The Grand Palace is Grand. The construction of it began in May 1782 at the order of King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke. Other Kings continued to build on it through the years following. By 1925 the king, the Royal Family and the government were no longer permanently settled at the palace, and had moved to other residences. It's still used for other purposes and is open for tourists.

Instead of being a single building, it is a building with halls and pavilions and gardens and courtyards and open lawns . The beauty cannot be described by me. You must see for yourself. Even the pictures do not really give you an honest idea of the beauty.

I spent hours walking and looking around the palace. Each corner brought different design beauty.

My camera battery played out halfway during my tour and I left my spare battery at the hostel so it would not run down, I guess. I do intelligent things like that. I took some remaining shots with my iphone, so it was not a total loss.

Since the camera battery is dead and I have been walking and looking all day, I decide to do the Reclining Buddha at Wat Pho another day.

Around town today I met people from Finland, Sweden, Switzerland and England.

Back at the hostel that night I go out with two other guys, James from Austrailia and Cian (pronounced Kian) from Ireland. James has been to Bangkok many times and takes us walking around town to show us things to do and where to eat, etc. We had a good time. This is the reason many like myself choose a hostel over a hotel. In a hotel you leave your room and never speak to anyone. In a hostel you meet so many interesting people.

One of my roommates when I first got to the hostel was Jaran (pronounced Yaran). He was from Sweden. I enjoyed learning about that country from him. He moved on after a couple of days. He was a good guy.