Now I had read the websites advising of scams where “guides” say a certain place is closed and persuade you to follow them to another site. Well we almost fell for one but I better explain the first scam of the day.
PJ was given some bird seed to feed the birds, no problems he thinks except after the fact he is told it is 50 baht which can buy you a small local meal here…
Anyway we rock up to one of the gates of the palace and are told by a scruffy (this was odd I thought) guard that the palace is closed until 2pm for religious reasons and that we should hop on the tuk tuk waiting just 5m away to go to other sights before returning.
We said we first go across the road to look at a small temple and then come back for the tuk tuk. However while crossing the road back we noticed a main gate further down the road that is open and has tourist flowing in and out. Scam avoided but we could still see the tout trying to convince others at the other gate (its closer to the main intersection hence everyone passes it) that the palace is closed, blah blah blah…
The Grand Palace is the home of the king but also is site of several major temples aspiring to various faiths, mostly Hindu and Buddists to no doubt safeguard the well being of the residence.
Afterwards we managed to walk and find the Reclining Buddha temple, where a giant gold reclining Buddha rests plus numerous other entities of Buddha. By this time we were a bit templed out on what was a typical hot and muggy day and so the call was made to go back to the hotel where we passed the Giant Gate on the way back.
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| Grand Palace and Reclining Buddha |
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