Grand Palace, Bangkok, Thailand
Inside the entrance of the Grand Palace grounds, the king's guards march unannounced to or from their posts for the change of guard.
Outside the walls of the palace and its temples, but inside the grounds.
A statue in front of one of the many temples in the Grand Palace.
The Grand Palace
A pretty water feature.
Orchids growing on a rare Vatica Diospyroides Syming tree native to Thailand.
A Thai art student sketches a temple.
A very old desert rose.
Half man, half je ne sais quoi...
Yet another temple in the grounds of the Grand Palace.
A nice spot to rest before visiting the main part of the Palace grounds.
A really big temple.
Close up of a temple
And another shot of it
An impressive bonsai garden
A river inside the bonsai garden.
A wall of bonsais separates the temples from the Grand Palace.
Pretty temple
A corridor around the temples. The walls are decorated with very intricate artwork, painted with real gold.
Demons guard the entrance to the Grand Palace grounds.
Another shot of the demons
A very sculpted temple garden.
A shiny temple roof.
A corridor around some temples.
A closeup of a desert rose.
Not a closeup of a desert rose.
Another little 'pond' in front of a very big desert rose.
An elephant adorns a mini temple outside a giant temple.
More gold statues adorning another temple.
A completely gold Wat (temple).
Entering the grounds of the main palace area.
These little 'ponds' are everywhere, not just in the palace but throughout Bangkok (and possibly all over Thailand) & even outside people's homes. They are filled with plant life and little fish.
Closeup of a painting on a mural on a corridor surrounding a few temples.
These very old murals were being restored by handpainting over the existing paintings.
Palace grounds.
Monuments in the palace grounds.
More temples.
Making an offering to Buddha. People sat in little shaded huts with marble flooring, just next to this area, and prepared elaborate offerings for Buddha such as hot bowls of delicious smelling green curry, seafood soups, noodles etc and a bottle of water with a straw in it. They were all opened and placed on a big silver platter and then offered with burning incense sticks to the shrine.
An interesting note: The guy in the centre of this picture is paying his respects to the Thai king, who is celebrating his 80th birthday this year, by wearing a yellow t-shirt with the king's emblem on the front pocket. Wherever we went in Bangkok, we saw hundreds of people wearing these yellow t-shirts.
A demon outside a temple.
A garden surrounding one of the larger temples.
The roof of a temple.
The gardens in the Grand Palace are beautifully sculpted.
A demon in plant form.
