The royal palace complex is huge. It includes temples and palaces old and new, banquet halls, and golden stairs and artwork all around. The doors and entrances here are guarded by giant demons and fanciful golden statues. And there's a lot of gold. Everywhere.
The marble steps and ceramic tiles didn't drain well. We splashed through puddles and tried not to slip, although we did have several rather dramatic moments where suddenly one of us was down. Everyone was ok, but we decided to leave sooner rather than later.
As you might tell from some of these photos, the palace was crowded beyond anything we've yet experienced. There were huge crowds, packed and jostling. Tour guides were pushing through with herds of clients, speaking at the top of their lungs in different foreign languages. Tour groups wore matching hats or outfits to mark their group. Our group of girls just tried to hold on to each other in this flowing pushing sea of people.
And then it started to rain. The official 6-month rainy season starts next week. But we got an early preview of the sudden emphatic rain that comes hard and fast. We were soaked, and we crowded under the eaves along with a lot of other wet steamy tourists from all over the world.
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