Monday Rush Hour

Yesterday began with the normal routine, wake up, shower, eat breakfast and figure out what to do for the day. One place I wanted to see is Rajadamnern Boxing Stadium, that and Lumpinee are the two major stadiums in Bangkok, basically the two meccas for Muay Thai.
I got a cab over to the stadium and realized that it was right across from the Grand Palace, which was where I was at for the princesses procession. I went inside the gate to see the store, I tried to catch a glimpse inside the stadium but I had no such luck. I went into the store to look around at the gear, I ended up picking up a new pair of Raja Boxing Gloves, wraps and a t-shirt. I was in dire need of a new pair of boxing gloves because the Velcro has been shot on my Windy's for about 6 months. I paid under $40 for the gloves which is good considering for decent gloves in the U.S. you will pay in the range of $60-$110.
After shopping I started walking around to see the sights. I have not quite figured out where the Grand Palace is, but there are a couple of suspect locations. I have noticed that in Thailand there will be a handful of signs in English, mainly for local attractions, however sometimes when you follow them they take you nowhere or the site is miles away.

After taking a bunch of pictures I stumbled upon the Marble Temple. That is usually the way my days work out, I plan to see one sight and then explore what else is in the area. I went to the admission gate to pay to get in which I think was 10THB, basically a quarter.
The area where the Temple is located is surrounded by wrought iron fencing and it also has housing for the monks. I will post some pictures of it later, it is hard to describe.

I went in the Temple and the main feature was a 15-20' golden Buddha. The Temple was designed with ornate architecture. The area outside the Temple was like a small park with a river dividing the center.

After the Temple I made my way to see the King's Palace, which was a huge compound and surrounded by a moat. If I had to guess I would say the compound is probably 2 square miles. I did not really get to catch a glimpse of anything because the area on the other side of the fence was overgrown with trees, however I did get to see the guards on the other side of the moat standing with what appeared to be an M-16.

After trying to catch a glimpse of the Palace I stumbled upon the Dusit Zoo and figured why not take a look. The admission was a little steep, 100THB, just under $3, but I decided to splurge. I cannot say I have been to an actual Zoo in the past 12-15 years. The Zoo was very enjoyable and after about an hour I started making my way back to catch a cab.
I left the Zoo around 4pm, needless to say I did not make it back to the hotel until 6:30pm, traffic was grid-locked throughout the city. I ended up paying the cab driver when I was about 5 blocks from my hotel and got out and walked the rest of the way. I have been in some major cities during rush hour but I do not know if I have ever seen traffic like that before.
Well, I am off to plan today, by the way the weather here has been in 80-90's during the day.