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Published: February 21st 2009
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Teddy Bear Rice
A new thai dish ! We left Patong in a tropical downpoor - lots of rain and a black sky - glad we were not on the beach today! A short flight from Phuket to Bangkok and we get a taxi to our hotel, paying an extra 70 baht to take the tollway to beat the traffic. On the way the taxi driver hints at tours and states that our hotel is old - we thought he wanted to divert us elsewhere for a kickback.
Checked in at our clean and modern hotel we grab a quick lunch at a local cafe - where Bill gets the new thai teddy bear rice 😉 Tonight we decide to play safe and go to the Mango Tree Restaurant recommended by Jo - geting a taxi proved difficult and he would only take us "off meter" for 300 baht, which we accept reluctantly. The trafic is horrendous and 50 mins later the driver points to a Soi - which we interprit as its down there - and sure enough he has earnt his money as we are in the right place and just in time for our reservation. The restaurant is modern thai, very nice, live music and
Deep Fried Sea Serpent Fish
It had a very strong flavour - not very nice hidden (how did Jo find this). The food was great especially the chicken fried rice served in a pineapple; except the Deep Fried Sea Serpent which Bill insisted on ordering - what was he expecting 😞 After dinner we went to Patong Night Market where Sue successfully haggles for a pressie for someone. We declined the temptations of the Ping Pong bars and the many girls on offer, instead had a quick beer in a sports bar and headed back to our hotel in a Tuk Tuk. The driver was a 40 year old boy racer, with a lawn mower engine on wheels - we accepted his price of 20 baht (subsequently thinking we were ripped off) and were back in 15 mins. A final beer in Susie Bar (well we just had to) in Susie Walking Soi and bed. Tonight we ate in a local restaurant and went down the Khao San Road to haggle for t-shirt, which Sue is getting good at 😊
First day sight seeing and we decide to walk to the the Grand Palace. On the way we look at the outside of a temple and a man who looks like he is going
in to worship explains that it is normally 200 baht to go in, but today being a special day it is free. The temple is set back from the road and as we walk towards it he talks to us about what we are doing in Bangkok. We see the 40 gold buddas in the courtyard and go into the temple, which has loads of gold statues and decoration and is a place for worship. On the way out the man asks where we are going next - Grand Palace we say - only to be told it is closed until 2 o'clock due to official ceremonies, but that he could show us some other temples until then - we think this is a scam and insist we will walk there anyway at which point the friendly face turns to a scowl and what sounds like thai swearing erupts. We exit the temple and watch him walk out looking for his next potential victim.
We walk to the Grand Palace and just as we thought it is open 😊 We pay our entrance fee and go into the palace Wat (temple) area - which is stunning. Many buildings, with
gold and coloured stones everywhere - and a huge set of murals round the edge of the courtyard depicting thai history. We spend ages looking round and taking pictures, before going into the main temple to look at the Emerald Budda, which is very famous, but also very small, high up and no pictures allowed 😞
We then head into the grounds of the Grand Palace, very spacious and more gold and glitter. Sue also takes a picture of a ceremonial guard !
Coming out of the palace we decide to head to the Giant Swing - a man approaches us and asks where we are going, we turn and start to walk away when he says "no no - I am a university proffessor and am just trying to help you." We tell him and he gets us a Tuk Tuk and says 10 baht to the driver - we confirm this with the driver and jump in - he sets off, goes 5 meters and stops turns round and shows us a map points to Giant Swing, we say yes and he points somewhere else on map and say 'we go here first' - we insist no
and he sets off again, but again stops after 5 meters and starts talking again. We give up and jump out realising we had nearly been scammed and walk back, passing the 'proffessor' who is helping more tourists. We walk 50 meters up the road and flag down another Tuk Tuk and agree 50 baht !
Not much to see at the Giant Swing so we had a look at a local temple (getting templed out now) before heading to Golden Mount - its a lot of steps to the top but the views are impressive. After lunch we both have thai massages at the place Jo recommended - it was very professional and the massage was the traditional thai style (nothing like the ones we have had before). Tonight we ate out locally and went down to Khao San Road to haggle for t-shirts - Sue is getting good at this 😉
Next day we decide to use the Choa Phraya River to get aroung (the Bangkok version of the Thames). We walk down to the local pier and get an express boat that goes to a pier nearest Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn). We change onto
a cross river ferry and arrive at the temple. The temple is huge from the outside and very tall - you climb the main temple from the outside, the stairs range from steep at the bottom level to near vertical at the top level - scary again - but the views of the temple buildings and river from the top make it worthwile. Coming down carefully we decide to go to Chinatown by Tuk Tuk which would take us to the centre rather than a riverbus that would drop us on the edge - big mistake - we ask 3 drivers to take us saying Chinatown and pointing to the map, but the first 2 pretend ignorance - the 3rd driver says he will take us but will not budge from 150 baht price. As we get nearer we find out why, as we grind to a halt in a huge traffic jam. 30 mins of exhaust fumes later we jump out having seen a lot of shops are shut (its sunday). Anyway we walk down a very narrow Soi where everything is open and all manner of household goods are being sold. Eventually it opens out a bit into
A Figure at the Grand Palace Wat
Just one of many - but it was the most scary a wider area where there are food stalls. We buy freshly squeezed tangarine juice for 10 baht (about 20 pence) - lovely - and a bag of strawberrys for 20 baht, which come with a sprinkling of suger - which turns out to be hot spiced. So there we are eating spicy strawberries - a bit weird, but we polish them off. We then walk down to get the riverbus back to our hotel and to pack for our trip to Northern Thailand tomorrow. We meet our guide for the next 14 days - Golf (who is Thai and comes from Bangkok) - he seems very nice and has done the trip 5 times already. After completing the paperwork we head off as a group for a meal in a local restaurant - the cheapest we have had so far - the trip is off to a good start - but tomorrow is our first proper day.
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Debbie
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We're on your tail
Hi Sue and Bill, we're one day behind you, following in your footsteps. We are in Northern Thailand now( Sat) and here until 2nd March when we start to head towards Borneo. See you there. x