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Published: October 9th 2008
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Since I have arrived in Thailand yesterday at around 5pm it has been eventful to say the least. After getting off the plane and finding our way to the hostel (cheap as chips to travel - around 3 quid for 2 hours travel!) we settled into our room. No aircon this time but nice enough and clean! Also had a bar that also served food, a gym, free internet and free washing facilities.....sounds good so far! Owner seemed friendly and the whole feel of the hostel was nice apart from the fact that it was a bit out of the way.
On the journey to the hostel we passed 2 elephants roaming the streets - not really nice to see such wild creatures walking the back streets of the city! The roads are also crazy...bikes, buses, taxis, Tuk Tuks and scooters weave in and out of one another without a care......so surprised there aren't more crashes!
After exploring the hostel and having a local beer we decided to have a walk and see what was about......then I came across my real fear!! So many dogs just roaming the streets.....wild dogs! My palms were sweaty and it wasn't because of
the heat! Natalie isn't big enough to jump on her back and so we turned round to give me time to psyc myself up before facing them in the morning. It was either that or walk past them.......and if I had walked I would have started to run......I can see the headline now........
"Ënglish Girl chased through Bangkoks streets by pack of mongrels" Not funny!!!
After a good sleep under the mosquito net.....no tasty treat of Debs for those little suckers.......we got up and prepared for our first full day in Thailand!!
The first thing I found out was that there is no hot water in Thailand and I alost screamed out as I washed my hair under the freezing cold water! I seriously contemplated for the first few minutes not washing for a month but after a while I got used to it.....tough as I am!! The shower was followed by a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs on toast...yey - no raisin bread.....before setting off for the day!
We set off to fnd the sky train to take us towards the river as we had planned to see the temples and visit a market today! The
Lucky Buddha
Not that lucky as we were totally set up!!! locals were only too happy to help point us in the right direction and we were soon on the train (just like the tube but in the sky)! People seemed so friendly!
Once we got off the train we haggled a little and took a boat ride to see some of the sights. It was like a thin narow boat but went with some speed. Only Nat and I on it! The trip took about an hour and we passed local houses over the water held up by wooden sticks or so it looked, fish jumping out of the water, a floating market (one man on a boat selling souvineers), hotels, an alligator farm and small buildings that I can only describe as mini temples! The boat dropped us off near the temples which we (when I say we, I mean Nat!) wanted to see.
As we crossed the road another man stopped us and advised that we shouldn't go in the temple yet as it was prayer time. He hailed a Tuk Tuk over and marked on our map where we should go. Once again so helpful...or was he?!
We went in the Tuk Tuk to
the first place advised...the Happy Buddha and the Lucky Buddha......not as beasty as the Buddha in HK bt in gold so nice to see. Whilst we were there another man came over and spoke to us asking about our trip. He again advised us to go to the same place as the man previously (TAT - Tourist information).....we thought we were well on the right track and couldn't believe how helpful everyone was!
After the Buddhas we got back in the Tuk Tuk (which had waited for us like our own personal chauffeur) and then rode to the TAT office which we had been advised by both men was the tourist information centre that was specifically to help travellers and not rip them off! It said Tourist Information Centre over the door!
Not sure how but about 45 minutes later when we came out, we had planned our whole journey around Thailand....booked and paid for all travel and acommodation, a Jungle trek in Cheng Mai to stay with a tribe, go Elephant treking and rafting! It was a little like a whirlwind. Yes we had booked all the places and things that we had wanted to do but
it all semed a little too easy and for quite a bit of money when Thailand was supposed to be so cheap! We were advised to come back in one hour to pick the tickets up and get our instructions on the whloe months stay. I was excited but apprehensie at the same time!
We got back in the Tuk Tuk (waited for us again) and headed to the temple called Grand Palace that we had gone to see that morning. We had to wear trouses and cardigans and it was so damn hot.....it was a bad choice! The temples and buildings were very extravagant and intricate but I was melting at the same time so couldn't really take it all in. My hair was now rivaling Aslan the Lions and i'm sure if I roared people would think they had walked into Narnia!
We then got back in the Tuk Tuk (waited for us again) which took us back to TAT to pick our tickets up. We were given 15 envelopes all with instructions inside. I felt like we were on some kind of gameshow...only if you pass the test can you open the next one! Either
that or a mystery tour!! We took the envelopes and the Tuk Tuk man took us back to our hostel. He had been with us for around 5 hours and only charged us about 2 quid! He did make us get out at certain places to look around markets and tailors though so he could get tolkens......but still a bargain!
When we thought about it, we could have definitely booked all we are doing for about 200 quid less but loads more hasle having to find trains and taxis and hostels. This way it was all done for us and plenty of people do book through TAT. It wasn't over expensive and still within budget but we had definitely been scammed a little! Personally I think the whole day was a set up right from the man at the crossing who hailed the Tuk Tuk......they were all in it together to get us to go to TAT, even the Tuk Tuk driver! Only time will tell whether the trip will be hasle free and if the bit of extra money was worth it or whether we were just foolish and taken in by how nice everyone was! Oh well....you
live and learn (and we are both blonde!)!!
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Shelly
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New Gold Medal...
I can see the headlines now 'Deb Booth honoured in Thailand for completing a three minute mile whilst clearing the streets of rabid dogs!!'