A Trip to the Grand Palace...Finally
So I finally went to see the Grand Palace yesterday. It was definitely very glittery. The palace serves as the official residence of the Thai king. Which must be well annoying for him, having all these tourists around, when he's trying to get some rest. Or, rather, it would be were he not in the hospital. Oh but actually, the current King of Thailand - who is now 82, but you'd just never know it by how youthful he looks in all the photos from the 1970s plastered all around the city! - resides at Chitralada Palace with the Queen...when he is in good health. So... I'm confused. What purpose, exactly, is the palace serving?
Well done, guys, keep it up!
Well since I do research as I write, I have just discovered, that, actually, the palace is still 'very much in use': many royal rituals are performed here by the King each year. Thank goodness all the millions of dollars' worth of shiny, glittery structures are still being put to good use.
Betrothed to a Bird King....just what I've always dreamed of
Since after a while, one glittery building kind of looks like another, we decided to liven things up a bit by taking silly photos around the palace. I was with some Aussie boys that I'd met a few nights before. One of them, Harry, was particularly excellent at being able to mimick every object in the palace. And he proceeded to do so throughout the entire visit, contorting himself into a tree, a building, a garbage bin, a street lamp, and various statues.
The King would probably not approve of this
There were loads of tourists visiting, and I got thinking about how much income that must generate. Each tourist has to pay (what I think is extortionate:) 350 baht to enter. That is like 10 USD. In Thailand, that's a shitload of money. Anyways, I wonder what they do with that money? Surely it can't all be for palace maintenance?
Oh here's a picture of the palace itself:
Yayyyy there it is.
And now, purely for your (and my) entertainment, a picture of a douche bag posing with a Royal Palace guard:
A note to girls that are considering going to the Grand Palace: you have to be pretty careful what you wear. Even cropped pants that cover the knee are not acceptable, but for some reason, above the knee skirts are ok. You cannot show your shoulders, or wear anything see-through (duh). Otherwise, you have to borrow clothes at the front office, and you may be forced to wear horrible purple pants, a la this guy:
Sorry! I should stop making fun. But yeah, that's just a cautionary tale: wear pants to the Grand Palace.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 26 January 2010 07:44 )