Thai Royal Palace

  This morning we got to "sleep in". Meeting in the lobby at 9:00 we were going to pile into a couple of tuktuks and headed off to the Royal Palace. But one of the drivers advised me my shorts were too short. Not wanting to offend anyone with my sexy knees I ran back up to the room and quickly changed into long pants. Our driver was very pleased, smiled and gave me the thumbs up.
  The two drivers took different routes which made Nathan a bit nervous as we didn't know where Chris and Peg were. I think it was actually a little competition between the drivers as just prior to arriving at the palace we turned the corner and ended up just in front of the other two in their tuktuk. Our driver had a big grin, obviously pleased that his short cut had worked.

  At the entrance we found out that our clothing issue had not been totally resolved as Nathan's shorts, which came well below the knee, were deemed unacceptable by the clothing police at the entrance and he has to end up renting a pair of baggy pants at a facility set up just to accommodate visitors. 

  The palace grounds were mobbed with tourists and so we resolved to just do the best we could in terms of photography. The palace complex is overwhelmingly large and elaborately decorated. There was no way to take it all in in a photo anyway so concentrating on details rather than overviews was the way to go. In one area there was an active Buddhist shrine and I took a few pictures of folks
making sacrifices at the altars. Many of these were in the form of food or lighted incense or bits of gold leaf pressed onto a statue of the Buddha.  Couldn't resist photographing one woman lighting incense in her "I love NY" t-shirt.

  On the palace grounds is the temple of the Emerald Buddah.  Removing our shoes we went inside but were not allowed to photograph there so I took a picture through the doorway after leaving the temple, though I wished I had a longer telephoto lens. 

  Several buildings had enormously long murals on exterior, portico covered walls. I took some pictures of a Thai artist working carefully on a mural, all the time plugged into his iPod. 

  We did not go inside the weapons museum, but I did photograph the poor guard who was standing so still, like a statue, in that hot sun in heavy uniform.
Tourists would pose with him. Some would try to break his concentration and try to get him to smile. I've seen this done almost anywhere there are honor guards posted at tourist attractions (one exception - I've never seen it at Arlington).  There's a reason those guns aren't loaded!
  Hot and thirsty, we decided it was time to go and worked our way back to the entrance so Nathan could return his rented pants and retrieve his shorts. Tuktuking our way back to the hotel it felt good to get back in the A/C. After lunch Peg, Chris and I took a taxi to MBK, a huge (I mean hugeaaaaah) shopping mall with many genuine article shops and gobs of "knock off" shops. In the knock off shops one can bargain for the price. Taking a taxi back to the hotel we joined Nathan for the "last supper" of the group as shortly after we said goodbye to Peg and Chris as they departed for the airport and their flight back to the UK. No tears, but hugs and firm handshakes signified that I have two new friends "over there".