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Published: December 29th 2007
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Traveling up River
One of the boats that bring you to various locations throughout the city. It has been over two days since my last post. I didn't post since I called on the phone 6PM Thai Time on 11/10, and I was lazy yesterday. As I said on the phone, I booked into the Sofitel Silom. VERY nice hotel, and I got it for only 100 bucks a night (This would easily be a 500 dollar per night hotel in US). I figured I would rest up before my next travel, which will be today. I am actually at a travel agent right now. It is actually a good one, but we'll see once I get to Chiang Mai. This Sofitel is sooo nice. I even had a butler, which I didn't know until late last night. But that's an entirely different story. This little Thai guy kept on knocking on my door, offering me chocolates. At first it was cool, but then I started getting pissed that he would knock on my door at the hour, every hour, starting at 6:30 AM!!! At least it was a good wake up call.
On the tenth, Saturday, I saw all these cool temples. This one called Wat Pho is amazing. SOOO huge, just like on television.
Monks waiting
Monks waiting for the boat. They had this lying buddha that was 70 feet hight, and at least 100 feet long. They said that if it was melted, the gold would total 3 billion dollars. I should've taken off some chips. This thing is so big, that I figure it must only be coated with gold, not solid gold. That's how big it is. And, the entire thing is inside this building, like one of those Chinese emperors castles. It's in this huge compound. It took me two hours just walking around the place. And, I didn't see everything. Inside one of the buildings, they have traditional Thai massage. It was in this huge castle, with at least 100 beds and twice the number of masseuses. It was a real massage, not a rub and tug (they love that shit in Thailand). But, I got a real massage for an hour for 150 Baht!!!! That included the tip I gave the girl (I don't think they tip in Thailand, but I'm still not entirely sure. Every time I tip even a tiny bit, they are soo happy. I think tipping is an American thing.) 150 Baht is equivalent to four dollars and fifty cents. They
Shanty's
Shanty's on the river used all these herbs and stuff. The massages here are different than the ones in the US. I like it a lot better. There's a lot of pressure and stretching. My back broke like 100 different ways. There was two masseuses; they needed both of them to stretch my body in these weird positions. It was almost like yoga without the effort. Pretty cool.
I also walked all over the place on Saturday. I must be walking about 5 miles a day; on Saturday I definitely walked 10. If it weren't for those boats on the river, I would be walking 50 miles a day. It's pretty spread out, but so is NYC. Those boats (which I paid 60 cents US for a few days ago, and the pass still hasn't run out) are really cool also. There is also sometimes a guide in the front, but their English is so bad that if I don't pay a lot of attention to them they might as well be speaking Chinese. These boats, and the majority of Bangkok for that matter, remind me of those Jungle boat tours in Disney World. You know, the ones with the Hippos and tribesmen.
River boat
These boats are for hire (2 or 3 bucks an hour). Except it's all real. When you get off, especially at the more outer ports, you are like balancing on these corroded boards with big holes. In the US, there would be one huge lawsuit. I saw this fat lady fall on her ass on the boards, and then her bottom half fell into the water. HA HA.
Some of these areas are so crazy. It is very much like the movies. There are towns within the city (this is the best way I can describe it). Behind the boards, under the asphalt, any open space they utilize to set up shop, congregate, cut hair, buy fruit, whatever. I can not even explain it. Kind of like a shanty town, but regular people walk around it. Some of them smell like crap. Now I know where Chinatown gets their influence from. Overall, the people are soo nice. Very helpful. Just don't take anything for truth what is told to you by somebody trying to sell you something, especially at the street level. Don't ask tuk tuk drivers, taxi drivers, or anyone on the street looking at you a question and expect an honest answer. They are pretty harmless about it
though. For instance, if you ask a taxi driver which way something is, they'll tell you that you will get very very lost if you don't employ them to take you there. However, you end up finding out that it is on that street 250 feet away. If I took them up on it, what do they expect? That they drive me 250 feet and then I pay them? It's kind of funny though. They are trying so hard to "con" you of 20 baht (equivalent of 60 cents US).
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