Wat Arun

The last temple in our "temple run" was Wat Arun. It is located on the other side of the Chao Phraya River, separated from Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew and Wat Pho. From Wat Pho, we just had to go back to the pier and take the short boat ride across the river. The fare was just THB3/pax and the ride was just really a couple of minutes.

After alighting from the boat, we just headed towards this huge structure that's one of Bangkok's most famous landmarks. In contrast with the two previous temples, Wat Arun did not have the extensive temple grounds that I was expecting. Anyway, I wasn't complaining at that time because we're already quite tired and we still had to conserve energy for our Grand Pearl Cruise later that night.

After paying the admission fee of THB50/pax, we just roamed around the main prang of the temple, and climbed afterwards. It was very steep, and the staircase was quite narrow. However, the view at the top was rewarding because of the view, though going down was as tough as going up. After Wat Arun, we took the boat ride back to the other side of the river to take a taxi back to our hotel to freshen up for the dinner cruise.

Wat Pho

After the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew, next stop of our "temple" run was Wat Pho. Since we came from N8 Tha Tian and saw Wat Pho on our way to the Grand Palace, we just walked back towards the pier and looked for the entrance of Wat Pho. It was on the adjacent side of the street in front of the pier's market, so we got in and paid the THB100 admission fee. This included a free bottle of drinking water that can be claimed somewhere in the temple grounds.

Before looking for the famous 43-meter long reclining Buddha, we walked around and found other, obviously smaller Buddha images. The crowd was not as big as it was in Wat Phra Kaew, but tourists still outnumbered the locals. The pointed structures were similar with those in the previous temple, although they're also smaller.

After getting around the temple grounds, we saw the drinking water station, so we claimed our free drinks and went on to find the reason why we went to Wat Pho. Just a short walk from the drinking water station, we were able to find the building of the reclining Buddha, removed our shoes as it is their custom, and entered the building. It was really huge, with some replicas around it, which the locals used for praying. There were also bowls on the walls where they put coins for good fortune. After going around the Buddha, we went straight out to go back to the pier to go to our last temple of the day, Wat Arun.

Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha)

On our first day in Bangkok, my wife and I started with our "temple run" from the Grand Palace grounds and Wat Phra Kaew, or Temple of the Emerald Buddha. We landed at Bangkok around 9:00AM and arrived in our hotel, Courtyard by Marriott, before our target time of 11:00AM, giving us just enough time to see the Grand Palace, which is open only until 3:30PM (from 8:30AM).

We took the train from BTS Ratchadamri to BTS Saphan Taksin for THB25/pax. From my notes, we could have taken the THB15 orange ferry ride from Saphan Taksin to N9 Tha Chang, but there were just too many people lining up that we decided to take the "special" ferry. Little did we know that the ferry was just a small motor boat that we feared could have capsized anytime. And that ride was worth THB100 each. And we were brought not to N9 Tha Chang, but instead, to N8 Tha Tian. Tough luck to start our trip.

Trying to figure out where we were, we walked past the market from the pier, straight to the main road, and we immediately saw Wat Pho. I knew we were close, so we just walked straight another block, then turned left. We got past the Thai-only entrance of the Grand Palace and got to the tourist entrance in around 15 minutes.

Even though there were a lot of people, the queue for the tickets wasn't that long. Each ticket cost THB550, including admission to Vimanmek Mansion. The latter is not within the palace grounds, and was not part of the itinerary, so we didn't visit it. From my notes, it was a 10-minute taxi ride from the Grand Palace, and given our time constraint, I chose not to go there.

The name was very much appropriate for the place, for it was really grand. Almost everything was made up of gold, and each structure was towering in its own right. The details on the walls were very exquisite, as well as ornaments all around. There was even a model of the Angkor Wat, though I really didn't know why they had to put it there. The beauty of the place in its entirety justified the admission fee. I wanted to stay longer, but still had to go to Wat Pho and Wat Arun before the sun set. So we just headed back towards the pier to our next destination, to see the huge, reclining Buddha in Wat Pho.