Ben and the golden fleecing! (bollocks)
Trip Start
Mar 10, 2007
1
22
153
Trip End
??? ??, 2007
Bangkok,
Thailand
Thursday, April 12, 2007
So all was fine at the TAT, they put together a package for me that sounded all good, and did what i wanted to do, however it all fell apart when they came to the price, 270 pounds! I dithered over this for a bit, i must admit, and they initially talked me into it. However when i then changed my mind and said i didn't want it, they said it was too late and that if i didn't pay they would call the police
apres le fighting
. 'Thai prison, on my 1st day here' i thought to myself. Obviously (to anyone who knows me) i got very scared and paid. So i now have my itinerary booked for the next 2 weeks, and it is what I'd want to do, though they have booked me into hostels which are much more pricey than i would have chosen, which I'm very pissed off about! however i guess you learn from your mistakes eh, and at least i do have some stuff from it and its just that I'll be staying nicer places rather than shit holes, could be OK in the end as its soo bloody hot!After the fleecing i was determined that day2 ( the 12th) would be better . Starting with the grand palace was a good way to ensure this, as it turns out I'm not templed out, and it was magnificent. Again if you haven't seen it i cant really do it justice in words so check out the pics when they come up. The significance of the building is rather glossed over though i would say, and there is little to no information about the buildings as you go around, so for anyone visiting if your really interested in the cultural side to it I'd invest in one of the guides they provide. I also saw Wat Po and Wat ARun, Wat Po being famous for the largest reclining golden Buddha in Thailand.
The evening was spent doing pretty much the only thing one can do at this time of year, joining in the songkran festivities, traipsing the streets and joining in the water fights. In the evenings things get much more intense and the street adjacent to mine ended prematurely as the masses congregate, making the road just a throbbing body of people, singing, dancing drinking and smearing each others faces with a chalk like paste. I imagine this time of year is the only time you can really enjoy Kao San without drinking, but i think its gonna get a bit tedious after 5 days.
Comments
Tit for TAT
Thailand is the disney world of traveling in southeast asia. Westerners may find it rough, but compared to other se asian countries, it's disneyland. Tourists are actually spoiled with the organized tourism industry. It is an industry.
We (my friend and I) found ourselves once with nothing to do one aftrnoon, and as we were going out the Grand Palace gate, this nice guy with all the id and official looking uniform informed us he was from the tourist office and they were offering free tourist help. He called for a tuktuk and told the driver to take us to out of the way temples (which we said we wanted to see). And the driver looked honest enough, we went. And we saw this temple where we had to go up lots of stairs (forgot the name now) and where there were lots of real monks chanting, another out of the way temple that was being renovated but the guy there let us in and see the many different buddhas, etc etc.. then, we were brought to TAT.. which has the same name for the government tourism office of thailand. They set us an itinerary for our trip around Thailand according to our specs, and when they told us the fee to book all these (plane, bus, hotels, treks, etc), I kicked my American friend to shut up and told the guy that we need to look it over if it agrees with our plans, and can we come back tomorrow (I'm Asian so I'm more familiar with these scams). He reluctantly allowed us to go (I guess I have an honest face), and we left the place with the travel plan the guy made for us. I think that was a good deal, right? We paid the tricycle driver, and didn't go back to TAT the next day. We did follow the itinerary but we booked our own hotels, treks, etc.. I commend TAT's service, but not their deceptive method of attracting customers/tourists.
Re: Tit for TAT
I agree completely, they do know what they are doing and generally provide an itenary which the tourist wants, however what my problem with the TAT is is the way in which they do it, and in my case pressure foreigners into accepting a package at an extortionate rate for the facilities they book. Bt i am very glad to hear you walked away with far less hassle than i had and didn't part with your money like i did at the TAT. If they could provide this itinary planning service hassle free to all people then they would be an ideal situation. Sdaly i have met many other who felt they were scammed and deceived by a TAT. All the best with the rest of your travels.