This post is long over due. The second weekend after our arrival, when my mom was here, we spent the afternoon visiting some of the most beautiful places in Bangkok - Rich temples and beautiful architecture.
Michael hired a driver to take us as we are not driving while in Thailand. Plus I'm not sure we can handle the crazy traffic here along with its crazy drivers, especially the motorcycle and scooter drivers.
Our driver's name was Nouil (not sure how he spells it). Nouil was great and very nice. He works for a driver the Embassy uses. A little side story about Nouil is that Nouil has hair that is a little long and dresses a little feminine like. We introduced Nouil to Cristiano as Amo Nouil (Mr. Nouil) but at one point in the day he says to us "Waini tante Nouil?", which is "where is tante Nouil?". I'm not sharing this to laugh about Nouil, instead it is to share how observant Cristiano is and how funny it was to us when he said tante Nouil. We had all observed Nouil's unique attire and his feminine like demeanor, but no one said anything. Cristiano was just being very observant and honest. We kept saying amo Nouil and he would say tante Nouil. I mean, he wasn't wrong, he did look like a tante! I wanted to take a picture of Nouil and Cristiano, but I didn't get a chance. This is the closest I got!
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| You really can't see Nouil, but you can see that Nouil likes lace and had the entire car covered with it! |
Anyway, going back to our afternoon in Bangkok, we started our visit by going to the Grand Palace where we also saw the Emerald Buddha. The Grand Palace was the residence of the Kings of Thailand, however the current King does not reside there. It is used now for special occasions. What is beautiful about the Grand Palace is that it is very eclectic in style. It is made up of several temples and buildings. The eclectic style is due to each reigning King making additions and changes. In the Grand Palace there is a chapel where the Emerald Buddha is kept. It is called the Emerald Buddha because it is made fully of Emerald. The chapel was closed when we visited because of a special event.
We took many many pictures but here are a few to give you a glimpse of what we saw. We also visited the Grand Palace again, a couple of days ago, with my cousin Stephanie. This time the Temple of the Emerald Buddha was open but no pictures were allowed inside.
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| Paying close attention to our tour guide |
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| Adriano was sleeping most of the time |
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| The details |
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| The closest a camera was allowed to get to the Emerald Buddha |
We then visited Wat Pho, which is the temple of the reclining Buddha. This is the birth place of the traditional Thai massage. It is pretty amazing to see how large the reclining statue is.
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| He woke up for this part of the visit! |
It was a really nice day visiting beautiful places.
Amazing!!!
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