No trip to Bangkok is complete without a visit to the Grand Palace. I was lucky to visit this beautiful monument to the past glories of Thailand and its culture. Then there were no crowds or security checks to overcome. I would suggest that you take a guide if you are not on a pre arranged tour, they will not only give you a remarkable insight into the amazing structures but they also know the ropes for ticketing, access and guidance through the crowd. Our guide even had long trousers for us as we were wearing shorts (not allowed in any temple) a shawl for the lady in our group with a sleeveless dress and umbrellas to protect from the sun. There were five in our group and she charged 2000 baht, but well worth it. The entrance fee was about 1000 baht which included a Thai dance performance which we did not attend due to our timings. Check the performance times beforehand, it looked amazing. Try and go early as it gets very busy. Bring socks if you do not like going barefoot as you must remove your shoes. You are not supposed to photograph the Emerald Buddha inside the temple, so prepare how you hold your mobile phone!

Make sure that your feet are covered, shoulders are covered and legs are covered to get in, that said once you are in they do not seem to worry too much. It was very busy although there was plenty of space and you never felt claustrophobic. Take a camera with a large storage as there are so many beautiful things to capture. It cost 700 baht pp entrance and you could spend a good 4-5 hours there. Some Temples require you to remove your shoes to enter. There are plenty of good clean toilets and places to buy water if required. Use the map they issue you as there are many knooks and crannies to see and you really do not want to miss anything and it explains a lot about the Temples.

Wat Phra Kaew is located on the grounds of the Grand Palace.It costs 500BAHT a person to entry and you must be dressed respectfully. We had a hard time finding the Emerald Buddha how things are not labeled well and there is a million people there. If we were smart we would have paid for the a guide. There is a ton to see beside the Emerald Buddha and you are not going to want to miss out on any of it. Wat Phra Kaew houses the sacred Emerald Buddha that is seated in meditation pose and is carved out of a single piece of Jade. Buddha is 19 inches wide at the lap, and 26 inches high. Not as big as I was expecting but it is incredible. Most of the temples at the Grand Palace you can not take photos in.