October 11
bangkok, the city of scandals
After leaving Brunei 2 nights ago, we flew through Vietnam (stopped for 1.5 hrs on the ground, but I was asleep on the plane) into Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand. This meant we were delayed on top of our already late schedule. Immigration in Bangkok airport was really slow, most likely delayed by stupid American travellers arguing about what they need to show to get in the country. Gah!
30 seconds after we are through immigrations we were hounded by people asking if we want a taxi to our hotel. I was saying "no" to everybody, but eventually I said yes to some guy who offered to take us for 500B (around $17). I figured that was OK, since it was a decent distance to the city. I later found out that most people pay between 400 and 700, so we didn't do too badly.
However, it turns out that we paid a random stranger who is not a registered taxi driver. And there were 2 people in the car, the driver, and the salesman who had approached us. On the way to our hotel Nee and I were looking into the rear view mirror and noticed both of them starting to fall asleep. The driver was driving across two lanes, and it was kinda scary - but we arrived safe and sound - thank fucking god (or buddha).
After checking into our hotel (at around 3am), we take the elevator up to the top floor - 17 stories above the streets, take off our shoes and relax on the comfy bed, after many weary and cramped hours on the plane.
6 hours later we wake up, and take my uncle's advice to travel to the train station and book some train tickets to Chiang Mai. We step out of the hotel and are immediately hounded by Tuk-tuk drivers wanting to take us wherever we want to go. You can't respond to each one politely, so you just ignore them all and just keep walking.
I was just in awe of the street outside our hotel. So many cars, motorbikes, tuk-tuks, everything, driving past. The noise is intense, but the pollution is what really gets you. There are people everywhere, just standing about waiting for a bus, or trying to sell something to you. Market stalls everywhere, whether it's food, or water, or watches, or shirts. The streets are lined with old and dirty, tiny buildings, and the hundreds of tangled powerlines that are strewn on each side of the street really illustrate how unplanned the city is.
We waited for about 10 minutes at a crowded bus stop and got on the Number 74 bus, tried to explain to the bus driver where we were headed and they told us where we had to change buses, etc, to get to the train station. It cost us about 30B total to get to the train station, which is equal to about a dollar - very cheap!
Walking around in Bangkok we must have "tourist/sucker" printed on our foreheads. Thankfully there are some helpful people (TAT) at the train station who told us how to buy the train tickets, and then direct us to a travel agent who helped us book accommodation in Chiang Mai.
Straight after we left the train station we were hounded again by people wanting to know where we were headed and offering us a tuk-tuk ride to get there. After initially saying no, they said it would only cost 20B. So we figured, why not? After we hopped into the tuk-tuk, he turned around and tried to con us into going into a shop to "look around" and he would get free gasoline for his tuk-tuk. I knew it was a scam so I just said to take us to the pier because we were hungry. He seemed disappointed but didn't hassle us any further.
My uncle said not to take tuk-tuk's in Bangkok - and boy was he right. It i just a disgusting feeling riding in the back of an open-air vehicle in the middle of one of the most polluted cities in the world! In the end he actually dropped us off not where we asked, but at a friends boat ride company down the back of some alley. We ended up walking around to where we wanted to go, but it was a bit of a pain in the arse.
Nee has been terrified of trying food on the open street (and for good reason too, inside Bangkok), so we found an "upmarket" restaurant on the river. We ended up paying about $15 between us for lunch, which is a lot compared to other places (eg. on the street), but it would have cost much more in Australia.
After lunch we headed up the river on a tourist boat, which was pretty cheap again, and gawked at everything on the way. We hopped off the boat and went to see Wat Pho, the reclining buddha. Before entering however, we were approached by a seemingly friendly Thai guy, who spoke good English, and was dressed nicely. He was warning us about going into Wat Pho before 3pm because apparently the local Chinese people steal your shoes (which you have to leave outside) and then sell them on the markets. It sounded weird, but funny. He then tried to convince us that we had to go to another buddha, then a place called the "Thai Export Centre", and we had to go now on a tuk-tuk. It all sounded pretty dodgy so we just walked away and had a look at Wat Pho.
It was pretty average in my opinion, but maybe I was just distracted by the lack of sleep and immense pollution around us. We soon left and decided to go across the road into the Grand Palace. After walking in the steaming sun for five minutes trying to find the entrance, we were approached by another Thai guy who told us that it was closed today and for us to go to these other buddhas, and the "Thai Export Centre" as well, for only 20B between us. I figured that the other buddhas were close by, so we just said yes and hopped in.
We were driven pretty much across the other side of the city and after seeing some buddhas the driver tried to take us to the export centre. We told him were were tired and just wanted to go back to our hotel, but he didn't want to take no for an answer. I kept saying, "no, take us to the hotel", and he kept saying "it's on the way, only 5 mins, etc" and Nee piped up "yeah, let's just go there". I'm not sure if there is such a thing as the thai export centre, but we were taken into a tailors store where we walked around for 2 minutes and then back out again just to shut this guy up.
When we walked back to the tuk-tuk he was obviously very upset and he explained that the grand palace is never closed and not to listen to the people saying it's closed. Then he said something about the mafia, and not telling anyone about how he took us around, etc. I couldn't really understand what he was saying so I just gave him more than enough money to cover the tuk-tuk ride and we got the hell out of there.
Oh, what a huge day it was, and we weren't out for that long at all! On the way back to our hotel we stopped in and bought some travel suitcases/backpacks - for about $35 AUD each.
That night I had a dream about the tuk-tuk driver and he was apologising for taking us around and lying to us. I told him he had to stand up for himself and be truthful, and that good things come to nice people. Weird dream to end a totally weird (and exhausting) day.
30 seconds after we are through immigrations we were hounded by people asking if we want a taxi to our hotel. I was saying "no" to everybody, but eventually I said yes to some guy who offered to take us for 500B (around $17). I figured that was OK, since it was a decent distance to the city. I later found out that most people pay between 400 and 700, so we didn't do too badly.
However, it turns out that we paid a random stranger who is not a registered taxi driver. And there were 2 people in the car, the driver, and the salesman who had approached us. On the way to our hotel Nee and I were looking into the rear view mirror and noticed both of them starting to fall asleep. The driver was driving across two lanes, and it was kinda scary - but we arrived safe and sound - thank fucking god (or buddha).
After checking into our hotel (at around 3am), we take the elevator up to the top floor - 17 stories above the streets, take off our shoes and relax on the comfy bed, after many weary and cramped hours on the plane.
6 hours later we wake up, and take my uncle's advice to travel to the train station and book some train tickets to Chiang Mai. We step out of the hotel and are immediately hounded by Tuk-tuk drivers wanting to take us wherever we want to go. You can't respond to each one politely, so you just ignore them all and just keep walking.
I was just in awe of the street outside our hotel. So many cars, motorbikes, tuk-tuks, everything, driving past. The noise is intense, but the pollution is what really gets you. There are people everywhere, just standing about waiting for a bus, or trying to sell something to you. Market stalls everywhere, whether it's food, or water, or watches, or shirts. The streets are lined with old and dirty, tiny buildings, and the hundreds of tangled powerlines that are strewn on each side of the street really illustrate how unplanned the city is.
We waited for about 10 minutes at a crowded bus stop and got on the Number 74 bus, tried to explain to the bus driver where we were headed and they told us where we had to change buses, etc, to get to the train station. It cost us about 30B total to get to the train station, which is equal to about a dollar - very cheap!
Walking around in Bangkok we must have "tourist/sucker" printed on our foreheads. Thankfully there are some helpful people (TAT) at the train station who told us how to buy the train tickets, and then direct us to a travel agent who helped us book accommodation in Chiang Mai.
Straight after we left the train station we were hounded again by people wanting to know where we were headed and offering us a tuk-tuk ride to get there. After initially saying no, they said it would only cost 20B. So we figured, why not? After we hopped into the tuk-tuk, he turned around and tried to con us into going into a shop to "look around" and he would get free gasoline for his tuk-tuk. I knew it was a scam so I just said to take us to the pier because we were hungry. He seemed disappointed but didn't hassle us any further.
My uncle said not to take tuk-tuk's in Bangkok - and boy was he right. It i just a disgusting feeling riding in the back of an open-air vehicle in the middle of one of the most polluted cities in the world! In the end he actually dropped us off not where we asked, but at a friends boat ride company down the back of some alley. We ended up walking around to where we wanted to go, but it was a bit of a pain in the arse.
Nee has been terrified of trying food on the open street (and for good reason too, inside Bangkok), so we found an "upmarket" restaurant on the river. We ended up paying about $15 between us for lunch, which is a lot compared to other places (eg. on the street), but it would have cost much more in Australia.
After lunch we headed up the river on a tourist boat, which was pretty cheap again, and gawked at everything on the way. We hopped off the boat and went to see Wat Pho, the reclining buddha. Before entering however, we were approached by a seemingly friendly Thai guy, who spoke good English, and was dressed nicely. He was warning us about going into Wat Pho before 3pm because apparently the local Chinese people steal your shoes (which you have to leave outside) and then sell them on the markets. It sounded weird, but funny. He then tried to convince us that we had to go to another buddha, then a place called the "Thai Export Centre", and we had to go now on a tuk-tuk. It all sounded pretty dodgy so we just walked away and had a look at Wat Pho.
It was pretty average in my opinion, but maybe I was just distracted by the lack of sleep and immense pollution around us. We soon left and decided to go across the road into the Grand Palace. After walking in the steaming sun for five minutes trying to find the entrance, we were approached by another Thai guy who told us that it was closed today and for us to go to these other buddhas, and the "Thai Export Centre" as well, for only 20B between us. I figured that the other buddhas were close by, so we just said yes and hopped in.
We were driven pretty much across the other side of the city and after seeing some buddhas the driver tried to take us to the export centre. We told him were were tired and just wanted to go back to our hotel, but he didn't want to take no for an answer. I kept saying, "no, take us to the hotel", and he kept saying "it's on the way, only 5 mins, etc" and Nee piped up "yeah, let's just go there". I'm not sure if there is such a thing as the thai export centre, but we were taken into a tailors store where we walked around for 2 minutes and then back out again just to shut this guy up.
When we walked back to the tuk-tuk he was obviously very upset and he explained that the grand palace is never closed and not to listen to the people saying it's closed. Then he said something about the mafia, and not telling anyone about how he took us around, etc. I couldn't really understand what he was saying so I just gave him more than enough money to cover the tuk-tuk ride and we got the hell out of there.
Oh, what a huge day it was, and we weren't out for that long at all! On the way back to our hotel we stopped in and bought some travel suitcases/backpacks - for about $35 AUD each.
That night I had a dream about the tuk-tuk driver and he was apologising for taking us around and lying to us. I told him he had to stand up for himself and be truthful, and that good things come to nice people. Weird dream to end a totally weird (and exhausting) day.
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So much for "good things come to nice people"