Sa wa dee ka

Tai airlines was luxurious. I watched 4 movies and had two emtpy seat next to me and even though it was a 12 hour flight and was 5am NZ time I could not sleep. As I walked off the plane the stewardess gave me a big hug and kept saying "precious" and showed me to her friend. I think she wanted to adopt me and I was quite embarrased. Once I arrived at BNK I was so tired and almost fell asleep waiting 30 minutes for my lugguge. When I arrived at the New Siam I was sweating profusively, so I then took a shower and fell asleep. I was having dreams the whole night that someone stole my credit cards and withdrew all my money out of my account. Horrible thoughts. I've been very cautious and have seperated all my things like a friend told me.
This morning I woke up at 8:30 and went wandering down the crazy alleys. So many people offering my rides and asking me "where are you from?". I went straight to the internet and read Rakhal's e-mail telling me not to go to Chaing Mei because it's where "middle aged men go with their prostitutes" and I should go to Pai. He also recommended this Iraeli restuatent Shoshana and gave great directions because for the first time I did not get lost! So I had a great lunch even though I was being bit by mosquitos. He was right and it filled me right up.and was delicious.

I decided to head back to the New Siam where I had this tuc tuc guy telling me 30 BHTs for a tour of all the temples. He scared me. He kept pestering me and said he would wait. So after I drank a beer and planned out my day. I went the other direction toward the river and took a 1Bht boat ride to the reclining buddah. As I was taking the boat I was noticing (1) there were alot of monks wearing bight orange robes, (2) everyone is wearing yellow shirts, and (3) the water is a disgusting brown color. I don't know why the water is so polluted, but I found out that it's the Kings 60th anniversary coming up and they have been preparing for days for this big festival.
I walked to Wat Pho and the reclining buddha is ginormous. I like how you donate and get a basket of coins that you put into baskets down the whole hall. I sort of got lost through all the building with buddhas and found my way to the palace. However, it was closed because of the festival and I was drenching in sweat since I was wearing pants and a long sleeve so I bought some water. There this friendly government man told me to visit these other temples and told me about this SSS Export Center that only happens for a week once a year and you can buy Rubys and garnets tax free for a good price. Today happend to be the last day for this promotion.
Anyway, I didn't understand what he was really talking about but the other temple sounded good so he got me a tuc tuc ride around these other temples. I really enjoyed Wat Suthat because no one was there except these monks. There were these room with monks lieing everywhere on the floor by buddhas. When I got to the smaller temple Wat Sommanat Worawihan this man made me sign in and I talk to him for awhile. I asked him what this Export Center was all about and he told me the same thing.

I then went to the temple where I met this man from London who was telling me that he all ready went to the Export Center and you buy lets say $1000 worth of jewerly and can sell it back for double the price and pay for your trip. He said he has done it twice before and once you do they copy your passport and tell you when it will happen again.

So I go there and it's this nice jewerly store. However, the women was all in my face as I walked in and made me feel uncomfortable. It seemed legit with government certifications and everything, but I wasn't about to spend all my money either. Then another young tourist couple came in that was at the same temple I was and they were telling me the London dude was talking to them about it. Anyway after I left, the tuc tuc guy actually stopped in the road saying I should go back because it was "big big!". I am not sure if this was a scam or what. (Of course I got scammed. Shit! But at least I enjoyed the temples even though they took me their route. )

Tonight I might go to the red light area or go to the bedsupperclub that Teri just sent me a link to and I could dance who knows.

Tomorrow I am taking a 11 hour bus at 6pm to Chaing Mei becuase the trains are down due to flooding. Apparently it's raining up north. I then plan to go to Pai. I might due some shopping during the day.

So far Thailand is the least boring place I've been. City life is fast. I love seeing monks in their bight orange robes. They look so pure.

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