Summer Palace
The summer palace was built by Rama V to commemorate the village where he met his wife. How romantic is that!
Lo hiding between the antlers
The gardens are gorgeous, with topiary herds of elephants, deer and rabbits. Sounds of peacocks echo through the gardens but they remained frustratingly elusive. Their cries were augmented by the screech of other unseen birds in faraway branches. But we did see an amazing variety of bougainvillea in all colours.
Hans standing by the elephant's trunk.
From the walls in the Reception Hall, yellowing faded faces of Ramas I to IX gazed out from acestral photos. Each Rama is believed to be an incarnation of Vishnu. Other rooms held lacquered furniture inlaid with mother-of-pearl and stunning teak carvings. As with all Buddhist buildings, we have to remove our shoes and in some cases, we were asked the night before to dress respectfully, e.g. long pants, nothing sleeveless. They offer you shawls to borrow if you forgot, and they even had long cotton trousers for men.
Comments
Have you checked out the courses yet.
First of all...how is the food? You mrention exotic fruits and vegies. Sounds good! Are they prepared in spicy dishes when not enjoyed raw?
How's the heat? Is it more bearable cause you were fully prepared for it? [By the way...Barbados is routinely 30 during the day and dips to 24 at night!]
Sounds like everything is inexpensive [massages, bottled water etc.] Have you had a chance to fill up your suitcases with great bargains?? [Not counting the annoying jewellery store!]
I'm really enjoying your accounts of your trip, Lo...along with the interesting history lessons!
The temperature in Chiangrai is about 25 during the day and not as humid as Bangkok, where it was 35 and stifling.
am having trouble getting into my blog tonight - system very, very slow, but it's allowing me into the
comment section.