Day 3

Day 3 –
Today was another wonderful day! First we took a taxi to the Grand Palace to see where the King of Thailand lives. Actually the king who is in power now doesn’t live there, but Kings in the past have. We thought taking a taxi there would be cheaper and better than paying for a tour, but we were a little overwhelmed when we arrived and saw how huge the place was. It was also the last day of the season which is a big day in Thailand, so the Palace area was very crowded. We had no idea where to go or what to do, so we decided to pay for a guide to show us around and we found a really nice and helpful young guy. He took us around the palace grounds and we were amazed at the ornate buildings and beauty of it all. We were able to enter the temple and see the Emerald Buddah who was dressed in his “rainy season costume”. The next day, his outfit was changed in a big ceremony for the next season. There are 3 seasons in Thailand and the Buddah has an outfit for each one. The King will be celebrating his 80th birthday on Dec. 5th, so we saw many signs and people wearing yellow shirts in honor of him. We saw the balcony where he will address the crowd on his birthday.

After we spent a couple of hours at the palace, our tour guide walked us through a crazy and busy marketplace to the canal area. Here, we boarded a long tail boat and went on a tour of the canal for over an hour. It wasn’t exactly the clear and peaceful waters that we are used to, but it was really interesting to see how the Thai people live on the edge of the river. We were dropped off near the What Phao temple, but Allie wasn’t feeling great and was more than ready for a nap, so we decided to find a taxi and head back to the hotel. We tried out the Thai restaurant in the hotel for lunch and then went up to the room for a rest break. Kelsey and I did some more shopping and then returned to the hotel to get the girls and Jason. We went to a very Americanized mall down the street where they had a HUGE Christmas tree and some pretty decorations. We ate at a Japanese place there and then walked back to the hotel. It had just gotten dark and this was our first experience in the street in the dark. It made us a little nervous, but we made it back to the hotel safely. We were all tired and ready to go to bed again!!