just as happy to discover that our hotel was clean, comfortable and uber cute. Also, our hotel had a pool, which we took advantage of in the Cambodian heat. Have I mentioned it was really hot while we were there??? Because it was!!! I especially loved all the pets we had in our room 🙂

One of several Lizards in our room. It was through no fault of the hotel...these little guys are EVERYWHERE! I found this one to be especially adorable...he was hanging out on our door frame. — One of several Lizards in our room. It was through no fault of the hotel…these little guys are EVERYWHERE! I found this one to be especially adorable…he was hanging out on our door frame.

We only had 1 full day in Kratie, and it began bright and early when our tour guide, Sithy, met us at our hotel. Before going further, I need to say that Sithy is one of the most passionate and fantastic tour guides I’ve ever met in my life. I honestly didn’t know a tour could BE that enjoyable. If you are reading this because you are visiting Kratie, please do yourself a favor and get in touch with this man. He started this company on his own and does basically everything himself. His prices are fair, he cares greatly about the quality of his tours and he tries very hard to give back to the community. You can check out his website here. or go to www.cambodianpridetours.com

This is Sithy. He's about as nice of a guy as you'll find. I don't typically work as an advertiser on my blog, but for this guy...I will. — This is Sithy. He’s about as nice of a guy as you’ll find. I don’t typically work as an advertiser on my blog, but for this guy…I will.

One of the cool things about this tour is how laid back it is. We rented a scooter for the day and rode around the countryside, stopping now and then to see what country life in Kratie province is like. We were able to see how noodles and whiskey are made in rural Cambodia, and we even had lunch with Sithy’s family (his mother provided us with traditional Cambodian food. It was fantastic!). It was a very personal tour for Sithy as he seemed to know everyone in the area. Everywhere we went, children came running out of their homes to say hello and squealed with excitement when we returned the greeting. It was a lovely morning and afternoon and surely not one I will soon forget.

A typical noodle ‘factory’ in Kratie. These women sort through noodles, separating them into meal-sized portions, before selling them at the market.

These are rice noodles, not the wheat kind you’re used to back in North America. First, they grind the rice up into a powder here

Then, after adding lots of water into the ground up rice, they put the mixture in these bags and place rocks on top of them to push air out

Then they press the resulting goop into this noodle making machine.

A nice complete view of their little shop. It’s located under their house (the stilted homes provide a nice cool working area during the dry season

Some chickens hanging out while their owners make rice noodles to sell at the market

Rice is also used for making alcohol here. This is where the rice is sorted

Here, the rice is fermenting, slowly turning into alcohol

We spent hours cruising around the countryside, stopping to see local homes and seeing the sights in every-day Cambodia. I loved being on the back of that scooter, seeing the rural countryside fly by us and smelling the fresh air. The breeze was refreshing and it was so wonderful being away from the crowds. I was smart enough to catch some of it on video 🙂

The guy riding in front of us is Sithy and when he pulled over, it was so that we could see an old tobacco drying barn. It’s no longer in use, but tobacco used to be one of Cambodia’s biggest exports. The tobacco industry has since been replaced by factories as a primary source of income for the country, so drying sheds like this now stand empty.

This old shed used to be used for drying tobacco

The tobacco leaves used to be hung from the rafters up top

This used to keep the fire going that would dry the leaves before they were sold

Sugarcane is another plant grown in Cambodia. They don’t export much of it, but they use it to make tasty beverages at roadside stands. They add a little bit of freshly squeezed orange to bring down the sweetness. Very refreshing!!

After spending the morning and early and afternoon seeing the sights, we boarded the ferry to get to the Irrawaddy Dolphins. The ferry leaves every 20 minutes or so and is the only way to cross the river (where we’d spent a lot of the day). Because bridges are so expensive to build, and Cambodia is so poor, ferries are used to get people across the wide Mekong. Sithy hopes that there will be a bridge built in Kratie before long. Kratie is becoming more and more of a popular place for tourists to stop, so with the rise in tourism, hopefully a bridge will be built, resulting in an easier life for locals.

The ferry we took to get across the Mekong

After disembarking the ferry, we hopped back on our scooters and drove for several kilometers, to a place where dolphins are known to hunt for fish. When we arrived at the feeding pool, we boarded a small wooden boat with a guide and were given an hour to experience the dolphins. Sithy had mentioned on the website that seeing the dolphins was a guarantee but I did not expect to see the number of dolphins we did! There are roughly 25 of these magnificent mammals in this portion of the Mekong, and sadly, that is about 35% of their whole population. The number of Irrawaddy Dolphins have dropped drastically in the last hundred years. Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge killed many of these beautiful creatures to use their fat as weapon cleaner, and many dolphins are killed every year by plastic fishing nets. And to add to the troubles the adult dolphins face, calf mortality rates are very high, so there is a very good chance that these animals will disappear from the earth forever within our lifetime.

I stood on the end of this boat to take videos….so I apologize for some of my shakier shots. We were moving most of the time I was filming!!

Our tour guide for the hour. He has to have one of the coolest jobs on the planet!

Dave spotted the first dolphin within minutes of being in the boat. I missed it and was furious; worried that I’d missed my opportunity to see these rare beauties. But within another few minutes, we saw several more, some far away and some close by. Often, we’d hear them blowing water out of their blowholes before we actually saw them. The experience was amazing and altogether one of the most memorable things I’ve ever done in my life.

They were very difficult to photograph, as they are very shy. Unlike Bottlenose dolphins, who love attention, the Irrawaddy dolphins avoid humans. Luckily, this means awful companies like SeaWorld have no interest in enslaving them.

One of the only other decent shots I got

There were many boats out looking for these beautiful animals

Whether you are Monk, child or Canadian tourist, your reaction is the same when you see the dolphins come up for air: amazement and excitement!

I will leave you with a video I put together of the footage I managed to get with our small camera. My biggest regret is that I didn’t have better equipment to capture this incredible experience, but I did what I could with what I had. I hope you enjoy it! And if you’re trying to place the music…it’s from “The Island” soundtrack.

I’ll be back soon with some final posts from Guiyang! We’re coming home in 18 days!!!

Angkor National Park – Cambodia’s Treasure (Part 2)

We had limited time in Cambodia (7 days is hardly enough to experience an entire country, after all!), and had to pick and choose where we would spend our time during our May Holiday. Although there were several places that we wanted to visit, Angkor National Park was our main reason for visiting Cambodia, so we decided to book a 2 day tour with Happy Angkor Tours, instead of the 1 day tour that we allocated at all our other stops.

tempguidemap — After all, there are hundreds of temples to see in Angkor National Park. Even 2 days wasn’t nearly enough time to see everything we’d wanted to see.

Dave and I aren’t usually big fans of tours (mainly because we hate other tourists) but this one wasn’t too bad. Our guide had passable English and knew a lot about the Buddhist history in all the temples. He tried very hard to keep us happy, even in the heat, and ended both days a little earlier than had been planned because we were both dealing with pretty awful sun stroke. This meant that we missed the sunset part of the tour we’d booked on the first day. It’s too bad, as it would have been beautiful to see the sun go down behind Phnom Bakheng, but by the time we had finished at Bayan Temple, all either of us wanted to do was make our way back to our hotel to take it easy. Looking back now, I’m kicking myself, but of course, in addition to the heat, we had spent the previous night on a bus and neither of us had gotten much rest, so the idea of an air conditioned room with a comfortable bed was more appealing than seeing the sun go down.

We stayed at Villa Medamrei while in Siem Reap. The hotel was beautiful and the staff went above and beyond (letting us check in about 6 hours earlier than they had to so we could shower before our tour started). If you're looking to stay in Siem Reap...I strongly urge you to check this place out. Great pricing for a beautiful stay! — We stayed at Villa Medamrei while in Siem Reap. The hotel was beautiful and the staff went above and beyond (letting us check in about 6 hours earlier than they had to so we could shower before our tour started). If you’re looking to stay in Siem Reap…I strongly urge you to check this place out. Great pricing for a beautiful stay!

And it was a good thing that we got that additional rest, because Day 2 of our holiday started an hour before the sun came up…

Angkor Wat – Round 2

We woke up at around 4:30am, showered (we couldn’t do enough of that in Cambodia!!!) and met our tour guide outside our hotel. It was still very dark out and there was nobody in the streets. A half hour later, we were walking up to Angkor Wat again, though we couldn’t see it against the black sky. Our guide found us a fantastic spot on the bank of the man-made pond, we bought some iced coffee from a vendor who was selling them to tourists who were there for sunrise, and we waited.

2 angkor — At first, we could only see the beehive shaped outline of Angkor Wat

As it got brighter and brighter we realized not only why it was worth waking up at 4:30am for this, but also that we were not the only ones who’d made this trip. The gratitude I felt for our tour guide, who had gotten us here before the crowds, also multiplied as I looked around me.

Eventually, the sun rose completely, giving us this spectacular view to start our day:

Chong Kneas – A Floating Fishing Village

Cambodia has 2 seasons: wet and dry. The wet season runs from May to October and the dry season from November to April. The Mekong River varies greatly between these two seasons, as Cambodia receives 75% of it’s rainfall in the wet months. So believe it or not, this is the same river:

Mekong 2 — The Mekong River at the height of the rainy season.

But human beings have survived for all these years because we are so adaptable. As a species, we survive all over the globe in a variety of environments and conditions, and just like Canadians bundle up into layers of clothes to survive the winter, Cambodia has found ways to survive the rise and fall of the Mekong River.

mirelescambodia-4723-L — A Cambodian home in the dry season

vylet-plovoucivesnice-002 — A Cambodian fishing village during the wet season

Entire villages are built on stilts to account of the rise and fall of the Mekong, and we were lucky enough to visit one of these villages. Here, people don’t walk down the street. Instead, they hop into a boat and row to their destination. Even livestock is kept above ground.

10 Chong Kneas — The type of boat we took to the village

11 Chong Kneas — This was a convenience store of sorts

12 Chong Kneas — These fishing villages are quite multicultural. Many of the fishermen here are Vietnamese and this is a Korean School

A fishing trap used by locals — A fish trap used by locals

14 Chong Kneas — We also got to see some of these traps outside the water. I honestly still don’t understand how this one works haha!

This is Sap Lake. There are several fishing villages on it, including the one we visited. It is fed by The Mekong, which begins all the way up in Southern China and flows all the way into the South China Sea

Banteay Srei – The Lady’s Temple

Next, we set off to see another temple…and though I’d never heard of it, it is quite famous within Cambodia. Unlike many of Angkor National Park’s temples, this sight was not built by a King of the era…it was built by a Hindu Brahman who happened to be the spiritual teacher of the king at the time. He had the temple built in honor of the Hindu deity, Shiva, but today it is known as the ‘Lady’s Temple’ because of it’s most unique feature: the temple is constructed entirely of hard pink sandstone. It is truly a beautiful location to visit and I got some amazing pictures while we were there.

20 banteay srei — The temple is also famous for its intricate carvings

18 banteay srei — All windows had an odd number of pillars. This one has 5, but many have 7. Odd numbers are lucky in both Buddhism and Hinduism.

23 banteay srei — So many beautiful structures in this “small” temple

24 Banteau Samre — The pink sandstone was so beautiful! It made the whole temple glow 🙂

Banteay Samre – Our Final Stop

Our last stop of the tour was at Banteay Samre, a temple built in around the same time as Angkor Wat. It was dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu and once had an impressive mote surrounding it, that would have made it something to see in its day. The colour of these ruins was gorgeous. Just like at Bayun Wat, I feel like we were too tired to truly appreciate how elaborate this sight is. I guess we’ll just have to go back some day 🙂

26 Banteau Samre — There were so many beautiful buildings at Bateay Samre

27 Banteau Samre — Many of the towers are shaped in the same fashion as Angkor Wat

25 Banteau Samre — This sight was restored quite effectively a few decades ago, though it hasn’t had any restoration for a while now.

30 Banteau Samre — The spikes on many of the roofs are what stood out for Dave. I honestly hadn’t noticed them at the time but they definitely added a lot of texture to the buildings

32 Banteau Samre — The back entrance to Bateay Samre

So that wraps up our stay in Siem Reap! Next, I’ll be writing about Kratie…home of the Irawadi Dolphins!! Stay tuned!!!

Angkor National Park – Cambodia’s Treasure (Part 1)

Around 7 years ago now, I decided to sit down and come up with a bucket list. I decided that there would be 100 items on that list and I knew, even before I began, that a lot of those items would involve traveling. In the last year I’ve been fortunate enough to cross 10 items off of that list, and I plan to be crossing off several more before 2015 ends. One of the things I’ve accomplished this year was our trip to Angkor National Park, which was the main reason we traveled to Cambodia for China’s May Holiday. Although I planned on finishing what I had to say (and show) about Angkor in 1 post, once I went through my pictures again, I realized that that would be impossible. There’s just too much to see and too much to tell to do it all in one post. So this will be part 1 of 2 on our stay in northern Cambodia, where we toured temples, met locals and visited a floating village.

We started our trip in Phnom Penh and then traveled to Siam Reap by overnight bus.

20150429_221737 — This is a night bus. It’s not the most comfortable way to travel, but it was better than the one I took in China. Also, it gave us the benefit of traveling while we slept…we only had 7 days to see 3 cities so time was of the essence

index — Angkor Wat is so representative of Cambodia, that it is even on their flag

The Cambodian Empire

Angkor National Park is all that remains of the Kampuchea empire, which reigned for over South-East Asia for over 600 years. Covering parts of Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and even Burma, the Cambodian Empire was fierce and wealthy, and as such, its kings erected massive temples both in Cambodia and in its conquered lands. The most impressive group of those temples is near Siem Reap (named after a defeat against Thailand at that location), which is where we visited during our stay in Cambodia. Interestingly, during Kampuchea’s hay day, there was both Hindu and Buddhist influence in the area, so these temples vary quite a bit from one to the next, making Angkor National Park a fascinating visit.

A Buddha we encountered in Angkor Wat — We saw this Buddha as we entered one of the main buildings of Angkor Wat….

But saw these carvings depicting stories from the Hindu Vedas a few minutes later

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Angkor National Park spans an area of over 400kms square and contains over 100 individual temples, ranging from Angkor Wat (an enormous temple with many buildings within its walls) to small ruins that are merely a wall left over from a previous sight that was destroyed.

ph-tempn-t-krolromeas — This is Krol Romeas, one of the smallest ruins left in Angkor National Park

Angkor Wat before sunset, Cambodia. — Angkor Wat Temple before sunset, Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Written records weren’t kept at this point in history, and much of what we know about the 9th-15th centuries has come from Angkor Wat and it’s surrounding temples. Carvings in the stone, as well as refinements of past culture still remain in these spots and they’ve told archeologists a great deal about South East Asian history. As someone who studied classical Roman and Greek history in University, I found that aspect of the park to be enthralling. Because of its cultural relevance, Angkor National Park was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it is preserved and has been repaired as a result. People flock from all over the world to see these sights, which are some of the most famous and awe inspiring temples in the world.

Apsara are relevant to both Buddhism and Hinduism. We got to see a traditional Apsara dance while in Phnom Penh. This carvings tell a story of the culture in ancient Angkor

The entire interior of Angkor Wat is gorgeous…so many stone carvings

Some carvings tell stories about battles that were won (or lost) by the Khmer Empire — Some carvings tell stories about battles that were won (or lost) by the Cambodian Empire

Angkor Wat

Our first stop in Siem Reap was Angkor Wat, the temple after which the national park was named. It spans 1km square and is the home to several libraries, halls and pools. It’s fared well against the test of time and has been restored through the years, where needed. We were lucky enough to visit Angkor Wat twice…I’ll be writing about our sunrise visit in my next post. Our first stop was a very hot one (the temperatures in Cambodia during the dry season go up to 40 degrees celcius…and stay there…all…day….long…), but well worth the trip. Our guide was a decent photographer too, so we even got pictures of the two of us in Angkor National Park, which was nice 🙂

Dave and I outside one of the front pools. During the dry season (we caught the end of it), there shouldn’t be any water left in these pools, but apparently tourists were complaining on Trip Advisor that they couldn’t get reflective photos, so the Cambodian Government decided to fill the pools with hoses. Tourists complain too much, I think…

These are just 2 of the many libraries at Angkor Wat. Although they are fairly empty inside now, I loved being in them. It’s some of the only refuge we got from the blistering hot sun.

I dislike that our guide chopped off the top of this library. Otherwise it would have been an awesome picture. I still like it though…we both look so purposeful. For me, my purpose was mostly just to get out of the sun 😛

Restoration was being done in some of the buildings.

These were both taken at the exact center of Angkor Wat. Our guide decided to pop his foot into the picture too haha

The view from the top tower, which in its time, was reserved for the Royal Family alone. Sadly, I was feeling pretty heat stroked at this point so I wasn't able to enjoy it as much as I would have liked. — The view from the top tower, which in its time, was reserved for the Royal Family alone. Sadly, I was feeling pretty heat stroked at this point so I wasn’t able to enjoy it as much as I would have liked.

The heat definitely played a factor in our enjoyment of Angkor Wat (along with our guide’s underestimation of the amount of water we’d need…we ran out early…), but Dave was brilliant enough to make a video before we got too exhausted:

Ta Prohm

We left Angkor Wat and hopped into a nicely air conditioned van, where we enjoyed the rest of our iced coffees to cool down. Iced coffee is AMAZING in Cambodia!!! Instead of sugar, they use sweetened condensed milk, which gave it a nice flavor. Plus, they get their coffee from Vietnam, which has some of the world’s best :). My favorite part though…it’s served in a bag…

Yes...that bag is full of a bag of coffee haha! (They put it in a plastic bag, put that bag into a paper bag and then put that one into another plastic bag....) — Yes…that bag is full of a bag of coffee haha! (They put it in a plastic bag, put that bag into a paper bag and then put that one into another plastic bag….)

Ta Prohm is, without a doubt, one of the coolest looking places I’ve ever seen in my life. It was built in the late 12th – early 13th centuries and unlike Angkor Wat, which was built under a Hindu King, Ta Prohm was built primarily as a Buddhist school. What makes Ta Prohm so interesting though isn’t it’s Buddhist ties. The fact that the temple has been kept as it was found, wild and grown over by trees, makes it the perfect spot for photos.

The way the trees have grown over and through the temple is why Ta Prohm is so famous today

One unfortunate thing about Ta Prohm is that it is incredibly tourist. We had to wait almost 5 minutes just to get this photo because Chinese tourists kept cutting in front of us and hogging the area of selfie after selfie…our tour guide eventually told them off so we could get our 1 picture in haha!!

The outer walls are something to see. Most of the stone used to create the temples in this time period is either Lava Stone or Sand Stone. This is Lava Stone.

It's possible you recognize Ta Prohm from Lara Croft Tomb Raider. This is where it was filmed :) — It’s possible you recognize Ta Prohm from Lara Croft Tomb Raider. This is where it was filmed 🙂

Ta Nei

Ta Nei is one of my favorite spots we visited. It was a long way away from all the other temples, (our driver had to go down some roads that looked like they were just walking paths in the middle of the jungle in order to get us there), but once we arrived, we saw why it was worth the trip.

Not only were there no other tourists there, but the sight is gorgeous! It’s definitely seen better days, and it hasn’t been restored the way Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm have been, but there is such a rawness to this old temple…I got some of my favorite pictures of the whole trip during this visit.

A lot of what’s left of Ta Nei is rubble.

And, like Ta Prohm, there are beautiful trees here

We loved this sight so much, we even remembered to take a video for it! I love how beautifully quiet it was there 🙂

Bayun (or Bayan) Temple

Our last stop on day one of our Siem Reap Tour was in Angkor Thom, the last (and longest enduring) city of the Cambodian Empire. Although there are several sights to see within Angkor Thom, Dave and I were suffering from pretty terrible heat exhaustion, so we only saw some of them from within the air conditioned vehicle. Our tour guide wanted to save our energy for Angkor Thom’s greatest masterpiece: Bayon Temple (I’ve also seen it spelled ‘Bayun’ Temple).

Built in the late 12th century, 100 years after the building of Angkor Wat (our first stop of the day), this is clearly a Buddhist temple. From afar, it is a beautiful sight to see, but when you see it up-close, you realize how fascinating this temple truly is.

Every tower at Bayon Temple has a beautiful Buddha face carved into it.

Each of Bayon’s 54 towers has a large face carved into each of its 4 sides. That means that this magnificent temple has a total of over 200 faces. It made for some incredible photos!!

A photo taken from within one of the many halls. One of my favorites of the trip

I should add that these faces are enormous…here is Dave and I standing directly in front of what is considered Bayon’s most beautiful Buddha.

I was very happy to have a guide at this point, as he was able to point out some of the best shots. There were so many faces everywhere that I could have easily missed shots like these ones:

He also got some great pictures of the two of us. By the end of this part of the tour, we were both feeling like we did on our wedding day…tired of smiling! But it was all worth it in the end! I would have been devastated had I not gotten some of these pictures!!

At the most famous entrance of Angkor Thom

So that was day 1 of our Siem Reap stop. I’ll be back next week with Day 2, where we experienced Angkor Wat at sunrise, a floating fishing village and Cambodia’s beautiful ‘Lady’s Temple’.

Thanks for reading!!

Bangkok’s Grand Palace

Guiyang is truly a city of extremes. Just yesterday, the temperature was 30 degrees Celsius, and I had the windows in my classroom open so I could enjoy the cool breeze and the sun’s rays. Today, the view that lies before me as I blog at our favorite hang out (I’ll give you 3 guesses…) couldn’t be more different. People are bundled up, with the arms around themselves trying to stay warm. There was a 20 degree drop over night and Guiyang is once more overcast and dreary. I’m grateful for the little bit of sun we did get, but I am a tad mournful that our two nicest days were the days that I spend inside, teaching back to back classes.

Here are some pictures from our lovely weekend:

IMAG1623 — People are planing vegetables

IMAG1620 — Our garden in Zhong Tian is green and beautiful once more

IMAG1622 — Even the buildings weren’t as drab this weekend. Everything was brighter when the sun was out.

And Guiyang now…

But whether isn’t the only way Guiyang likes to shock us with its extremes. For example:

"Is this a dump", you might ask yourself. — “Is this a dump”, you might ask yourself.

Nope…not even close…

It's the entrance to the school where I work — It’s the entrance to the school where I work

To be fair, the area isn’t usually THIS bad, but one of the businesses in the building is renovating and decided to dump all their garbage outside the back doors. I’m terrified a rat is going to jump out the garbage heap and attack me.

And if garbage heaps aren’t enough for you, there are also these open gutters to scare the bajeepers out of you. The local noodle place and many other little businesses (as well as pedestrians) throw their garbage in here and it’s developing quite the collection. This could be solved by putting a metal grate over the gutter, but that would probably be too much work, so instead I have to hop over this to get to the school daily. I’m not going to lie…the first time I saw it I gagged a little lol. Scooters sometimes drive over it and splash people as they walk by….when that happens, you have to walk around smelling like garbage water all day. Not fun…

But not all of Guiyang is open sewers and garbage piles…if you drive for 10 minutes to HuaGuoYuan, then you get this view:

IMAG1655 — Fountains and lit up buildings

Or 5 minutes away from the school, this area is also quite new and shiny:

20150402_184016 — And then of course, there’s the nicest building in Guiyang…

Whiiiccchhhh caught fire the other night... — Whiiiccchhhh caught fire the other night…

So yes, Guiyang is the city of contrast. But I suppose I should get on to writing about a place that has no contrast at all. The Grand Palace in Bangkok Thailand has one mode: Go Grand, or Go Home!!!

In addition to gorgeous architecture, the Palace is home to many gardens and carefully trimmed trees.

The Grand Palace has been home to Thailand’s Royalty since 1782. Today, the grounds are more of a tourist attraction than anything, but Royal ceremonies and State functions are still held there several times a year.

Despite the high fees to get into the palace, tourists flock here. Trip adviser probably has something to do with it, as the palace is considered Bangkok’s #1 attraction.

I was surprised to learn that The Grand Palace is not a singular giant structure, but really a large number of small buildings that vary in a great deal of ways. In the 200 years that the Palace has sat in Bangkok, pavilions, chapels and halls were erected, all reflecting the time period in which they were built. The resulting diversity within the grounds is fascinating.

Also worth noting is the sheer size of the Grand Palace. At 2,351,000 sq feet, it would take several hours to view the whole Palace, a feat neither Dave or myself were ready to take on. We arrived on February 19th, under a scorching Bangkok sun. Between the heat, the tourists and our long pants and shirts (there is a strict dress code at The Grand Palace), we weren’t up for seeing the grounds in their entirety. So we hit up the major attractions and took lots of breaks in any shaded areas we could find.

The perimeter walls were covered in elaborate murals. Seeing as how this was one of the few places where we could find shade, I spent a great deal of time admiring them.

Most of the murals showed Buddhist mythology and war stories during different king’s reigns.

But if I were to tell you that the diversity of the buildings or the size of the place were the most remarkable things about The Grand Palace, I would be doing it a great disservice. No amount of photography could possible capture the elaborate detail here. Every inch of every building was designed to be beautiful and ornate. It was so Grand that if you didn’t stop and actually look at it, you might not even notice the level of detail at all. It is all THAT detailed!!!

You can easily see that this building is gorgeous without even having to look at it closely.

But up close, you can see that all the colour on the columns going up the building are actually designs made one small piece of stone at a time. — But if you move closer, you can see that the colorful parts going up the building are actually elaborately designed flowers…

Similarly, this building is covered in small stones..it isn't just paint that makes it look so ornate... — Similarly, this building is covered in small stones..it isn’t just paint that makes it look so ornate…

But if you zoom in closer you see an insane level of detail on each of the mythological creatures

Here is a close up on one of the tours of one of the smaller buildings on the grounds

We walked around for about an hour, taking pictures of different halls and structures. We went into a few buildings as well, although we weren’t allowed having our cameras out in them. I understand the reasoning, to an extent. Having cameras flashing while Buddhists try and pray in front of the sacred Emerald Buddha would be incredibly disrespectful. Still, as a non-Buddhist I was a little sad I couldn’t get a shot or two in while in Wat Phra Kaew (The Temple of the Emerald Buddha). I did manage to get one decent shot from outside the building though, and I found a picture online of the different robes he wears, depending on the season.

He isn't very big, but he is very beautiful. — He isn’t very big, but he is very beautiful.

Emerald Buddha — There are 3 distinct seasons in Thailand, so there are 3 robes for the Buddha to wear

We also saw some of the Throwns that former Kings used while living in the Grand Palace, which was sort of neat. We also weren’t able to take pictures in those buildings, but one of them had a massive fan where I was able to cool down! It was a highlight of the day for me!! haha!!

The cloud cover didn’t help very much with cooling us down.

To understand the size of these buildings, look at the people in the front of the building for reference.

There are actual guards at the Palace too. Just like you’d see at Buckingham Palace, tourists were making faces and taking pictures with the guards, as they solemnly stood guard to some of the more important buildings on the grounds.

We couldn’t go into this building. I think this is one of the places where Government meetings are still held now.

So that is The Grand Palace. I’m not disappointed that we went, but I can hardly say that it was the highlight of our Bangkok experience. I suppose Dave and I tend to not like the really ‘touristy’ stuff, so that could be why I didn’t enjoy it more. But on the other hand, the history lover in me LOVED seeing the different buildings. It’s definitely worth a stop while you’re in Bangkok!!

My next post is going to be about night life in Thailand! I’ll be writing about the famous Bangla Road in Phuket, Kao San Road in Bangkok and of course, the famed Thai Lady-Boys!!

Thanks for stopping by!!