I went out very early today to see the sunrise. The city had a completly different feeling in the morning, it was empty but busy at the same time. I observed a few monks running errands, people starting to set up their food stalls or grabbing a small snack before work. I saw a parade with dressed up school kids with their own marching band and their parents standing at the side of the road taking pictures and cheering.

I got a coconut to drink and then decided to see the Grand Palace which opened at 8:30am And I am so glad I went that early. It didn‘t even take 20min of being there and I could just feel how crowded it would get throughout the day. However, I felt a little stupid running around with my big leftover coconut. There wasn’t a bin anywhere, so I had to take it with me and I have to say, it is something else going through all the security checks with nothing but a coconut the size of a bowling ball in my hands. But the guards didn’t seem to care much, so probably not the strangest they’ve seen. And the palace: breathtaking! So much detail! I sneakily joined a guided tour for a bit to get some history (and fun!) facts. And there was a textile museum…I nearly didn‘t go in…but I am so glad I went. To see the variety of different patterns that are typical for every region in Thailand and the queen’s collection of dresses impressed me. I would love to find a place to learn weaving for a while and how to create one of the patterns.

In the afternoon I took a rest because the heat was getting to me. I spend some time in the café (that I found yesterday!) reading for a bit and then went up to the Golden Mount to paint (which I couldn‘t yesterday because I had bare shoulders and didn‘t see the point in buying a cloth). It was very beautiful and you had a view over the whole city. A lot of Thai were coming up with yellow flowers at sunset to pray. The sun was shining on the gold elements of the temple that it looked like it was glowing. I stayed there for a while just observing.

Now I am eating some street food for dinner and it‘s just so delicious. I was looking for something simple and not greasy…and I don’t know how they prepared it but the rice with spinach and some sort of thick leaves (that look like green beans..?) and it was exactly what I needed. And just looking around again… it got dark already! At 6:30pm. I think I will sleep well today. I walked a lot. So much, that even my phone gave me a notification telling me today that it noticed a changing trend in my “activity behaviour“. Incredible.