The King's Summer Palace

After getting the group together on Saturday, we headed out for our first destination in Thailand; The Bang Pa-in Palace.  Bang Pa-in Palace was originally established by King Prasat Thong in the Early 1630’s on land originally owned by his mother.  At first, only a monastery was built by more and more was added on.  In 1767, the area was conquered and nothing was done to the palace and grounds until King Rama IV.

 

Bang Pa-in Palace became a lost area to the people of Thailand until rediscovered in 1807 as an overgrown, neglected site.  King Rama IV reconstructed many of the former buildings and had others added to it between the years of 1872 and 1889.  Today, the Summer Palace is now mainly viewed as a tourist attraction but the current King still uses this as a residence and for special functions and receptions.

The grounds are covered in flowers native to Thailand as well as other places in East Asia.  King Rama had some influence from India and as such, you will see several different trees native to India in the earlier parts of the grounds.


 

 

 

It is interesting to note the British influence in that they perform a changing of the guard during certain times of the day.  Every 3 hours, a new set of 8 guards from the Thai military change position with those on current duty on the grounds of the summer palace.  Thai Military service is compulsory for all males at the age of 21.  It is mandatory that they serve 2.5 years in the service of their country.  After the 2.5 years, they have the option of extending their duty or getting out of the military.

 

 

A unique aspect of on the grounds is the Observation Tower. King Rama V had it built as the highest point of the grounds so he could climb the steps and view everything around and on the grounds.  At this time, several animals including elephants roamed different sections of the grounds.  Today, the grounds have fish in the water and Monitor Lizards.  Unfortunately, the King only used this tower a couple of times as he became ill and climbing the stairs became to difficult.

 

The Royal Residence was built in the Chinese style of shape and designed.  It was built by the Chinese and presented to the King in 1889.  Throughout the outside of the building, you can see many images of dragons, the fish and Chinese writing.  In some cases, Thai words are written in the form of Chinese writing.