Misadventure at Grand Palace

Checked out the Grand Palace...didn't go great. Excuse me, what's the Grand Palace? So the Grand Palace is another complex of gardens, buildings, and statues. The "Temple of the Emerald Buddha" is there, too (Wat Phra Kaew). It's more or less the #1 tourist sight in Bangkok and boy does it feel that way when you're there. 

Background: it's a neat mix of styles as it was built up over the course of 200 years by different kings who lived there. However, the current King (may he live long) lives elsewhere. 

Now the bummers. Which are mostly our fault. 

1. They only take cash money so bring it. We didn't have enough. My outfit was provided by the Palace since I was a stupes and dressed inappropriately. You have to leave a 200 baht/per item deposit too, so you're going to want to have cash.  

2. It was insane crowded. All the tour groups in the world were there. Tour groups are cool, but when there are ten thousand of any tour group it's a crazy place. Look at this picture of a giant American man, but mostly note the crowd. Not peaceful - more like a Hong Kong subway station. 

3. Scammers. Palace opens at 8:30am everyday and don't forget it. Some people will say it's closed for a ceremony or something-- they're lying. Just go. 

Or don't.