We started the day with a visit to the Golden Buddha temple. It is the largest Golden Buddha in the world measuring over 15ft high and weighing over 5 tons. History had it that it was covered in plaster to protect it from the invading Chinese. Its value and worth was forgotten and it was left in the fields for decades till after the temple was built and then salvaged. It’s hard to imagine how something so heavy could be lifted into the temple. We also got to see the different Buddha poses for the different days of the week and got a photo corresponding to our day of birth.

We then visited the Flower market which is a huge indoor wet market dedicated to all types of flowers. They even had flowers imported from Europe for sale. Rows and rows of artisans threaded garlands and made bouquets, which ironically all looked pretty similar.

Princess Bajrakitiyabha passed away peacefully on June 11, 2026, at the age of 47 after spending more than three years in a medical coma. Thai flags are being flown at half-mast to mark an official 15-day mourning period following her passing. The Grand Palace and the adjacent Temple of the Emerald Buddha (Wat Phra Kaew) was closed to general visitors to allow the royal family to host initial funeral rites, including the royal bathing rites. It only reopened over the weekend and there were still a long line of mourners who were there to pay their respects.

Our next stop was the temple of the sleeping Buddha. It was really hard to get a photo that does justice to its sheer size – especially since the temple was only slightly larger than the statue itself. We walked counterclockwise around the statue with a large number of tourists and locals. All the temples we visited today, while being tourist attractions, were also actual places of worship that the locals visit to pray to Buddha and ask for the blessings from the monks.