Temple, temple, scam, temple
Trip Start
Nov 03, 2009
1
4
17
Trip End
Nov 27, 2009
Bangkok,
Thailand
Friday, November 6, 2009
We were only 5 minutes own the road when we had our first experience with the "too friendly Thai". Dialogue went something like this:
"Oh, you just arrived to Bangkok! Welcome to Thailand. I am history teacher at school across street. Where you from?"
"Canada."
"Canada?!? My father works at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto! Where you going today?"
"Down to the river to check out the Royal Palace."
"You can't. Royal Palace is closed. Today Thai holiday. Palace does not open until 3PM. Come check out Muay Thai at Siam Square. National champion for this year for one day only--and it's free."
Smelling something a wee bit fishy, we say, "That's okay. We'll just head down to the river for a walk--see the palace from the outside."
"No, you can't. The river is closed. Today Thai holiday."
The river is closed?! We may be new to Thailand, but we're not idiots. We turn around to walk away and he mutters, "stupid.." under his breath. Wow, he even managed to insult us in our home language. Not a great first impression of Bangkok.
We continued walking down the boulevard, passing stand after stand of locals selling lottery tickets, and apparently looking like weary tourists. We were approached yet again by a "too friendly Thai." This one suggested a list of temples we should go check out (seemed like genuinely decent information, corroborated by a seemingly independent bystander) and hailed us a tuk-tuk. We hopped in, somewhat reluctantly, and began our official tour of Bangkok.
Our first temple stop was home of the giant (32m), standing, golden Buddha. I spent 90 baht to free some little birdies out of a cage to bring me good luck. I really just wanted to set them free, but they're probably trained to fly right back in the cage once released.
Our second stop was a bit more modest. The grounds had a lovely courtyard full of cartoon-like Buddha figurines. We went inside the temple to check out the Buddha shrine, when a man suggested we take a picture so that our friends back home would actually believe we went to Thailand. The man kept referring to the temple as "his temple", but he wasn't a
monk (we asked), but he seemed like a real nice guy so we struck up a conversation. When he found out we were planning on staying in Bangkok for a few days, he exclaimed, "Why?! Bangkok is stinky and loud." He proceeded to give us a good sales pitch for the elephant trekking tours up in Northern Thailand and suggested we stop by the TAT office (Thai Authority on Tourism) because they give good discounts. Danny and I are still puzzled by this "religious"man's motivations. He
was dressed in shorts and a Hawaiian shirt, so either Thai people are
quite liberal about religion, or he was another "too friendly Thai" who
happened to see two white people walk into a temple.
The tuk-tuk driver dropped us off at the TAT office--which was fine because we were hoping they could help us find accommodation for the night. No such luck, but we did figure out why our tuk-tuk ride was so cheap. The drivers receive a commission for every foreigner they drop off at the TAT office (or tailor, or guesthouse, etc.).
We continued our tuk-tuk ride into the Kao San Road area as there's a high density of hotels, hostels and guesthouses. Worried that we might waste our entire day seeking out a place to sleep, we decided to stay at the first guesthouse we walked into. The room was mediocre, but the location was good. A subsequent visit to Trip Advisor (after our reservation was made) told us that our hotel of choice was not recommended by past travellers--but it turned out to be OK.
In the afternoon, we went to the Golden Mount Temple on Sarah's request. It's a very neat spot--high above the city with a 360 degree view of Central Bangkok.
Danny wanted to have dinner and drinks downtown at a restaurant on the 59th floor of the Banyan Tree hotel. Decked out in our fabulous backpacker attire, we made the one hour cab ride downtown. When we reached the front door there was a sign that said "No shorts. No backpacks. No sandals." (ie. No Lonely Planet toting, smelly, backpackers). We hightailed it out of there. Danny blamed that one on the Lonely Planet as it made no mention about a dress code.
Ego's deflated, we decided we'd go check out the Suan Lum Night Bazaar. We knew they'd welcome us there! The market was full of shops, restaurants, and places offering Thai massage. After dinner, we treated ourselves to a half-hour long foot massage before heading back to the hotel for the night. Totally worth the $5.
So, lessons learned on the first day:
1) Don't talk to strangers.
2) If you do talk to strangers and they ask you long you've been in Thailand, say for three weeks--even if it's only been 3 hours. That's right--lie. The "too friendly Thais" seem to be able to scent out the newbies. Perhaps we don't smell as bad, perhaps we're not as tanned, or perhaps it's just the bewildered look in our eyes.
3) In Canada, you wouldn't go to a restaurant on the 59th floor of a building wearing sandals and a backpack. Don't do it in Thailand either.
Comments
Just discovered this entry too! Sounds like Bangkok. Sarah and I were told in no uncertain terms that Wat Pho was closed and that we should go to the tout's suggested site. We ignored him and went to Wat Pho which was very open.
xo
Haha, we also got lured in to the ultra cheap tuk-tuk tour of the city - and the TAT office. Funny stories about that. Glad you liked the Golden Mount at least!