Thailand - Laos Travel: Day 8 - Part 2 - Mae Phra Thoranee Beep Muay Phom & The Grand Palace, Bangkok | Trivacker

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Continued from Thailand – Laos Travel: Day 8 – Part 1 – Lunch at Chakrapong Mosque and a Visit to Coin Museum. For pre-travel, please refer here.

Going on the road by foot is not a favorite of many people. Some people like to use public transport quickly even though the distance is near.

We just walked from the Coin Museum to The Grand Palace. The distance is about 1km as well.

Here, the paths for pedestrians are a bit winding. We chose to tread directly in the middle which is actually a roundabout.

In the middle of the roundabout, there is a landscaping decoration and some workers are seen cleaning the area here. I’m not sure if they are locals or from neighboring countries such as Myanmar, Cambodia or Laos. To be sure, there are no faces other than Indo-China areas like Bangladesh, Pakistan and India.

They were also quite dedicated, forming a marching-like formation before starting the task.

Tatie and Aqif also did not miss the opportunity to take pictures with them. If you want to see the magnificent places, please. I just want to know the local people. What they make, how the cleaning system is in this area and so on, are all in my curious head.

From the roundabout, we crossed to the opposite street to see a monument in the middle.

This is Phan Phiphop Lila Junction. It is a sculpted monument consisting of four elephant heads in four corners. The white elephant is a sacred elephant according to the beliefs of the Thai people. I have heard stories about the sanctity of this white elephant and the Thai government is always handing out funds for any party that can find the white elephant.

Although we have different beliefs, we should respect them as we celebrate local cultural differences. Just like in India which considers cows as sacred animals.

A green and well-kept mini field in the middle of a crossroads. If you want to do crazy work, spread out mats and have a picnic here. Probably will be evicted by the municipality.

The mini-field is just to their left. Many lined up waiting for green traffic lights for pedestrians.

Condolences everywhere.

Then, we headed to the main street where The Grand Palace is located. There is an iron bridge here. Suddenly I was shocked because I thought it was a real person, even though it was a picture of a vertical banner.

From Google Maps, this little river seems to stop here. But in fact, it flows underground into the Chao Phraya River.

Ok, this is Mae Phra Thoranee Beep Muay Phom or its short name, Shrine of Mae Thorani.

I assume that if pose like this, no one will stare at me. Apparently, there is!

We turned our backs on Mae Phra Thoranee Beep Muay Phom. Sorry for not being able to share the picture from the front because we are not in opposite corners.

Who is Mae Phra Thoranee Beep Muay Phom?

According to the story, the Bodhisattva was meditating on his throne under the Bodhi tree. Mara, an evil person who’s jealous and wants to stop the Bodhisattva from achieving ‘enlightenment’, a level of self -purification of the highest level. With the help of his army, wild animals and his daughter, Mara tries to remove the Bodhisattva from his throne. All the gods were so frightened and fled, leaving the Bodhisattva alone to face Mara’s challenge. The Boddhisattva stretched out his right hand and touched the ground, to make the ground a witness of battle. The earth god in the form of a beautiful woman suddenly rose from under his throne and asserted the right of the Bodhisattva to occupy the Vajriisana throne. She curled his long hair, and a lot of water came out as an innumerable donation from the Buddha, resulting in a flood. The flood drowned Mara and his army, and the Bodhisattva was freed to attain enlightenment. So, the god of the earth is Mae Phra Thoranee Beep Muay Phom or Phra Mae Thorani.

If seen from the statue pictured above, it looks like her hair is long and flowing water.

We actually walked towards the Thai Ministry of Defense building. It is not in the plans to visit The Grand Palace as the mourning ceremony is taking place here. So, along this road, we can see so many Thais who come here to mourn.

A location mark for travelers as proof of having been here. Otherwise, we will be accused and criticized that this image was plagiarized from Google. Haha!

Hop-On Hop-Off-style buses such as in Kuala Lumpur or London are also available here. But, I don’t know how much the ticket fare is. However, being branded as “The Strat Ford Tour” is a bit less palatable on the eyes. Probably because the name is not local in character and more closely resembles the name of a city in the UK for example Stratford or Stratfordshire. Yes, we travelers want to see everything that comes locally.

I don’t know what kind of Hop On Hop Off bus this is.

When it was halfway, I planned to cross the street towards the entrance of The Grand Palace. Deliberately wanted to view what is going on inside there.

When writing this post, oh my God … I made a mistake and just realized about the actual location of The Grand Palace. I thought the palace was located in the mourning area. Apparently, it is an open field like Dataran Merdeka (Independence Square) in Kuala Lumpur. Due to the closed perimeter walls, I thought it was connected to or part of the perimeter of The Grand Palace.

Probably because in my head, the main purpose of coming here was to find a historical cannon placed in front of the Thai Ministry of Defense. Ever seen the movie The Queen of Langkasuka? The cannon belongs to the Green Queen. One of the greatest cannons in the Southeast Asian region.

Suddenly there were people who gave a calendar with a picture of their king who had passed away recently.

We just follow the soldiers in front of us to the end of the road.

It feels like London too.

One of the soldiers stopped near the pedestrian walk, so we took the opportunity to take a picture with him. I’m almost as tall as him.

We kept walking. Frankly, if you’re interested in exploring, you won’t feel tired.

From a distance, you can see The Grand Palace.

Aqif was tired, so we had to stop and rest for a while. I found out that Aqif has a similar interest in traveling. Loves to explore and walk. When asked to study ABC, he was lazy. Presumably, lessons on the streets are more meaningful and more ‘alive’.

Then, we crossed back towards the opposite road because we saw so many tourists entering an area there.

After crossing the road, you can see the full panorama of The Grand Palace. There is a white elephant there. According to the story, the white elephant is the most sacred elephant among all types of elephants in the world (why do I feel like I have repeated this statement a second time? Hehe). And there are rumors that the Thai government will provide consolation in Baht currency which is almost worth millions of Malaysian ringgit for anyone who has found a white elephant and brought it back to Thailand. But until now no one has found it.