Our first day we took an amazing tour around Bangkok. We visited the Grand Palace and learned the history of the royal families. It was an amazing experience and the landscape is beautiful. The amount of people visiting as well was immense. One thing we were told before leaving our home base was that we needed to have pants or a long dress covering our knees and we could not have our shoulders showing because there were temples and places or prayer. This was something I found very interesting and right outside before entering there were stores selling long skirts to tourist who did not know this before hand. We also learned a little bit about the Buddha and the amount of respect Thai believers have. There are signs stating “Buddha is to be respected, not tattooed.” It is seen as almost a crime to use the Buddha as a souvenir or to tattoo him on your body because it is believed to devalue the true meaning of the teachings. I have learned how conservative the people around me are, here in Thailand and I think back to compare the lifestyle of the US.
