First Impressions of Bangkok

As some of you know, on my first few days of being in Bangkok I had a little bit of a freak-out. It is chaotic for lack of a better word and although I made a list of things I wanted to see and do, once I got here it seemed far less interesting and far more difficult to accomplish than I had imagined.
On my second day I decided to get out and see at least one thing on my list, The Grand Palace. On my way I was attacked. First by a flock of pigeons then by, what I am assuming was, The Pigeon Master. She seemed like an innocent old Thai woman but (as I later realized) she chased the pigeons and commanded them to fly directly at my face. As I stood there stunned and flailing, she shoved three bags of bird seed into my hand. I politely declined her offer at least 5 times until finally she unwrapped the bag and placed it in my hand then turned my hand over causing the pigeons to attack me again. She then demanded "20 Baht!" to which I replied "What? No." and tried to flee the scene.
Once this traumatic incident had occurred I found a group of people who also looked like they were on their way to the Grand Palace. It was a group of 5 very kind Filipino travelers who let me walk with them into the palace.
The Grand Palace was Grand:

But the thing that struck me the most once I was inside was the fact that it was all so intricate and beautifully done. Each of the tiles on the roof were ceramic and hand glazed. Each wall/pillar had tiny squares of color set in to create a large, well, it kind of looked like a bunch of disco balls the way it was constructed. I know that sounds stupid but I'm trying to give you an idea of how much time and energy went in to the construction of the palace.

I have to say though, my favorite part of the entire palace were the Giant Guardians (or Giant's Guard) that surrounded the palace. I would have to compare them to lawn gnomes. Only much larger. And cooler. And Thai.

For now that's all I've got. I'm going to give Bangkok another shot and hopefully I wont be attacked again. More pictures (and stories) to come!
(Also, I miss you all!)