Today I wore a green dress and necklace, in honor of our visit to the Emerald Buddha.
The Emerald Buddha is the most highly revered Buddha image in Thailand. This Buddha is housed in a special facility on the grounds of the Grand Palace, a place that is currently used for ceremonial occasions only. Although the building is closed for visitors, our group was allowed special access and escort by Professor M.R. Suriyavudh Sukhasvasti, a member of the royal family.
The palace grounds are incredibly beautiful. The painted walls are so perfectly painted they looks like they are covered in wall paper, but it is clear they were hand painted. There are many statues on the Palace grounds, many of which guard the Buddha statue. There are also a large number of military officials guarding, in case the statues don’t intimidate you into behaving.
At one point one of these armed military guards ran at our group blowing a whistle and yelling at us as we tried to take a group photo. It turns out that groups are not allowed to poise in front of the palace while holding signs. After briefly confiscating our sign, the kind soldier returned our “Fulbright Thailand” sign and we boarded the air conditioned bus.
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