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We have ordered breakfast in our room - you're not on honeymoon every day after all! We are up a little later than we originally planned; possibly something to do with the mysteriously missing minibar from the night before. Who can tell?
We decide to go to another area of the center, to visit the Grand Palace, and a temple named Wat Pho. Wat is a temple. Plenty of jokes in that one...
Shortly after leaving the hotel, we are accosted by a taxi driver. Now the
thing is, we wanted a taxi. But the guy was just *so* pushy, he just drove us
away. We both have an instant reaction against that kind of thing. Now usually
in these situations, they give up once you have actually walked away from them.
But this guy actually followed us a good 200m down the road, clapping his
hands. Before too long, we manage to flag down another taxi, who encourages to
go to see a floating market. But we refuse, indicating we have our own plans.
He seems quite okay with that initially, but then goes hell for leather on a
mission to kill us as quickly as possible. However,
he does actually take us
where we wanted to go, albeit a little shaken up.
So... the grand palace. We approach the entrance, but are quickly approached by
someone saying we cannot go in with shorts. Now, we had already been warned
that we would be accosted by people that would say we were not allowed in
because it was closed, and would offer to take us somewhere else; and in fact,
they would just end up taking you somewhere where they would try to sell you
overpriced goods. But we weren't too sure if the shorts thing might be genuine.
So we wander down the road a little and are soon accosted by someone saying
that the palace is not open until 1pm, and offering to take us somewhere else.
He asks if we have a map (which we soon find is a very common tactic - I guess
people are less likely to walk away from someone who is holding their only
means of knowing where the hell they are going!). He shows us on the map where
some temples are that are open, but we are quite sure this is a ruse by now. So
we
eventually manage to get our map back, and to walk away - at which his
previously beaming smile dropped. We head back to the entrance, and again are
told we can't go in with shorts. Still confused, we proceed to circumnavigate
the palace; the temple we wanted to see was right next door, opposite the
entrance. When we make it around there, we are once again told by a tuk-tuk
driver that the temple and the palace were closed. He offers to take us
elsewhere, but we refuse. We find an entrace to the temple (Wat Pho), and this
time it is clear that it is not closed, and there is no problem with shorts.
Wat Pho was - well, it was really quite magnificent. Very pretty buildings
everywhere, lots and lots of gold. And a huge Buddha. Really really big. Bigger
than any Buddha I've seen ever before in my whole life. If you are into big
Buddhas, this is undoubtedly the place to visit. Even if you're not, it's worth
paying the modest entry fee (50 Baht) to have a look. After the Buddha, we
wander around the rest of the buildings that form the temple for
about 45
minutes. This is around mid-day, and the heat and humidity are really stifling.
When we're done, we decide it is time to get some lunch somewhere. The guide
book recommends a vegetarian restaruant in the area; this turns out to be a
good 30 or 40 minutes walk, though, at least at the pace we took it. It is hard
to find shade, too. The streets here are rather different; I feel more out of
place that I had before. This seems to be a much poorer area, which makes the
contrast with the opulent temples somewhat starker. When we eventually make it
to the restaurant, we take a moment to decide whether or not to proceed - we
were kind of hoping for somewhere air conditioned, which it wasn't, and
somewhere that looked a bit up-market, which it didn't. Not surprising given
the apparent poverty of the area, but we were hoping to play it reasonably safe
food-wise to make sure we can enjoy the rest of our trip! In the end we decided
to settle for it's fan, and its authentic feel. The menu turns out to be huge,
and the prices cheap (mostly around 35-50
Baht, which is in the region of 1
Euro). The whole meal for two, including 4 bottles of water and tip, comes to a
whopping 180. The food was - well, mine (spicy vegetable noodles) was really
very nice. Edith's (Spicy Mango vegetables) was really very tart for our taste.
Ah well...
We then set off in search of a market area mentioned in the guide book. But we
fail to find it. Quite frankly, we've had enough of the afternoon heat anyway,
so we decide to make our way back to the hotel to be extremely lazy for a bit,
in some rather more pleasant temperatures, and in an environment where you
don't get jumped on every 5 minutes to be asked where you are going...
So, we flagged another taxi. This one also seemed to have vendetta against us,
screaming through traffic as if it was Mario Karts or something. He did at
least have the decency to request that we put our seatbelts on before we go.
This gesture might have seemed more worthy if there had actually been somewhere
to plug the seatbelts *into*! But alas, we had instead to put faith in fate
and
hope that we reached our destination in one piece. The traffic in Bangkok is,
frankly, terrifying, particularly when tackled by a taxi driver...
Later that day, we go out for a meal in a restaurant near the hotel. By this
time, it has started raining heavily, although the temperature is still pretty
high. The restaurant had been recommended by the friendly security guard we had
met before, and it looked well patronised by plenty of locals, which is always
a good sign. The place had a nice atmosphere, with gentle live music. The staff
were very good, and the food was delicious... we got a set menu, and it was
really really nice. When we got the bill, it had a number written on the front
which clearly couldn't have been the price; the bill had three pages though,
and the second page had a sum on it that added up to the number on the front...
571. 571 Baht is about the equivalent of 12 Euro! And that was including
drinks! Wow...
After dinner, the rain has eased off a little, so we go for a bit of a walk
down the road. We end up
in a large shopping mall. It looks like places are just beginning to close as we got in, but we have time for a bit of a wander around. It again contrasts sharply with the apparent poverty we had seen earlier - it is much like any western shopping mall, with bright lights, many shops and many shoppers.
On our return to the hotel, we sit in the lobby for a coffee. However, the mozzies appear to be out in force - Edith getting bitten 6 times while drinking that one coffee. Myself, I only got bitten once - but then she always was the tasty one :-). Anyway, we decide to go up to our room after that; watch a little wimbledon, and retire...
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