This is the bonsai garden outside the administrative offices within the Grand Palace compound. The distinctive hooks on the buildings are called spirit hooks and are said to snare evil spirits and stop them entering the building.

The best part of the Grand Palace for me, was the temple of the Emerald Buddha. It housed a beautiful jade Buddha figure raised way up high and surrounded by thousands of other golden buddha images. On the wall behind was a mural depicting Buddist cosmology and on the other walls there were specific moments in Buddha's life represented. As with all temples there were strict rules including not pointing your feet towards Buddha (which is fairly hard as he appeared almost everywhere). I could have sat here all day taking in the miriad of symbols and beautiful artifacts (not to mention the goregous pungent smell of a thousand incense sticks burning all at once) but time was running short and we had to be off.