Whilst our day out to The Grand Palace was undoubtedly the most hot and bothered I’ve ever been (seriously…. just look at the clothing regulations, and then consider wearing that in 38 degree heat and humidity) it’s also one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been.
I love temples, and as a photographer it’s a dream walking around places like this, because there is just so much to see. For me it’s the colour and the patterns, and I can’t think of anywhere else in the world that offers so many colours, shapes and beautiful buildings all within such a small space.
So here are a few of my photos….
It’s funny – because in the photos it doesn’t look all too hot at all. In fact, from this distance we all look pretty comfortable in our jeans, cardigans and long dresses and proper shoes. The truth? We had to stop every 10 minutes or so just to take a breather. When we finally discovered a free water station top-up, we sat there for 20 minutes in the shade just refilling our bottles again and again and downing all the water we could manage.
We joked that you could ever come here with close friends or family. Because trying to make a good first impression here, would be near impossible. What with the whole “drenched in sweat – desperate for water and shade” thing going on. Not really what you’re after on, say, a first date!
The shot above is one of my favourites of the day – as is the one at the very top of this post too.
A few more things to note about this place, is how busy it gets and to be careful when entering. We were warned by our hotel (luckily) about the various scams and cons people try to pull around the Grand Palace, so thought we were pretty prepared. A few things they highlighted were; people trying to sell you overly expensive tours inside the palace grounds (a ticket should only cost 500BHT – no more), people sending you off to different entrances, so they can sell you higher priced tickets, taxi drivers telling you the palace is closed (which it never is) – so they can drive you to another one further away…. the list goes on.
It’s something to look out for and just be wary of, because you don’t want your day ruined because you had your gullible hat on.
Wow, this looks such an amazing place. I would love to see it. x