Final Bangkok sights, Train to Lop Buri/chiang Mai

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Motivated by the desire to squeeze in the final Bangkok sights, I have woken up early....Over breakfast get talkin to Brendan an Irish guy from Sligo that is doing a round the world trip...

He confesses that despite spending much time in Bangkok on a previous visit he has not seen the main temples...'tis a familiar story apparently..some prefer the beer other prefer the sights ...kinda like those Irish guys that used to go to Greece or Spain for two weeks and then come back White 'cos they spent all the time in bars and amusments....

We depart on the express boat to see Wat Po, the largest temple in Bangkok famous for its huge reclining buddha...in Nirvana position... I squeeze in Wat Phra Kaew in the afternoon before taking my train North to Lop Buri and Chiang Mai...


Lop Buri/Mr. Paki

Lop Buri's town is overrun with monkeys which I planned to see but its too late, "they're gone to bed already", explains Mr. Paki of the WhiteHouse restaraurant. Mr. Paki calls two men dragging a small elephant..."20 Baht", says one holding out a bag of fruit, Mr. Paki grits his teeth "30 BAHT!", he says. The elephant sucks each piece from my hand, then takes the empty bag with his trunk and gives it to his minder...His minder then puts a small mouthorgan to him and he makes noise with it...

Mr. Paki takes out a copy book with a bunch of testaments to his tour to an Aids Hospital which is located about 12 km out and is run by Buddhist monks. I explain that I am only staying a couple of hours, leaving for the North toninght. He shows me colour brochures of the hospital and suggests that I might like to make a donation..... I mull it over, ask him some frank questions and then enclose a twenty Euro note in an envelope, write send the receipt to (my email address) and hand it to him........
...For the next few days I hear Joes words repeating in my mind "Be Carefull! A lot of these people are living on two dollars a day. Two dollars a day, Julian! You will soon see Julian...you will soon know, Julian"

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