The Grand Palace complex was established in 1782 and it houses not only the royal residence and throne halls, but also a number of government offices as well as the renowned Temple of the Emerald Buddha. It covers an area of 218,000 square meters and is surrounded by four walls, 1900 meters in length.
The Upper Terrace (with the Phra Mondop in the middle, a repository for Buddhist sacred scriptures); the Phra Wiharn Yod (which contains a number of Buddha images); and a miniature of the Angkor Wat
The Royal Pantheon (Prasat Phra Monthian Dharma) in which statues of past sovereigns of the ruling Chakri dynasty are enshrined
What amazes me most among these structures is the intricacy of detail devoted to each piece:
North of the royal residence and linked by a connecting gateway lies the Royal Monastery of the Emerald Buddha, one of the most venerated sites in Thailand where people convene and pay respect to the Lord Buddha and His Teachings.


The Royal Monastery of the Emerald Buddha
The Chakri Maha Prasat Hall (built in 1882 and consists of the Central Throne Hall and two wings)
The Dusit Maha Prasat Throne Hall is furnished by an exquisite mother-of-pearl inlaid throne surmounted by a nine-tiered white canopy, a symbol of the duly crowned king. Its principle function has been and still is a hall for the lying-in-state of kings, queens, and honored members of the royal family
From the

Its central prang (pagoda) towers to 66.8 meters and climbing up the steep stairs halfway to the top is really scary - and more so, going down.
The central prang, satellite prangs and porches (mondop) are all completely covered in thousands of porcelain and china decorations in a myriad of patterns… with some portions artistically highlighted by seashells, pieces of dishes or the traditional five-colored Thai chinaware known as benjarong.
If Wat Arun is impressive during daytime, it is equally so, or even more, at night. Here’s a photo of Wat Arun taken from a restaurant across the river, The Deck at Wat Arun Residence, where D and I had a lovely dinner overlooking the river.
(The guide pamphlets and maps provided at the Grand Palace and Wat Arun served as reference for all information contained in this post.)
11 comments:
the temple are so magnificent! I can't imagine how they build that with all those details :)
oh i was so looking forward to the temple photos. i'd love to see these ones one day. awesome shots!
I was waiting for "Anonymous" to comment before me as I am trying to figure out who the mystery man is. Just kidding -- great post, I am glad you had a good time in Bangkok.
magnificent temples! :) hail to the geniuses who built them.
these are rectal-cranial bending pictures indeed. :)
hi agnes. thank you. we truly had a great time there. :)
hi jac. it makes you ask how come we don't have those here in the philippines, huh?
hey anonymous. what do you mean by rectal-cranial bending? :)
wow. these are places i only came across in books and some travel magazines. galing! wish i could visit such places in my lifetime.
hi e[k]stranhero. maybe someday you will.
anyway, thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a comment. :)
Great temples. Thanks for sharing these beautiful photos. I wish to set foot in these, too.
what camera are you using? great shots!:)
Thanks Fren. I just used a point-and-click digital camera.
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