Bangkok// The Grand Palace [part 2]

as promised, the rest of my visit to the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew. [see part 1 here]

let's talk about the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, pictured above. inside there is a Buddha statue carved from a single piece of jade. this statue was housed somewhere in Ayutthaya before the Burmese invasion, and legend says that the monks covered it in plaster to hide its value. the statue was moved, and for years no one realized what was underneath. then one day it was knocked over, cracking the plaster and revealing the Emerald Buddha. now it lives in its own special temple in the Grand Palace, and it known as the most sacred Buddhist site in Thailand.

I don't have a picture of the Emerald Buddha for you. mostly because you are not allowed to take pictures of it, but also because my camera battery died before I made it over to the temple itself. but there was still plenty that made it onto my memory card...

tangent: I had an eye-opening experience the other night. for the first time in my adult life, and certainly for the first time since experiencing southeast Asian culture and visiting Bangkok for the first time... we watched "The King and I." and I was moderately horrified at the misrepresentation of both Thai culture and the practices of Buddhism. so much that I'm struggling to write this post without mentioning it.

but I'm going to try not to preach at you. I'd like to think that my readers are both global citizens and independent thinkers, able to differentiate fiction and stereotypes from reality. and I hope we can agree that - thankfully - globalization has brought us all a better understanding of each other's cultures.

ok, end tangent. back to the pictures.

this golden tiered chedi and its mosaic-covered demon warriors was probably my favorite part of the entire Grand Palace complex. the detail in the armor just blows my mind... all the different colors and patterns. had I not been trying to conserve battery life, I could have snapped pictures of those guys all day.

seriously. this place is amazing. I really don't know what more I can say about it, other than: Thailand is amazing. you should go to Thailand, and you should visit the Grand Palace.

[and you should remember to bring a spare and fully charged camera battery.]

the cup of coffee that fueled the writing of today’s post was sponsored by Hayley. she drinks her tea with 2 scoops of sugar and blogs about life, travel, and adventure over at livin' it up as HayUp.

my motto for 2014

have you ever picked a word or phrase to help guide you through the year to come? I've set resolutions in the past [and some years I made a resolution not to set resolutions] but the idea of picking a word really appealed to me. some simply choose a word on their own- I was planning to as part of filling out this amazing workbook.

originally I had tossed around the idea of the word hustle. last year I gave myself freedom to explore and grow, but this is my year to get things done. I'm not crazy about the actual word, but the idea of it seemed to fit my plans for the year and what I need to do to accomplish them:

travel to Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, and the United States
hop around the US for a solid month- from all over Michigan to California and Texas
continue to blog our adventures from the road
return to Taiwan for another school year in Hsinchu
play tour guide to potentially 4 different visitors in Taiwan
write a book, and scarier yet, publish it
figure out what and where comes next in our life

[and that's just the stuff we already have settled.]

as I was contemplating all of this and trying to start the workbook, I ran into a bit of trouble. it seems that our printer is missing the cable that allows you to connect to a computer and print. uh, problem. but I was determined to go through the workbook and plan out my 2014. so I found a notebook with some space and decided to write it out by hand.

and in the course of doing so I realized what my motto for 2014 should be: challenge accepted.

I think that a little bit of attitude is exactly what I need for the coming year. it's not just about getting work done. it's about finding a way to make things happen, no mater what life throws at me. because I know already that 2014 will be a challenge... but I also know that I'm ready to face it.

[linking up with Nicole for treat yo self Thursday]