The wifi service at the hotel has been down for hours, so I’ll post this when I can. I’ve had a fantastic day in Bangkok – this city rocks! When I woke up this morning, everyone from the road-side bar outside my window had gone away and the businesses had all opened up. The neighborhood looked downright nice. Funny how a little sunlight and the absense of drunks and hookers change everything.
Anyway, I set out to see the city. Armed with a map the hotel receptionist gave me, I decided to walk around hopefully getting to the Royal Palace. About 20 minutes into my quest, a very nice gentleman walked up and offered to help me. He marked several additional temples on my map and told me that it was a buddhist holiday and all temples were free. Also, the Royal Palace would be closed until 2:00. He also told me that because of the holiday, tuk tuks were 10 baht for the whole day (that’s much less than the cost for a bottle of water), so dirt cheap. He hailed me a tuk tuk (only one with a yellow license plate would do) and talked with the driver. Before you know it, I’m at my first temple. And a while later, I’m across the city at another. Then the driver took me to a state-run silk store before going to the next temple. Then he fessed up – the government was giving tut tut drivers coupons for free gas for each tourist they took to one of these government-approved stores. So, I said “Let’s get you more coupons and see some temples!”. So we spent the next 4 hours touring the city together checking everything out. It was such a win-win situation. Apparently, each coupon was worth a full tank of gas, which lasts about 2 days for him. I saw the “lucky” temple, the “health” temple, the temple guarded by cats (I promise to post a photo for the kittie people in Berkeley), the temple where they train monks, the “river” temple and others I can’t remember what they’re for. Eventually, 6 stores and countless temples later, it was nearing 2:00.
Finally, he dropped me at the Royal Palace and we said our goodbyes.
And I have to say, wow! That place is incredibly beautiful. Everything is so intricate and each temple absolutely spectacular. What they say is “the best” temple was closed for a private funeral viewing – the king’s sister had died, so there were a lot of people dressed in black heading into that area. Afterwards, I wanted to do the river cruise thing. Since it’s the off season, the number of tourists are down. So they try to get each individual into a longtail for the tour, rather than the 20 or so that would sit comfortably. As I was trying to negotiate this down (it was 1000 baht), this nice guy from Nairobi came up and we talked them into letting us share a boat and we each paid half price. So we spent an hour riding through the city on the Chao Phraya River. We passed the famous floating market, several temples, houses, and many kids swimming and playing in the river. Temples are everywhere in this city. In addition, every business and home has a small model temple on the grounds.
I have to say that I’ve met many people from around the world. I’ve seen Arabs, Hindus, Europeans of all types, South African’s, Chinese, Australians, and lots of Japanese (I can tell because they’re either wearing or carrying Hello Kitty stuff). You hear accent after accent at the Royal Palace. But I have not met a single American. Not on the plane to Bangkok, not at my hotel, and not anywhere I’ve been. And the locals all seem surprised that I’m from the states. Why is that? This place is so incredible that I would imagine a lot would love to visit!
Afterwards, I decided to walk back to my hotel on my own. It seemed like I needed to not only get some exercise, but prove to myself that I could do it on my own. It had all been so easy all day. Well, that’s when I got lost. Of course. I accidently hoofed it through a college camps (and right by cheerleader practice), ended up at a dead end in a Thai mall at the denture store, and passed about ten 7/11s. Seriously, there’s 7/11’s everywhere here. The sun had come out and it had gotten so hot that I decided the experiment was over. I gave up and got another tut tut, but this time it cost a lot more – I had no interest in doing anything but getting back to my hotel. I was so tired that I was nearly falling asleep standing up. Well, 3 tut tut drivers started fighting over me and I was getting tugged in all directions. I walked away as they argued, hailed a cab, and got back for cheaper than the tut tut’s were quoting me. Go figure.
Anyway, I showered, ate, tried to get internet access (the modem was down again), and promptly fell asleep by 6pm. It’s now 4am local time and I’m repacking for my 8am flight to Krabi. That’s right, by noon toay, I will be checked into a hotel down in paradise. And while the thought of getting on a plane again so soon is pretty repulsive, it’s my last plane until August 12th. I’ll post photos as soon as I can get on the internet (I really miss the internet, by the way).
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