Day 12: Fri 5 Sep - Bangkok

Had a sleep-in today!  We all met for breakfast at 7:30am and then said goodbye to Trudi.  Sylvain, Jane and I then exchanged photos as we do every year and then Sylvain and I said goodbye to Jane as she was leaving earlier than us. 

Sylvain and I visited the Grand Palace and Emerald Buddha.  We took a taxi and were just going to have a wander on our own when we were approached by a guide with an offer that was quite reasonable. So, for the next hour, we followed and “oohed” and “aahed” at the right places.  Unfortunately, photography was not allowed inside some of the most interesting places.

Instead of going directly back to the hotel we had the taxi drop us at our BTS station and we walked the short distance to Maccas for lunch.  My first and only Thai Maccas and it was just the same as everywhere else in the world – funny that?!

I made my way back to the hotel whilst Sylvain went to check on the progress of his shirts he was having made.  As he had an Embassy function to attend this evening, I did my own thing.  I ordered a pizza to go, bought some beers from the corner store and sat in my room and played on the computer and had dinner. Despite the sleep-in this morning, lights were out by 10pm.

Grand Palace ticket

Temple of the Emerald Buddha ticket

Other places ticket

Chakri Maha Prasat building

The Emerald Buddha


The Royal Monastery of the Emerald Buddha

Some very intricate work, all done by hand

One of the many kinnara statues


A model of Ankor Wat in the Grand Palace complex

Some fancy footwork




One of the guardians at the Grand Palace

Inside the Grand Palace complex

The Sri Lankan spire of the Grand Palace



Entrance to the Complex

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 5: Fri 29 Aug - Bangkok

Image
Although I was lying down with the lights out for about 3 hrs, I didn't get much sleep - maybe an hour or so all up.   I met Jane and Sylvain at breakfast, and we discussed our options for the day. We eventually decided to call the travel agent Sherry had put us onto and organised a 10am pick up to take us on the Ayutthaya tour for 2250 Baht (AUD70). Our first stop was at the Bang Pa-In Palace, also known as Summer Palace, which dates back to the 17 th Century. There are several different buildings, places and lakes that make up the complex. We were then taken to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the old temples in Ayutthaya province.  The main attraction is the Historic City of Ayutthaya which includes the Strangled Buddha, reclining Buddha and the Bronze Buddha. Lunch was had at the Krungsri River Hotel restaurant for an extra 1000 Baht.  Although this seems quite expensive, it was an all-you-can-eat buffet complete with dessert.  It served Thai, Chinese and It...
Read more

Day 14: Sun 7 Sep - Sydney to Hippo Farm

We arrived pretty much on time, and I had almost 5 hours to get through immigration, collect the baggage, proceed through Customs, re-check the bag and then make my way to the domestic terminal.  Managed to do all this is just under an hour and was in the QC having a shower and breakfast soon after.  As I had watched all those movies and not slept, I was pretty tired, so had about an hour of snoozing.  Passed the time in the QC by wandering up and down, reading the paper and my book.  Boarded on time for flight to Hervey Bay and arrived just after 1pm.  Greg was there to collect me and take me back to Hippo Farm.  I was really happy to be home, away from the pollution, noise and traffic of both Shanghai and Bangkok.
Read more

Day 1: Monday 25 Aug - Hippo Farm to Sydney

Image
I was up bright and early to complete my daily chores before heading to the airport.  As the flight was not until 12:55pm, there was no real rush.  Greg dropped me off and I was checked-in with plenty of time to spare so had lunch at the airport café. As I had a 4.5 hr wait in Brisbane, I used that time to construct my presentation for the panel discussion in Sylvain’s session.   It took the better part of 2 hours to complete and then I read my book and had a few glasses of wine.   I arrived in Sydney just after 8pm and was in the hotel by 9pm.   It was absolutely bucketing down on arrival at the hotel and it didn’t stop all night.   The room at the Airport Hotel Sydney looked quite flash but the walls were paper thin and you could hear everyone doing everything.   With the use of earplugs, I was able to sleep on and off. My room at Airport Hotel Sydney
Read more