Or well that's what the nice gentlemen on the street kept telling myself and the other hostel people everytime we arrived at the major tourist destinations. These nice gentlemen also seemed to have a great plan of action to take instead. It involved visits to several other 'free' temples, and a cheap tuk-tuk for the day.
Unfortunately if you said anything along the lines of I'm thinking of traveling to Chiang Mai you were stopping off at a travel agent. And if you mentioned you wanted to find somewhere to eat, then off course it was off to the tailor for a suit for you. These guys are why there is the saying 'being taken for a ride'. Don't be thinking you can live with the extra stops at the shops for a cheap tuk-tuk. That you can just go in and out of the shop and on your way. The tuk-tuk driver needs his free fuel, so you always had to go back inside for 5 minutes more. It's a shame the tailor had the most horrendous shirts. The extra 5 minutes would not have seemed so long.
Yes it does suggest I fell for these guys once.
Now I'm not the quickest learner, but still I do learn from mistakes. So when myself and my Italian friend from the hostel arrived at the Grand Palace at 3:15pm only to be told it was closed, it was disappointing, but still worth going in to take a look. After all the guard at the gate signaled us to come on in, and the big sign said it was open until 3:30pm. This was a revelation, yes someone saying a place was open. It was open, tickets were on sale until 3:30pm, the Palace gardens etc were open until 4:30pm. Plenty of time to take a look.
The first day I arrived was an experience. I managed to avoid the scam taxi ranks thanks to my Indian travel experiences, and internet research. Take the cab at the rank, and make sure the cab driver uses the meter. Always a good rule in Thailand. The hostel where I was staying. Wow, five star oasis in the middle of nowhere. I'll take that escape from the busy streets of Bangkok everytime. The manager is a very nice guy, and really takes care of his guests. Being a Sunday he made sure of our plans for the day. Sent a few of us to the Weekend markets. Now I've seen markets before, but gees this was massive. There are apparently over 9000 stalls. I saw but a few hundred before my jet lag indifference to shopping enabled me to suggest an escape with my fellow Bangkok newbie.
A Scottish contingent were part of the crew staying at the hostel. They were kind enough to invite me along for their trip into Patpong. Yes its the red light district. In the future be understanding if you see me cringe at the sight of a ping pong ball flying my way. It's now a natural reflex.
Sadly I lost my mobile phone that night getting out of the cab. It was never found.
The Scottish contingent might I just add (because it's funny) were not as lucky as myself and my Italian counterpart in traveling around Bangkok. After they suggested we visit the Ancient City on day 3 we proceeded to take the offer of assistance from our hostel manager who suggested a mere 300 baht taxi ride. They had arranged the same trip via their travel agent. I enjoyed the ancient city. We're still not sure what the Scots visited. It did make for a great conversation that evening when we tried to establish why we didn't see them there as planned. Their faces when we established we had seen different places, classic. I felt their disappointment. And to think their travel agent only charged them twice per person what we paid in total.
Bangkok did not overcome my fear of street side Asian food stalls. There is something about seeing meat just sitting on a bench without refrigeration which makes them so not appetizing. Shame I can't just go up and ask for the Salmonella Stir fry. If they actually spoke English I'm sure they'd reply without blinking, 'chicken ok, yes'. Oh and the other thing against these stalls. They smell. Now usually I love cooking smells. After all I love food. But somehow these places make everything smell bad. There's nothing like the gag reflex of walking the streets of Bangkok.
Oh and I wish to report an assault. But is it assault when I paid for a massage. Situation was I went to get a traditional Thai Massage. I had to. After all I was in Thailand. My first ever massage. Now when you think of a female Thai masseuse you're probably thinking nice gentle small lady who smiles a lot whilst nodding her head. This lady was not small but did laugh a lot. Primarily to the faces I'd pull every time she tried pushing my leg muscles to being inside the bone. And then also to the look of concern and fear which generated as I had no idea what was next and what new angle she wanted to wrap my legs into. I'm sorry but I wasn't to know that Thai massage was human body Japanese origami. I'm sure several times she just twist and turned me, laughed as I winced in pain, and then spoke to her counterpart beside saying, 'look a crane'. At which point they both laughed in unison. In retrospect we're not even sure whether I was beaten up by a lady. She had big shoulders. The good news is that the day after I felt good. Although for the first few hours after I was a blithering idiot making no sense. One of the Scots looked at me as if I needed to point to the doll where the bad man touched me. I couldn't string sentences.
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