The Grand Palace

My first weekend in Bangkok I went to see the Grand Palace where the kings of Thailand have lived (it's kind of like Buckingham Palace).

 

Here's the current King:

There's pictures of him all over Thialand.

There been lots of kings living in the Grand Palace over the years and each of them has added a different structure to the development, so there's lots of weird and wonderful buildings and statues in the grounds:

Here's the biggest Bonsia I've ever seen! Carl if you get yours to grow this tall I'll be impressed!

Religion is a big part of Thai lifestyle, and there are loads of temples around the city that people just stop and pray at. This one in the palace has a statue of Budda that they stick little bits of gold paper to (I think it brings good luck of something!):

The main temple where the king has special masses:

Only the king and queen are allowed to enter through the middle door of the main temple.

You have to take your shoes off to go inside the temple, and you're not allowed to take pictures, or point your feet at Budda when you site down!

These are the guest quarters, and Queen Elizabeth the second stayed in these when she visited Thailand.

Then just outside the main gates right opposite the palace there's a park (like St James Park for Buckingham Palace) and it looked like Market stalls, so I wondered over to have a look and it's actually people living there!!!!!!

They have put up shelters and like winder breakers and are actually living in the park opposite the palace! It's one extreme to the other!