Bangkok in a Day

We really only had one full day in Bangkok to see the sights. Aunt Margie is all for hiring a personal tour guide when in a big city and on a time crunch. I was pretty excited because that is not something you can afford on a backpacker budget, and I missed out on a lot of stuff I could of learned in some of the places I had been. So we went to the concierge and signed up for the Bangkok full day tour! Our guide picked us up from the hotel first thing in the morning (after another all you can eat buffet breakfast of course) and we were off! First stop, Wat Traimit, or Temple of the Golden Buddha...

Home of the Largest "Seated" Golden Buddha in the world

 

 

Then we took a ride through China Town...

to get to Wat Pho, Temple of the Reclining Buddha.

 

 

 

Where we dropped 108 coins into 108 bronze buckets to bring good fortune and help in the maintenance of the temple.

 and walked through the temple grounds...

The next stop was the highlight of the day...I had been waiting to see the Bangkok Grand Palace since the day I landed in Southeast Asia nearly 4 months before.

The Grand Palace served as the official Residence to the King and the Royal family until 1925. Now it serves as a museum and his still used for some official functions throughout the year. It is broken into two main sections: Temple area and Residential. We started our tour in the temple area.

 

We saw the famous Golden Stupa which houses the breast bone of Buddha. Buddha's remnants were sent all over the world to be housed in temples of major significance.

Here are some shots of the incredibly beautiful and ornate temple grounds.

 

 

 

Wat Phra Kaew, Temple of the Emerald Buddha, houses a small Buddha made completely out of Jade and dressed in garments made out of gold that are changed each season by the King himself. This is considered to be the most important Buddhist Temple in Thailand.

(The pictures are very hazy because flash was not allowed)

 

In his Summer attire.

Then it was on to the Residential Area...can you tell the King that built this had a bit different taste in Architecture?

A mixture of French and Thai architecture makes for a very interesting building...

 We happened to be leaving right in time to catch the changing of the guards.

 
and to get a picture with this guy.

 
The last stop of the day was at Wat Benchamabophit, The Marble Temple. It is made completely out of white marble shipped in from Italy.

 
 
 Our amazing tour guide with "Starving Buddha"

 
Having the private tour guide was such a great decision! We were able to ask her all kinds of questions about Bangkok, Thailand, the temples, and the Buddhist religion. I learned more about Buddhism in that one day than the entire year I spent in Korea! Our tour guide was a very knowledgeable, sweet and hard working lady and we loved having her!
After the tour, we went and freshened up and headed back up to enjoy our last Happy Hour and Bangkok Sunset!

And then to one last dinner of Thai curry and Chang Beer!

 

A Sunday in Bangkok

We started off our first day in Bangkok in style...an all you can eat buffet  in the "Sky Lounge" overlooking the city, only accessible by those lucky enough to be staying on the top three floors...yes, I'm bragging a little! This was farrr beyond what had been my reality the last nine months!!

Breakfast View

Then we were off with overly stuffed bellies to the Chatuchak Weekend Market.

This map doesnt even do this monster justice! It covers 35 acres and includes over 5,000 stalls of merchandise. It would take days to make it through the entire thing. You can find everything from artwork, to sarongs, to spices, to the kitchen sink in this place! I had been waiting to buy souvenirs until my last days in Bangkok, because I knew I'd be able to find everything in this market and would be able to put it straight on the plane home!

 

Yes, I do own this hat now!

As we were leaving the hotel that morning, the conceirge informed us that there would be an afternoon tea and ball room dancing in the main room that afternoon. So we made sure to be back in time to check it out. Feeling very VIP at this point, we were under the assumption that this was offered to all of the people on the top tier, so we went right ahead and took part in the enormous buffet. While we enjoyed the free entertainment of watching Bangkok's elite twirl around the dance floor.

We headed back up to the room a little while later to get ready for our complimentary Happy Hour in the sky lounge when we received a call from the ballroom...apparently we had forgotten to pay for the buffet..."Umm just charge it to the room," I hear Aunt Margie say. Whoops...that popped our VIP head bubble...we still aren't sure how much that Uh-Oh cost!

Atleast we knew the Happy Hour was definitely on the house...

and with an incredible view and sunset!

Not really needing any dinner after our afternoon "snack" in the ball room we headed over to the Lebua State Tower, to have a drink on the rooftop, where a scene of The Hangover 2 took place.

There is a  small bar in the corner of the roof where they shove all of the tourist wanting to get a drink at "The Hangover" bar. We ordered "The Hangover 2" signature cocktail and enjoyed the incredible view of the city.

It was straight to bed from there...we had a long day ahead of us!