Today we need to dress up - in Thailand that means lang pants and have your shoulders covered as we are going to the King's Palace. It is the Palace of Rama Nine, the ninth King of Siam. He is also 90 years old as is his queen. They don't really live at the palace, but at the hospital on the 15th floor. The Royal family is revered throughout the kingdom and it is against the law to say anything bad about the king or his family. The movie The King and I is banned and no one has seen it as it would be disrepectful to the king. But what a palace it is.
It is hard to try to describe how ornate it is. First of all our guides have us close at hand because of all the crowds, of which they say are mostly Chinese. I will post a few pictures so you get a feel for the glitter and detail that is found here.
It is a combination of Thai, Cambodian, Chinese, Indian, and Western styles. It is in such detail that it hard to believe. Lotus flowers are everywhere and when we enter the temple of the jade Buddha we buy a lotus flower, scented oil, and incense. We pay honor to the Buddha and enter an incredibly steamy and crowded temple.
It is guarded by these interesting statues, We are told that much of the details actually were from these ornate decorations were from plates made in China that were broken on the way to Thailand.
This whole environment is so exotic it is hard to adjust one's eyes that is saturated in sweat much of the time. It is just plain hot and humid here, but none of us care. The people we are with are wonderful and our guide is so full of information she astounds us.
There is so much gold everywhere, much of it is real and much of it painted like the tower behind Zosia. They are constantly gold leafing statues and some of the spires.
We spent several hours in the Palace and was amazed at each turn with the exotic nature of statues. Before it was all Buddha, but now it is warriors that protect the crown.
To us westerners we keep flashing on the King and I. He was the fourth Raman of Siam around 1865 and introduced education to his subjects and invited Western studies. He sent his son and all of the royal family since then to educated in the West, but the Siam traditions still hold true and the kingdom is unchallenged.
But in 1932 foreign educated leaders force the king, Ramen VII to create a Constitutional Monarchy and now the people have something they are allowed to complain about - the government, but never the king.
From the palace we wondered the streets with our guide and buying trinkets, clothing, food, and salves from street vendors until we found the bus which took us for coffee and the boat tour of the Bangkok River.. It was interesting to see the modern city right next to deteriorating house falling into the river. The salt water intruding here so the land that was once fertile is no longer and small farms are being abandoned, replaced by high rises. But still everywhere there is Buddha and shrines. We stopped at the museum of the royal barge. Incredible how ornate these are. It was a lost art but for the 50th anniversary of the king on the throne they created his new barge which took years to build. It like everything here was way over the top.
After the museum, you bet we had a big lunch on a floating barge and the returned to the hotel. Tonight was going to be special. Zosia and I were both scheduled for Thai massages in our hotel room. It was 1000 baht ($30) for two hours. Promptly at 7:00 the two woman called up and brought them up and stated to work. They were both great but they get a lot more involved than American Massages. They use their feet, knees, legs, the whole works. We were taught by out guide tow words - Bow wow (softer) knock knock (harder). Zosia felt she was bruised up after the experience - I guess she forgot Bow-wow, I don't bruise, but my body sure remembered it.
It is hard to try to describe how ornate it is. First of all our guides have us close at hand because of all the crowds, of which they say are mostly Chinese. I will post a few pictures so you get a feel for the glitter and detail that is found here.It is a combination of Thai, Cambodian, Chinese, Indian, and Western styles. It is in such detail that it hard to believe. Lotus flowers are everywhere and when we enter the temple of the jade Buddha we buy a lotus flower, scented oil, and incense. We pay honor to the Buddha and enter an incredibly steamy and crowded temple.
It is guarded by these interesting statues, We are told that much of the details actually were from these ornate decorations were from plates made in China that were broken on the way to Thailand.This whole environment is so exotic it is hard to adjust one's eyes that is saturated in sweat much of the time. It is just plain hot and humid here, but none of us care. The people we are with are wonderful and our guide is so full of information she astounds us.
We spent several hours in the Palace and was amazed at each turn with the exotic nature of statues. Before it was all Buddha, but now it is warriors that protect the crown.
To us westerners we keep flashing on the King and I. He was the fourth Raman of Siam around 1865 and introduced education to his subjects and invited Western studies. He sent his son and all of the royal family since then to educated in the West, but the Siam traditions still hold true and the kingdom is unchallenged.
But in 1932 foreign educated leaders force the king, Ramen VII to create a Constitutional Monarchy and now the people have something they are allowed to complain about - the government, but never the king.
From the palace we wondered the streets with our guide and buying trinkets, clothing, food, and salves from street vendors until we found the bus which took us for coffee and the boat tour of the Bangkok River.. It was interesting to see the modern city right next to deteriorating house falling into the river. The salt water intruding here so the land that was once fertile is no longer and small farms are being abandoned, replaced by high rises. But still everywhere there is Buddha and shrines. We stopped at the museum of the royal barge. Incredible how ornate these are. It was a lost art but for the 50th anniversary of the king on the throne they created his new barge which took years to build. It like everything here was way over the top.
After the museum, you bet we had a big lunch on a floating barge and the returned to the hotel. Tonight was going to be special. Zosia and I were both scheduled for Thai massages in our hotel room. It was 1000 baht ($30) for two hours. Promptly at 7:00 the two woman called up and brought them up and stated to work. They were both great but they get a lot more involved than American Massages. They use their feet, knees, legs, the whole works. We were taught by out guide tow words - Bow wow (softer) knock knock (harder). Zosia felt she was bruised up after the experience - I guess she forgot Bow-wow, I don't bruise, but my body sure remembered it.
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