Rattanakosin: Bangkok countryside tours, things to do & travel guide
Thaifly: Thailand tour operator, getting extreme sports & excite recreations
Rattanakosin Bangkok is sprawling, chaotic and exhausting to do it justice and keep your sanity, don't try to do too much in too short a time. The place to start is Ratanakosin. When Rama I developed Ratanakosin as his new capital in 1782. In 1782 when King Phra Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke accepted the invitation of the officials and the people to ascend the throne as the first King of the Chakri Dynasty, he moved the capital to the east bank of the Chaophraya River. After the sacking of Ayutthaya and a temporary stay across the river in Thonburi. The new capital was sited for protection beside a river and turned into an artificial island by the construction of defensive canals, with the Grand Palace and adjoinong royal temple, Wat Phra Kaeo, Sanam Luang, National Museum, and Wat Pho.
Rattanakosin is the oldest part of Bangkok. Located by the river, this is where most of Bangkok's main historical attractions are, for example Wat Pra Kaew and Wat Pho. These impressive sights aren't the only things to do in Ko Rattanakosin however, and many of the other sights are within easy walking distance.
Grand Palace Thailand is one of the leading tourist center in South-East Asia. There are many attractive things such as beautiful scenery, culture, way of life of people and historical places like Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha Temple. It is one of the high light of Bangkok tour after adjoining the Grand Palace you enter exiting the Emerald Buddha Temple that you cannot be missed.
Wat Pho (The Temple of the Reclining Buddha) A 16th century temple .It's the oldest, largest and has the most pagodas of any monastery in the city.This Wat was the first open university in Thailand .Wat Pho is known for its giant reclining Buddha, 46 meters long and 15meter high.
Wat Pho (Reclining Buddha) Wat Pho(The Temple of the Reclining Buddha) A 16th century temple .It's the oldest, largest and has the most pagodas of any monastery in the city.This Wat was the first open university in Thailand .Wat Pho is known for its giant reclining Buddha, 46 meters long and 15meter high.
Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn)Wat Arun is one of Bangkok's best know landmark. It stands on the west bank of the Chao Phraya river in Thonburi. Wat Arun is best from the opposite bank of the river, it glistens in the sunlight during the day and stands dark and noble at dawn or dusk. A visit to the beautiful monastery complex surrounding the familiar towers is very worth-while. These towers, the Pra Prang although best known the only part of Wat Arun. It also contains narrow lanes,elegants old white buildings shrines pools of turtiesand to fine giants, Yuk Wat Jaeng mortal enemies of the Yuk Wat Pho across the river.
Emerald Buddha temple (Wat Phra Kaeo)
According to legend, the Emerald Buddha was created in India in 43 BC by Nagasena in the city of Pataliputra (today Patna). The legends state that after remaining in Pataliputra for three hundred years, it was taken to Sri Lanka to save it from a civil war. In 457, King Anuruth of Burma sent a mission to Ceylon to ask for Buddhist scriptures and the Emerald Buddha, in order to support Buddhism in his country.
These requests were granted, but the ship lost its way in a storm during the return voyage and landed in Cambodia. When the Thais captured Angkor Wat in 1432 (following the ravage of the bubonic plague), the Emerald Buddha was taken to Ayutthaya, Kamphaeng Phet, Laos and finally Chiang Rai, where the ruler of the city hid it. Cambodian historians recorded capture of the Buddha statue in their famous Preah Ko Preah Keo legend.
However, some art historians describe the Emerald Buddha as belonging to the Chiang Saen Style of the 15th Century AD, which would mean it is actually of Lannathai origin. Historical sources indicate that the statue surfaced in northern Thailand in the Lannathai kingdom in 1434. One account of its discovery tells that lightning struck a pagoda in a temple in Chiang Rai, after which, something became visible beneath the stucco. The Buddha was dug out, and the people believed the figurine to be made of emerald, hence its name.
King Sam Fang Kaen of Lannathai wanted it in his capital, Chiang Mai, but the elephant carrying it insisted, on three separate occasions, on going instead to Lampang. This was taken as a divine sign and the Emerald Buddha stayed in Lampang until 1468, when it was finally moved to Chiang Mai, where it was kept at Wat Chedi Luang. The Emerald Buddha remained in Chiang Mai until 1552, when it was taken to Luang Prabang, then the capital of the Lao kingdom of Lan Xang. Some years earlier, the crown prince of Lan Xang, Setthathirath, had been invited to occupy the vacant throne of Lannathai. However, Prince Setthathirath also became king of Lan Xang when his father, Photisarath, died. He returned home, taking the revered Buddha figure with him. In 1564, King Setthathirath moved it to his new capital at Vientiane. In 1779, the Thai General Chao Phraya Chakri put down an insurrection, captured Vientiane and returned the Emerald Buddha to Siam, taking it with him to Thonburi. After he became King Rama I of Thailand, he moved the Emerald Buddha with great ceremony to its current home in Wat Phra Kaew on March 22, 1784. It is now kept in the main building of the temple, the Ubosoth.
Sanam Luang is one of the last open spaces left in Bangkok. The capital gather in the early evening to meet, eat and play. It's in front of the Grand Palace, the field is also the venue for national ceremonies.
The National Museum near the northwest corner of Sanam Luang, the National Museum of its kind in Southeast asia, contains and 18th century palace and a group of well-designed buildings.
A word of warning : when you're headibg for the Grand Palace or Wat Pho, you may well be approched by someone pretending to be a student or an official, who will tell you that the sight is closed when it's not, because they want to lead you on a shopping trip. Although the opening hours of the Grand Palace are sometimes erratic because of state occasions, it's far better to put in a bit of extra legwork and check it out for yourself.
