We headed out first thing in the morning on our walking tour. A lot of the best sites and "must-see" wats are within walking distance of each other.

We first tried to find Wat Mahathat but.. well, either we never found it, or it’s incredibly small. A few people tried to tell us about it, but inevitably, their information was followed up with a pitch for a cheap day sightseeing on a tuk-tuk (more on that later).

Next up was the National Museum, which was not supposed to be open, but WAS open (first time that’s ever happened to us!). It was a little too heavy on the dioramas and models and light on real artifacts, so we didn’t stay too long. We headed straight for the Grand Palace.

The Grand Palace and Wat Pra Kaiew is the main tourist site in Bangkok and deservedly so. The collection of buildings and architecture is incredible – the roofs covered with gold leaf are almost blinding. Turns out we were visiting on Buddha’s birthday – so not everything was open (although this explained why the museum was open). We weren’t able to get inside any of the buildings (I think normally at least some of them are open). It did start raining, but it was just a quick shower.  There is not much in the way of food in the palace complex itself, so try to time your visit well.