Temple of the Emerald Buddha, and the nearby Grand Palace together is perhaps the greatest spectacle for the visitor to Bangkok. We arrived at the hottest part of the day, and with my umbrella up (as shade) we braved the crowds and entered the grounds.
Wat Phra Kaew is Thailand's most important and sacred temple, so you're expected to act with respect inside it. I was surprised with European girls turning up to enter the grounds wearing skimpy shorts and tops. They were denied entry, but there was a place nearby to hire sarongs to cover up.
Wat Phra Kaew houses the tiny (between 60 and 75 cm) Emerald Buddha, which is located high above the heads of the worshippers and tourists. I don't remember actually seeing the Emerald Buddha. Tourists would hoard outside with their cameras straining to take pictures of the interior as photo taken inside are forbidden.

Next was the Grand Palace. By now it was so hot, at least 40°+ inside the palace grounds. We followed a tide of tourists out of the Emerald Buddha complex south to the front of the palace. There was a few guards in ceremonial dress standing at the gates. Despite being a huge complex you are only allow to see about 10% of the Grand Palace. We walked around for a good half hour, then Chris requested that we go get something to eat and drink. We jumped aboard a tuk-tuk, and he took us to a local eatery. We had fondue bread; that is, bread with custard based dipping sauces. A little unusual.

At the end of the day, Chris took us all to have a meal on near the Mekong, but I was feeling too run-down and faint to enjoy the food. In hindsight it was a little crazy to go sightseeing jet lagged and being un acclimatised. At the end of the meal, the last place to see for me was the hospital. I was given salt tablets and instructed to take it easy. I must point out it did take at least three weeks to get used to the heat. A constant giddy feeling (or sea legs as Ben described it) was something I had to put up with.

Ater coming back from Pattaya we met Guy and his friend (his name escapes me) and they took us out onto the river to see the Royal Barges Museum, Wat Arun (the Temple of the Dawn) and lastly Wat Pho (the Reclining Buddha). Guy was asked by Mr Chachai to help us out and act as the tour guide.
After 30 minutes riding upstream on the Mekong we arrived at the Royal Barges Museum. Displayed is just eight of the over 50 barges that make up formal processions. We got off our long tailed boat and after paying the admission fee we wandered around the barges for a good half hour. It was not really that interesting.

Guy then took us to Wat Arun on the far side of the Mekong. Already (10am) the place was packed full of tourists.The temple has one main tower, called a Prang with four smaller towers in a square formation. The temple is highly decorative as it has used glazed ceramics and porcelain. It is unreal the number of tiles used to cover the towers. The complex has also has a scale model of Ankor Wat too.

Last on today's agenda was the Reclining Buddha (Wat Pho). At 46 metres in length and 15 metres high the Buddha is the largest in Bangkok and illustrates the passing of the Buddha into nirvana. There is a constant sound of coins clanging into the monk alms bowels around the perimeter of the temple. It costs 20 Baht, and you recieve a small cup of coins. You then walk around following the queue depositing the coins into the bowls; all for good luck.

This marked an extreme slow down in our sightseeing. We had been down south to see Hua Hin and partied it up in Koh Phanghan for Full Moon. The road is about 250 metres long, and all day it's full of foreigners. There is not much to do but drink, eat, drink some more and be merry. All around the packed street are vendors selling anything from fake ids to t-shirts. When we returned from Koh Samui, Sam and I stayed at a place called Marco Polo's Guesthouse. What a hovel! It was cheap at just 350 Baht ($10NZ each) with air conditioning. But it was next door to a night club. The windows were cracked from all the "dof, dof, doffing" that carried into the early hours of the morning. It was pointless trying to sleep there some nights.
Later we discovered a nearby street called Soi Rambruttri. A paved street, a bit more classy than Khao San road, but it was so much quieter at night. With time racing by, we decided that we needed to get moving again. We booked a tour with a local agent to see the Tiger Temple at Konchanaburi.