Had relations come to visit this week from UK so a trip to the Wat and the palace seemed due.

Very disapointed with the temple....so commercial and just no atmosphere of any kind of religious nature. Boxes everywhere to collect money..I can accept the upkeep of the premises needs finance but the collecting boxes evywhere just left a sour taste.

The Pumping Palace has to be the biggest rip-off in the area......not allowed inside...the exterior...nothing special to look at...have seen more interesting private mansions arround. .....300 baht as well!!!

Found it amusing that one of my visitors who was wearing quite long 'cargo'style trousers was accepted as OK in the temple but was refused entry to the palace grounds unless he hired some 2" longer trousers.

T I T.!

...The following day we went to Tiger Kingdom where I was very impressed with their set up and every sign that the tigers are well cared for...just a few doubts however about the 'No Drugs used'....also impressed at the Elephant camp...had read some bad reviews of it but I didnt find anything untoward.

Donation boxes for everything is very typical at Thai temples, especially larger ones. It's not a sign of commercialism per se.

I agree there's usually not too much to see at the Palace. However you probably missed going further up the hill to the summit of Doi Pui; nature gets really beautiful there.

Donation boxes for everything is very typical at Thai temples, especially larger ones. It's not a sign of commercialism per se.

I agree there's usually not too much to see at the Palace. However you probably missed going further up the hill to the summit of Doi Pui; nature gets really beautiful there.

Donation boxes are OK but the dual pricing sends a bad message.