9th March

---

First day in Bangkok on my own. Moved out of the hotel where I spent the first night and booked into the Unico Leela. Luckily they had a room vacant at 9.30 in the morning so I booked in and went in search of Puntip Plaza and the floors of electronics.
The hotel staff told me I could catch the boat on the canal close by. Had no idea where I was going but waited on the little pier with the ever present stray dogs and waited for a boat to arrive.

A very full boat arrived and the attendant confirmed it was the right one. As some will know I am VERY cautious getting into boats, but with help I boarded, but it was so full I couldn't get the last leg in. Of course all other travellers were small Thai people and I the Australian giant. I rode quite happily like that for a while until someone noticed, so the attendant shoved and pushed my other leg into the boat (not without some considerable effort). The rest of the trip was made stooped to accommodate the roof made for Thai heights. It was certainly interesting, but I couldn't take any photos as I couldn't move to get the camera out of my bag. The seasoned travellers on this mode of transport nonchalantly hop off the boat to the landings which are a good leap from the boat, high heels and all. Not for me.The boat has to be steady and completely up against the landing.

Wandered the road looking for a sign that looked like Puntip and was called over by an old man with a cane. His daughter was having her hair shampooed so he had some time to kill.

He invited me to sit and explained that because this was a special day the shops did not open until 11.30, and it was only 10.00am. He was concerned that I kept my purse safe and said I must go to the Gold temple as it was a good day to see Golden Buddha and free today. It said it was an opportunity too good to miss and I had over an hour to spare. I told him I would get a coffee and sit for a while. He said "no no. Plenty of time for coffee later, must go see Golden Buddha now".
He helped me across the road, cane in one hand guiding me by the arm with the other. He told Tuk tuk driver to take me to the temple and bring me back to the Plaza, wait for me wherever I wanted to go and not charge more than 100 baht.
In the end he drove me around for 4 hours and waited patiently while I shopped for the 100 baht.
Went to the Golden temple where another man saw I was a confused traveller, so showed me into the temple after removing my shoes. The temple was just a small hall with a large sitting Buddha at the front.

He told me to ask for a favour from Buddha as this was a lucky day. He said Buddha does not mind which God you believe in, he grants wishes to all. I made a couple of wishes, so we will see how benevolent Buddha is to a travelling Australian.
The man spoke English very well, as he had studied at Sydney university and now is an accountant for the Ministry of Defence. He told me about a local jewellery export store at Yindee where today only the jewellery was 50% off. Back to the tuk tuk driver for a bargain hunt.

Bought a ring with a orange sapphire. Love it!
Got to Puntip Plaza and wandered around for hours. The stuff there is cheaper than Australia, but no overly cheap. Prices are pretty much the same throughout the stores, so shopping around only gets you tired feet.

After dropping my purchase off at the hotel, I went wandering in the area. This is obviously the Arab block, as there are many people in traditional Arab clothing and almost exclusively Arab restaurants. Found an English pub though and enjoyed a nice cold beer. Found an out of the way restaurant with lots of choices and enjoyed a meal while a Pakistani business man did a hard fought deal with some Thai manufacturers at the next table. His parting words to them "I am a good Pakistani business man. You give me items at the airport and I send money to your account". Translation.............Trust me!
Still plenty of time before Christine arrived, so went in for a pedicure for an hour or so. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Christine arrived at the hotel at 9.30 hungry, so we went to a local karaoke "restaurant" across the road from the hotel.

Obviously not a place tourists usually go. We had to resort to pointing at the food to order. They were very friendly, but a bit shy with us. One girl understood a bit of English, but most communication was done with sign language and of course, speaking louder in the event that they understood English better that way.

---

Photos

Golden Buddha
Lucky for me today

Puntip Plaza
Electronic stores by the thousands in one place

Comments

[paul]

Bangkok Dreaming
How is the smog there? still pretty bad?