Sawadee krup! (Greetings!) There's no better place to begin our tour than the incomparable Grand Palace, a fantasy of gold and glitter that absolutely knocks your socks off. It's a square mile complex of buildings begun in 1782 as a royal residence and home to the Emerald Buddha, Thailand's' most sacred image. That was the year King Rama I, the first of the Chakri dynasty, moved the capital of Siam to Bangkok. (Old Siam is modern Thailand.)
Please follow me onto the Palace grounds.