We left the hotel wanting to go to the Grand Palace. On the way, the driver told us, that the street is closed and he'll bring us to another place where we can take a water taxi. We tried to talk him out of that, but were not successful. The place he dropped us off was a boat tour operation, so we just walked away and went by foot.

Close to the Grand Palace, we met a "friendly guy" who told us that the palace is closed for morning prayers and we should go see the "Black Buddha". He helped us getting a tuk-tuk for a good price and we arrived at the temple with the supposedly black Buddha, just that he is not black at all. There we had the "good luck to meet another friendly guide" who told us long stories about his family and his visits to the black Buddha, the "lucky Buddha". At the end he directed us to a jewlery outlet that was supposedly very special and then another clothing store. We insisted at that point that we just want to get back to the Grand Palace. Later that day, I found on the Internet the exact story of what we had experienced: it was all a set-up and the "friendly guides" working together to get us to the stores. I felt so stupid!

We spent quite some time in the Grand Palace, taking lots of photos and enjoying the beauty of the temples.

We ended the tour with a foot massage (right by the temple - 1 hr cost $14).
Then we returned by back to the hotel by Sky Train and cooled off in the swimming pool.
We had dinner in the Patang area (Thai Mex ) and afterwards spent some time at the Patang Night Market, buying presents for everybody...