Thailand: Royal Palace

DISCLAIMER: All these pictures are taken after a ridiculous amount of travel so we both look TERRIBLE

Brent and I found out a few months ago that we are pregnant!  YEAH!  So what do you do when you are 11 weeks pregnant? Well we go to Thailand, why?  Because I am an idiot, but the tickets were bought so we went.  

It was a long 21 hours of travel we arrived on the other side of the world in the middle of the night Las Vegas time.  Since, we had to quickly adjust to the time change we forced ourselves to go out. We were very fortunate that Toren's in laws (Ron and Heidi Gailey) live and Bangkok and not only put us up for a few day but gave us huge insight, guidance and ability to do everything.  

Ron sent his driver (how cool is that?) to pick us up and start us at the Royal Palace!  What a great way to start because despite being tired, jet lagged and super sick, we were AMAZED!

Everything, was so intricate and shiny! This was the first building you saw, so it did a great job of setting the tone.

This tall man was beautiful, but not as scary as I think he is suppose to be.

These amazing creations are called chedi's.  They are everywhere.  I still can't remember what they are called so I have to ask Brent every time.

Here is a great example of the detail that is put into every single aspect of this large compound.  I think total there were about 12 large temples and shrines!

I have no idea who this guy, but he was awesome!

This helps illustrate how big these buildings are!  They were huge!

Wouldn't you hate to be one of these little guys holding up this entire shrine?!  I know I would.

Brent and I enjoying our time together.

I love this picture.  It is just so iconic for what the experience was.  It is simple, beautiful, intricate, and seriously amazing.

Right next to these statues there was one being restored!

This is a model of a place where Brent really wants to visit "Angkor Wat" but that is in Cambodia so we have yet to make it there.  I have no idea why there is a model of it now. 

I can not express how amazing this experience was.

These murals were in a side building.  I am thinking they told some sort of story, but I since it was in Thai I guess I will never know.

I love the growth of this path and the flowers!

Brent in front of one of the side temples

In the main, largest temple was one of the most famous Buddha's.  The Jade Buddha. Unfortunately, because of some royal ceremonies that were going on we were unable to get in.  This is where a nice camera comes in handy because Brent was able to get this picture from the outside.  I also learned that they change the Buddha's close three times a year with the seasons (sunny, cold, and rainy season).

This is the building in which the Jade Buddha resides. In front, of the temple is a bunch of places to leave and burn offerings!  

When you exit the temples you move onto the actual palace grounds, even thought I don't think the royals actually live there anymore.

One of the gorgeous towers of the palace.  Isn't it so unique how the trees also make a statement, unlike our trees which are just tree like.

This guard was great.  He didn't move at all.  There was another one who was all fidgety and kept moving.  We got a picture with the better one!

Here is the full palace living quarters.

 Look at this crab plant.  It was modeled after Brent.

Brent and I have a knack for running into famous people.  This is the crowned prince.  

Later, that day we tried to go to another really famous Wat but it was shut down because President Obama stopped by... We were super annoyed that we had to save for this vacation and the guy who has his own plane got to go to a place preventing us from going!

Luckily, there was more to do so we moved past that and so we did, but that is in the next post.