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Published: August 16th 2008
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So I finally arrived back in Bangkok at 5am. Stupid me forgot to take off the contacts on the bus so I had to take them off during the day. Since the glasses shop doesn't open until 11, I decided to do some activities that does not require glasses - Thai massage.
At 8.30am I was the first customer of the day. It started with washing the feet then stretching the leg muscles. I never realised how tensed my leg muscles were, possibly due to all the walking I did in Koh Tao. That part of Thai massage was not pleasant, but once she moved on to upper body it was much more relaxing.
After the Thai massage finished I still had time, so I added 30 mins of foot massage. The Thai lady's grin was so wide when she heard that. I was a little disappointed with the foot massage. It actually covers legs (again). She didn't work as much on the pressure points as I epected. Different pressure points hurt when pressed if the corresponding part is weak, ill or damaged. She did tell me I had bad eyes though - but I already knew that!
After the massag, I went to get a new pair of glasses. I had to ring the shop in Australia to get my prescription. The glasses I really want (silhouette) cost 11000B. In the end I opted for cheaper stainless steel at 5000B. Stil cheap by Australian standard but I'm sure Thai people can get much better pice than that.
Having had enough rest on the eyes, I put on my contacts and decided to venture out to some sightseeing. First stop national museum.
On the way there I met this very nice gnetleman who told me the national museum, grand palace, etc were closed until late in the afternoon due to speicla cermonies. He suggested that I visit some temples instead. Whata goode idea to save time. He then haild a tuk tuk, told him where to take me and off I went. We negotiated the fare at 30B, although very cheap by Australian standard, is a reasonable fare in Bangkok. He also told me that the Thai government was promiting tourism in Thailand so they get petrol vouchers.
First I went to the temple of the giant standing buddha, which is about 30m tall I
think (It wasn't in my lonely planet but it's in a more detailed version of the Thailand book). It is certainly impressive to say the least.
The next temple housed the black buddha and was unfortunately closed. A gentleman told me that it'd reopen shortly so just wait up. He had an uncle in Perth and old me that property value went up by 140% in the last ew years. He then eassured me that the export department is promiting Thai products. The tuk tuk driver at this time reappeared and hurried me along. I thought itwas quite strange.
Next he took me to a gem store "Thai export exibition". I suddenly realised that this was the famous gem scam and was considering wht to do to get out. I tried calling Orsiri but she was busy at the time. Use your brain Ben! You got yourself into trouble so you can get out again.
I went along to the "lucky buddha' temple - I know what the lucky buddha looked like and this was not it! The temple was very ordinary. And another Thai man approached me. He is a teacher at the nearby schoool. Teacher
my ass! I went back to the tuk tuk and asked him to take me back to Kao San Rd. He insisted on another shop so he could claim his 300B fuel voucher. I refused. So he dropped me off in a random st after I gave him 40B. Luckily it was near the Department of Tourism and Sports. I went into the office and got heaps of info.
Afte this experience I was very skeptical about all private transport, so I walked to Wat Ratchanatdaram (a giant wooden tower), the Golden Mount, Giant Swing & Wat Suthat, then back to Kao San. Orsiri rang at this time so we made an appointment that night to Sukhumvit.
I waited for the bus for ages but it never came. In desperation I jumped in a tuk tuk, bargained the price down from 200B to 100B. The driver didn't actually know where Chi Lam was and had to ask other drivers on the road. And he kept complaining about how far it was after I told him he went the wrong way. Finally I met Orisir at Central World. It was a huge shopping mall housing at least 500 luxury
goods stores such as Prada, Adidas and other big names.
This part of Bangkok is really different to other parts of Bangkok. It's new, modern, expensive, shiny - you name it. Nothing I saw in NZ or Oz can match it. Very similar to big department stores in Taiwan.
Orsiri ordered North Eastern Thai food (similar to Laos food), including roast chicken, pattaya salad and pork mince. The pork mince was very spicy. Chicken was very different in taste to otehr chicken I have tried. I like it a lot. Pattaya salad was my favourite. It was light and cool, great for this weat
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