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Everything You've ever Wanted
The coolest amagomation of Shtuff, about 5 minutes from Khao San Greetings!
Well after a very uneventful 20 hour travel time, Erin and I made it to one piece to Bangkok. After many smiles and offers for rides to the city, we managed to get into the more regulated metered cab line... though we still speculate we got a bit ripped off. Completely exhausted, we stumbled to Khao San Road, major farang (foreigner) hotspot and checked into the hotel Amy said she would be at in a few days. We were definitely ripped off here- but a cool room with breakfast and a pool sounded like a good way to recover from the travel.
The next morning (Friday) we packed up in search of a new, cheaper place to stay. We had walked barely 50 metres before an elderly lady stopped us because of Erin's Canadian luggage tag. She was a teacher and explained that she had the day off due to a Buddhist holiday. She also flagged down a tuk tuk and sent us to a Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) office. After a bit of a whirlwind of chatter and a very nice lady named Elena, we managed to get the rest of our travels in May booked
Reverence
In the Marble Wat, Bangkok and planned, and definitely at some savings (god I sound like a miser eh??). If you're my parents, this news should come as a relief, as it means our accom and travel is taken care of. For the rest of you free spirits, don't be too disappointed in my rather comfortable lodgings-- I still have June!
After the TAT office we were tuk tuk'ed to the Boonsuri, a very new hotel that we booked through Elena (and, as I said, much cheaper than what we had before), dropped our stuff, and headed out in search of Khao San to really explore it. Instead, we got lost in the meandering way travelers do and found ourselves next to Sanam Luang Park, where people were either setting up or taking down festivities for the holiday. Again we were stopped by Thai man who recognized us as Canadian and we went through the whole "Ah I know someone in/have been to Vancouver" and "Yeah we just arrived in Thailand" shtick. He quickly pointed out a whole circuit of Wats (temples) that we had to check out because some were free on for the holiday. He flagged down a tuk tuk and haggled
a good deal for us- 40 baht for all the stops and back (a bit over a dollar). And off we went.
By now you must be thinking this tuk tuk system is pretty great- a small, open, personal cart driven by moped- so did we. However, late in the afternoon we realized this was a ruse- between taking us to
ha the temples we were told about, every other stop was a silk tailor or jewellery gallery. Since our driver's English was quite stilted and our understanding of English-in-stilted-Thai even worse, we didn't really understand why he was doing all of this until we found out later that the drivers get some sort of commission coupon for taking unsuspecting farang to these places. Finally, probably because we were lollygagging so much at the temples, our driver abandoned us at Wat Phra Chetuphon (Temple of the Reclining Buddha)- but only charged us 20 baht and it was only about a 20 minute walk to our hotel anyway. But we learned our lesson- no more tuk tuks!
Needless to say, the wats were absolutely breathtaking. The Temple of the Reclining Buddha was particularly spectacular- its main attraction being, obviously,
Tiny Shrines
Memorial sites at one of the wats a golden Buddha 50 metres long and 45 metres high, lying serenely on its right side. The rest of the temple was really cool too- courtyard upon courtyard of stacked stupas and concrete guardians. The stupas were all decorated in elaborate ceramic tiles and flowers. We wandered around about an hour, and then exhausted headed back to the hotel. We were completely wat-ted out!
The plan was, upon returning to our room, was to get rehydrated and cool down, maybe even take a little nap before heading out for dinner on Khao San. However, the heat of the day weighed down on our eyelids, jet lag still in our bloodstreams.. and before we knew it, we were asleep. Erin says she woke up at some point and turned off the light- all I's know is that I awoke wide awake at 2 am, much to my chagrin. We estimate that we fell asleep around 5, missed dinner, and slept through. I lay around, writing in my journal and reading until Erin woke up at 5 am. Then we lazed about until breakfast at 7.30. Next time we take a nap, we will definitely set the alarm!
Today we
Tiled Chedi
A detail of the fantasic ceramic-covered chedis at the Wat of the Reclining Buddha. headed into downtown Bangkok via canal boat and skytrain to the Canadain Embassy to register ourselves (like I said I would, Dad). HOWEVER, turns out the embassy is only open Monday to Thursday! Fancy that! So we wouldn't have made it anyway, seeing how we arrived on Thursday night. To save money on skytrain fare we walked back to the canal. Downtown was bustling and crowded, with everything from huge shopping malls next to small shanty shacks. On our way were were stopped by some policemen. The steet was completely frozen- no one moved, the street was clear of cars and even the birds seemed to stop singing. We had no idea what was happening until a local lady told us that the Crown Prince and his entourage were coming through with police escourt. A few minutes later, the whole crew rolled on through in beemers and benzes. I'm not sure which one was the prince, but it was pretty interesting to see how the world stops here for the royal fam. Is it like that in Britain? The British man on the computer next to me doesn't think so.
So anyway, we boated back to our side of
On the Canal
Making our way downtown on a Canal ferry town, and now find ourselves at a dim little internet cafe- where we encountered our first cockroach as he crossed Erin's keyboard. Now its time to set back to the hotel for a quick freshening up- then, who knows! Hopefully we will meet up with Amy after she arrives tonight with her group.
Tomorrow evening the three of us will set out for Phuket on the Southeast side of Thailand. Sorry for no pictures this time, I will try to find a computer with a USB port and get uploading for all your optical enjoyment.
Catcha later,
Em
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erin s
non-member comment
sounds lovely
Oh dear - I feel like I am there with you, with all the mention of erin... I might have warned you about the tailor/gift shop ruse, but we missed each other before you left. That said the tuk tuk drivers and minibus drivers out of bangkok are a bit better and will charge more but get you to your destination faster. IF you did want anything made, the tailor shops are very good tho. Have a great time and keep up the writing... it is fun to live vicariously.