Grand Palace Bangkok

To go or not to go? That was the question I asked myself for my last day in Bangkok. I thought I had enough of buddha images, and heard that the Grand Palace is always crowded and the pricey price tag at 500 baht for foreigners made me rethink my itinerary. So I searched other alternative, and found that none of those places are easy to go to either, so on 6 Feb 2015 I decided to go to Grand Palace anyway.

It is quite easy to walk from the pier to the grand palace, just turn left and keep going and you won't miss the long white wall that surrounds the palace complex.

The complex

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The long queue on the right was the foreigners queue, this is after you paid the entrance fee which include several entrance tickets that you don't really use anyway. The left hand side was for Thai people (who pay zero baht) and guides.

You will be greeted with huge murals along the halls. It depicts an ancient story 

Inside the inner complex, there were quite a few of small buildings, most you can't really enter. The intricate decorations on each buildings are quite a view. Even you feel like you want to scrutinize the window due to its excessive carvings and such.

The color are mostly gold, green, blue, white and red and quite impressive from afar. However, what impressive me the most is actually the model of Angkor Wat that is oddly placed inside the complex. If the miniature size is amazing in my opinion, I wonder how the real Ang Kor Wat fare. Many people say it doesn't do any justice to the real one.

Model Ang Kor Wat

Model of Ang Kor Wat

The complex is not too big in my opinion, I spent only 1 hour here, sparing some time to actually look at the colorful decorative ornaments (I don't know the right word as I know nothing about design or architecture), and also the weather was so hot that I couldn't stand being outside for too long.

The emerald buddha temple at the centre

The buildings outside of the inner complex

So my verdict is, I was quite satisfied with the visit, because of the colors and the model of Ang kor Wat. I do still think the admission fee is way to high, but the price will only going up so go as soon as possible, especially if you are into asian architecture and temples.
My advice is do not join a tour as you can navigate yourself inside the complex, it will be a waste of money on tour.
There are a lot of people even early in the morning (I heard), so you do have to be patient when taking a photo.