Is it really the end?

We spent the morning touring the city, first by boat - we visited the royal barges, which for some reason, you had to pay to photograph - and then on foot. We spent a couple of hours at the Grand Palace, a huge area full of beautiful buildings decorated with gold leaf and coloured glass tiles. We ventured into the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, which holds a Buddha statue so sacred it can't be photographed...I think I must have gravely offended the Buddha when I burst into uncontrollable hiccups that might have disturbed the spiritual energies of the place a bit...

At the Grand Palace

Guard at the Grand Palace

Grand Palace

Grand Palace

We also visited the huge Reclining Buddha, a statue so large it doesn't fit in a single photo. Although the pillars that surround it don't really help...

Giant reclining Buddha

With hardly any time to breathe, we were off to the Siam Niramit cultural dinner show, a very touristy, big-budget spectacle that takes you through the history of Thailand, with an absolutely huge dinner buffet thrown in.

Siam Niramit

Farewell dinner

Back at the hotel, reluctant for our last day to end, some of us searched desperately for somewhere to have a Chang or two. We ended up at a tiny little bar with pink walls and a slightly questionable drinks menu...as Andy found out after ordering a glass of whisky and coke for about £1, what he actually got was a whole bottle of rum.

After this, we all got a little emotional during our goodbyes, jumped on a plane for a very boring 11-hour flight, and ended up back where we'd started a month ago. Lauren and I were once again sitting in a car, driving back to our hometown, only this time we knew a hell of a lot more about each other, had a lot of in-jokes and anecdotes to share, and a lot of memories.

written by  lucy3119 on December 5, 2009 from Bangkok, Thailand
from the travel blog: Thailand 2009
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