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finally landed at Bangkok airport. This end was nowhere near as stressful as Delhi airport. We found the tourist bus to Kho San road and from there walked round to Rambutri to find accomodation.
On our first day we went to see the national museum to find out some info on thai history so we could appreciate the sights we were hoping 2 see in the next few weeks better. From here we walked down to the river and got a crowded ferry down 2 Sathorn in order to get the skytrain to Siam Square. We did a little bit of window shopping. We were surprised how close it was to christmas. In india there was hardly any hint that christmas was around the corner so it was wierd 2 c decorations up and festive music playing in all the shops. Followed the same route back - while on the ferry we watched the sun go down and all the temples began to be lit up, it was spectacular.
Did the touristy thing and visited the Grand Palace. Included in the ticket price was entry into Wat Phra Kaew and its grounds. I think we spent more time here than looking at the Grand Palace as you can only see the outside of the buildings. Wat Phra Kaew is known as the Temple of the Emerald Buddha (really made of jade). I was amazed at how small it was, for such i large temple i was expecting a larger statue. Instead it was almost overshadowed by all the gold surrounding it. we must have been in the grounds for well over an hour exploring all the various stupas and buildings and gazing at the galleries that surrounded the whole compound. Not 2 far away was Wat Pho which is the largest and oldest temple in Bangkok. It's here that the largest reclining Buddha in Thailand is housed. This didn't disapoint - it was huge (took a few attempts 2 try and get it all in in one pic). We also decided that we would stay in Bangkok till after the kings birthday so booked the train for the 6th up 2 Phitsanulok.
Walked up to find Vimanmek Teak Mansion (also inc in Grand Palace tickets) which is supposed to be the worlds largest golden teak building. It was built for Rama V in the early 20th century. As its been converted into a mueum we had to have a guided tour, we had just missed one so had to rush to meet up with it. The mansion was split into four different appartments and each had its own colour - ivory, green, blue and pink. The tour itself wasn't that long but we had 3 different guides, each one for a different level. As the mansion is set in the Dusit Palace grounds we had a look around. There wer lots of different musuems to have a look in. We visited the Support Foundation museum which housed traditional arts and handicrafts, one on traditional thai textiles, the arts of the kingdom exhibition and the royal elephant mueum. On the walk back we visited Wat Benchamabophit which is made of white Carrara marble and has the largest collection of Buddha images.
The kings birthday: Spend the day relaxing in santichaiprakan park reading and watching the river. Thenin the evening we joined in with the street celebrations. They had been going on for the last couple of nights but 2nites was the largest. fireworks and firecrackers were being set off at the juctions of some of the streets. We timed one just right and saw three displays all at once. Walking through the main street which had been closed to cars we tried some of the food from the stalls that lined the road. There was also a procession of floats, almost like a carnival.
Early morning train to Phitsanulok. (7hrs) Didn't do much when we got there except looking for a hotel and then walking round the market that was nearby.
Walked up to the bus station and got a bus to Old Sukhothai. Sukhothai established in the 13th century was the 1st independent kingdom of Siam. Now the ruins of this city are enclosed in a historical park. We only expored the central section, that enclosed within the old city walls but the whole park covers a 5km radius. The main temples we visted were; Wat Mahathat ( the largest), Wat si sawai, wat tra phang ngoen, wat sa si, ta pha daeng shrine, wat sorasak and wat Mai
The next day we did similar and got the bus to Kamphaeng Phet which had another historical park. This one was smaller and there wasn't so many tourists. In fact for most of the time we were the only tourists there. The ruins weren't as impressive as those in Sukhothai but still worthwhile exploring.
Thought we had better explore Phitsanulok on the 3rd day as we were using it as a base to explore the older cities nearby. In the end we only really visited Wat Phra Si Rotana and walked along the river. The next moring we caught an ordinary train to Chiang Mai (no set seats)
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