The place is rammed with tourists, including large groups with shouting guides. You need to retreat into your own bubble. Despite the crowds, walking through the ticket checkpoint into the ground of the temple is a pretty breathtaking experience. The buildings are so ornate. It took me a while to orientate and relate what was on the ground to the guide leaflet that is handed out. Essentially the site is in two halves. The first is the Wat Phra Kaew and the second is a series of palaces.
I spent ages in the Wat area and left myself only about an hour for the palaces. This was purely based on my fascination with the Wat area but turned out a good allocation of time. Despite descriptions of plenty of Palace building in the guide, most of them were closed to the pubic,- even to walk past them. They were part of the inner area.
All in all it was a thoroughly worthwhile visit and I definitely wouldn't cut off your nose to spite your face in following some of the TripAdvisor posters who object to Farangs paying 500 Bart when Thais go free. To me, it was a tenner very well spent!
The oddest sight for me was a couple carrying a doll in their backpack, complete with nappy. Goodness knows what story that had to tell.
That evening I was torn between finding somewhere new and going back to the Front Page. The Front Page won and I had another bowl of their extremely spicy Tom Yam soup, washed down by a couple of beers. Very nice!
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