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Article / Temple / The Grand Palace and Emerald Buddha Temple |
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Article by: Somkid ( 29-01-2008 ) |
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The Emerald Buddha Temple, or simply referred to as “Wat Phra Keo” amongst us Thais, is one of Bangkok’s must see attractions. The temple is located within the grounds of the Grand Palace and houses the most sacred Buddha statue in all the land!..that’s right..you’ve guessed it, The Emerald Buddha! You really can’t say you’ve been to Thailand without visiting Wat Phra Keo, it’s just plain wrong! The place is usually packed with tourists from all around the world, but it’s still definitely worth the experience.
The temple is located in the historic center of Bangkok in Phra Nakhon District. It was built in 1785 by King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke (Rama I), when he moved the capital from Thonburi to Bangkok. Today, the temple doesn't have any monks living there, but contains some of the most highly decorated and surreal looking pagodas, sacred buildings and statues. It almost feels like you're in a dream and walking through some sort to mythical Buddhist sanctuary, well. taking away all the tourists happily snapping pictures all around you.
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When visiting Wat Phra Keo, do dress appropriately, otherwise they won’t let you in. That means no cleavage ladies... man!!...I never thought I would tell anyone that… anyways, if you’re wearing shorts or are showing too much legs, you can borrow a Thai sarong free of charge (it’s included with your admissions fee).
You don’t have to rent it from the guy outside, who’s also trying to sell you a rip-off and over-priced boat tour of the Chao Phraya River (more about that below). |
Admissions Fee:
- 250 Baht/person.
- Free for Thais, it’s one of the few benefits we have here.
Hours:
- Opens Daily (Do not believe anyone that tells you it’s closed due to repairs or some Buddhist ceremony, it may be part of the infamous Gem scam.
- 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM
Try to get there around 10:00AM-10:30 AM, so you'll have plenty of time to leave before the place closes and avoid the mass exodus.
How to get there:
- Taxi: taking the taxi is probably the most convenient and economical way to get there, but the key is you have to make sure the driver turns on the meter first!.
- Tuk-Tuk: If you’re coming from a short distant (~10 minutes drive), you can take a tuk-tuk. It’ll cost you a bit more than the taxi because driving a tuk-tuk requires more traffic maneuvering skills, plus there’s no meter and the price will depends on the driver’s secret mathematical formula, something like (Distance + Tourist or not?) +(Weight X Weather conditions)?.
- Walking: If you’re coming from Khaosan Road and can stand the heat, you can walk there as well. It should take you about 30 minutes or less, just ask for directions from any Thai person and they should be able to point you to the right direction.
To assist you in getting to Wat Phra Keo, we’ve provided the Thai spelling of it below. It says “Wat Phra Keo”, which you can hand to the taxi driver or anyone you like when asking for directions.
Beware! :
- Don’t go for the boat tour being offered by the guy standing in front of the entrance. He’ll show you vivid photos of all the famous places that you’ll see along the tour all for the price of 800-1000 Baht each. In reality, the boat will just zip by all those places and all you’ll see are houses along the river going by in a blur. It might be fun the first 5 minutes, but definitely not worth the price. It’s worth more like 100 Baht if you ask me
- As the sign outside the entrance indicates, “Don’t trust wily strangers”. This is very important, check out our Scam Alerts to find out why.
- There’ll be extremely aggressive souvenir peddlers outside the temple trying to sell you all sorts of stuffs. They’ll be in your face and will even pull your hand/arm or grab your shirt. If you’re not interested, the best thing to do is to repeat “No” and keep on walking away, you can even run if you like, I’m not kidding!
We’d love to hear from you! If you have any questions, comments or simply want to share your Thai Xperience, please do so in our Forum!
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