The largest of the palace buildings is the Grand Palace Hall. Designed in 1882 by British architect the exterior shows a peculiar blend of Italian Renaissance and traditional Thai architecture. This style is often referred to as “Westerner wearing a Thai classical dancer’s headdress”.
In the cloisters that define the perimeter of the complex are extensive murals depicting scenes from the Thai version of the Ramayans. Devided into 178 sections the murals illustrate the epic from the beginning and till the end.
The Grand Palace is considered the most sacred site by the Thai and so you should be dressed appropriately: not wearing shorts and sleeve-less shirts, no bare feet. For those who happened to be dressed in not the right way there are sarongs and baggy pants on loan (for a deposit).
I would like to note also that on our way to the palace we were repeatedly approached by some kind of guys, swindlers or jokers, I do not know, but they tried to prevent us to reach the palace, they said that the palace was closed that morning (or afternoon - depending on the time) for some religious ceremony. One even, stopping us on the way to the boat station, said that "today the boats do not go, because at night it had rained" (???). And instead he offered us a ride to other interesting places for the very cheap price - only 20 baht.
Ignoring all these "good Samaritan", we made it safely to the palace that turned out to be opened. So if you also happen to come across this kind of good guys with their advice, the best thing to do would be just ignore them.
Oh, it looks so nice! Unfortunately i could'n visit this place when i was in Bangkok :(
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