On my first full day I visited the Grand Palace and Temple of the Emerald Buddha. This was the home of the Kings of Siam from the 1780s to the early 20th century. Unfortunately, the day I was there the halls of the actual palace seemed to be closed – at least, I couldn’t find any way into them. But the Temple of the Emerald Buddha and all the associated shrines, statues, etc, were open so I concentrated on them and just walked through the palace grounds later. First, though, a few words about getting to the location, and my first impressions of Bangkok.
The site is close to the Chao Phraya river, which runs along the western side of the main city. The river is very wide and busy, with boats of all descriptions running up and down it and calling at a large number of piers on both sides. There are many traditional and historic sites along the river – various temples and other sites, including the Grand Palace (which actually sits a bit away from the river, but not far). Included in the various boats was the ‘Tourist Express’ boat, and this was the one I used. But I had to get to the river first, of course, and it turns out that there’s a SkyTrain station at the main pier on the river. (In fact, of course, it’s the presence of the SkyTrain station that’s made that pier the ‘main pier’.) The SkyTrain is an elevated railway with two separate lines. It’s modern, clean, and blissfully air-conditioned. This was important as Bangkok was very hot all the time I was there – 35° every day, and no lower than 27° or 28° in the evening.
The Grand Palace is one of those places that have a dress code – basically, no shorts, no skin-tight leggings, skirts below the knee, and covered shoulders and midriff, for both genders. The way it was applied was a little strange (or even unhelpful). To begin with, you have to realise that there were a lot of people visiting – the queues started outside the site (which has a large perimeter wall all around it, with a few gates). So you’re already in a crowd (and very hot) as you edge your way into the site. Right by the entrance there are some good signs with illustrations showing the retired standards of dress, but I suppose it’s easy to miss these. And there was no-one policing it, at this point. Then you slowly process to the ticket kiosk, where you buy your ticket – again, no check. Shuffle forward along with the crowds another 100 metres, and you reach the entry turnstiles, where you hand over your ticket, and that’s where they check your clothing! I saw one couple who were turned back at that point – I don’t know whether or not they kept their tickets – but they were clearly in breach of the required dress code. She was wearing tight leggings and a skimpy top, and he was wearing shorts. Back near the original entrance there were stalls providing ‘modest dress’, but whether or not that was free I don’t know. I did see quite a few men wearing what I’ll refer to as ‘Thai pants’; whether they had them on anyway or had bought/hired them to meet the requirements I don’t know.
As I said, unfortunately on the day I was there the palace buildings seemed to be closed. But I enjoyed looking at the architecture in the Temple area. This was the first real exposure I’d had to Thai architecture, design and decoration, and it’s fair to say that I was very impressed. It’s insanely complex, and wonderfully executed. Of course, this being a former Royal palace, I was probably looking at the very best examples, but it was all very beautiful. I also entered the actual temple, but there are no photographs from inside – no picture-taking allowed, even with smartphones. Inside, in addition to the crowds vowing the Temple, there were people praying – a handful of Buddhist monks, and and a small number of Thais. I can say they were Thais with confidence – there was a barrier between the crowds and all the decoration around what I’ll refer to as the altar, but there was also a space in front of the barrier and an entrance-way to it, with a sign reading “Thais Only” on it. That’s where those praying were standing or kneeling. (Buddhism is of course the main religion of Thailand.)
it’s worth saying a few words about the visitors. Basically, the huge majority of very large crowds were Asian. Some were certainly Thai, but I think there were also significant numbers of Chinese people and possibly other Asian nationalities. There were very few westerners, and I definitely stood out.
Altogether I spent about three hours in the Grand Palace, and given that it had taken me a good hour to get there (and would therefore taken an hour to get back) I decided to call it a day when I left. I did walk around the river frontage a bit, but then got the river boat back to the SkyTrain, and took that back to the downtown area. Once back at the hotel I showered and changed, and just waited for evening. I found the heat quite challenging that first full day. This was possibly for several reasons: it was a big change from the weather in the UK (just a week or so earlier it had been snowing), and of course I was still tired and jet-lagged from the journey. Later in the week I was coping with it better. I’d recovered by the evening, however, and enjoyed a meal + drink on the hotel rooftop terrace. Then I had another early night.
It’s a shame you couldn’t go in the Palace. It would be interesting to see how it compares to Royal palaces in Europe.
I get the feeling that Thai palaces are rather different from European ones. It looks as if they are collections of separate buildings rather than being a huge multi-roomed building like Buckingham Palace or Hampton Court. These separate buildings often seem to be just one big space, and each one is dedicated to a single purpose. This is possibly because of the climate – you can go outside on any day of the year. I got a bit of a feeling that historically you went into a building or room for a definite, single purpose, and into a definite building for a different purpose. (The Topkapi Palace in Istanbul is also rather like this.)