Linda's Walkabout: Ending the Year the Way it Started

Years ago I read The Celestine Prophecy and I remember that one of the "Insights" was that there's no such thing as coincidences and that one needed to seek the greater meaning.

So I wonder what the deeper meaning is that on New Year's Day, I spent the day in Bangkok visiting The Grand Palace. Then due to a business trip, I visited The Grand Palace not once but twice more at the end of the year (Dec. 7 and Dec. 8).

It was after the Cisco Asia Pacific, Greater China and Japan Partner-led Conference in Bangkok, that we took journalists on a city tour of Bangkok. Then the next day, Jennifer from Australian Reseller News (ARN) who'd missed the city tour the day before and I did an expanded version of the city tour with the addition to two more temples.

1. On New Year's Day, The Grand Palace was closed so the Thai government invited visitors to see the Temple of the Emerald Buddha at no cost. When I visited the next two times, they were on equally hot, incredibly sunny bright days.

2. On the tour of The Grand Palace, I saw where the King and Queen of Thailand live and welcome international guests. I didn't realise that previously Thailand was known as Siam and that this was the palace from the "King and I" which brought world attention to the country.

3. Wat Pho houses the image of the reclining Buddha which is 15 meters high and 43 meters long. It's in this gigantic hall and when you first enter, it's quite spectacular! And it's hard to get the whole image in the same photo. Funnily, when we entered the long hall, Jennifer exclaimed at the bells making the clinking noises. When we rounded the feet of the reclining Buddha, we soon realised what was making the clinking noises. There were a line of 100+ metal bowls along the side where upon a donation to the temple, you're given tokens to drop into each bowl for good luck.

4. My work colleague Surpriya's favorite temple to visit each time she's in Bangkok is Wat Arun - the Temple of the Dawn. And I agree, the temple is very unique with colorful porcelain covering its exterior and glorious views of the city. The porcelain looks like it came from everyday household plates as well as precious family heirloom collections. I especially loved the blue and white porcelain plates.

5. Jennifer and I also visited the temple of Wat Traimit with the Golden Buddha which has the world's largest solid gold statue. In addition to the Golden Buddha, what impressed me is the original wall paper. Rather than use a template for the repeating pattern of the "wall paper" artisans painted each floral pattern over and over and over again along the very high walls of temple.

6. The Banyan Tree is literally at the very top of the Banyan Tree Hotel, with side panels that were not incredibly high which was intimidating. Fantastic 360 degree views!

Photo gallery of Cisco City Tour of Bangkok