The Grand Palace is Bangkok's most recognisable landmark, but its origins are surprisingly improvised.

When Rama I established his capital here in 1782, fleeing the ruins of Ayutthaya, he was so short of funds that he built the palace entirely of wood. He later sent men upstream to salvage bricks from Ayutthaya's remains. Successive kings rebuilt and gilded what their predecessor had started, especially Rama V in the late 1800s.

Within the complex is Wat Phra Kaew, home to the Emerald Buddha, Thailand's most sacred object. Every king since Rama I has been considered a living reincarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu, a legacy of Indian influence deeper than most visitors realise.

VoiceMap's tours trace this royal lineage along the Chao Phraya River, connecting the palace's makeshift founding to Ayutthaya's fall and explaining how festivals centred on the Grand Palace in 1982 inadvertently created the backpacker chaos of Khao San Road.