Lazy Buddha, A long walk, River Taxi and curry
Trip Start
Jun 11, 2008
1
48
349
Trip End
May 14, 2009
Bangkok,
Thailand
Friday, July 18, 2008
Oh, something I forgot to mention. When we got here yesterday, we were advised that it was Buddhist Lent on the 17th & 18th July, and this meant that no alcohol would be available! .............excuse me?...........what was that?..........I must have misheard.........do you know who I am?.....Do you know where I'm from?.......Panic had taken over my fragile little mind. What was I to do? As I was tying to suck the sap out of a nearby tree, Lorna had discovered that this alcohol ban wasn't city wide and was just in certain bars & restaurants. Phew, that was a close one. Its strange that on a buddhist religious day they stop alcohol, yet on our religious Easter Sunday, because it's a bank holiday, we all go out and get leathered! Mmmmm!
Looking good for her curry nite out
Anyway, we got beer, so all was well.Back to the story. Where was I? Oh yes, random walking day.
The first thing we got to was Wat Saket, which is the Golden (Royal) Mount. This is a large building in the middle of town that has lots of bells and great views of the City. Lots of Monks were hanging around this place. I don't mean like a bunch of numb nuts slumped around in a pool hall, more in a sense of worship and prayer. It was most serene. After being politely asked to leave because Lorna was trying to play "Hit me baby one more time" on the largee bells, we headed over the City Parapet to the Democracy Monument. It was here that the first Tuk-Tuk scam was attempted on us!
As we were checking our map (a fatal mistake for any tourist), a random gut was walking past and asked us casually "Where are you looking for?". Our suspicions were aroused, but we told him Wat Po. Amazingly he gave us the answer that we have read about in so many books. He said "Oh, today that is closed for cleaning. You should take a look at this place instead" and pointed to some far out place on the map. OK, we will walk there we said. Oh no, no ,no came the reply "You need Tuk-Tuk" he said. "Only 20 Baht, and will take you everywhere". And what a coincidence, this guy could actually sort out the Tuk-Tuk for us! What a stroke of luck - my arse
Hanging on in a Tuk-Tuk
! I started to look around to see if there was a sign above my head saying "Born Yesterday", but to no avail. Anyway, we thanked our new random friend and went on our way to Wat Po as originally planned. This same scam was attempted on us three more times during the day and our responses got funnier and more comical.On the way to Wat Po we stopped off at the Giant Swing, but we couldn't find the Giant See-Saw or the Giant Slide!
Wat Po contains the 56ft long Lazy Buddha. Sorry, I mean Reclining Buddha. It's a huge gret thing, but I am sure it's feet smelt, or was that because everybody had to take their shoes off to walk round it.
On our continued walk we also went to the Grand Palace & the City Pillar Shrine. We also went to check out Khao San Road by day. It is a busy street of stalls, bars and Asian snatch as well as the multitude of backpackers. We shall try this road out on Saturday night.
We then went and found a curry house that we could frequent this evening. It was called the Royal India and is in the Lonely Planet. We then got the river taxi back down to the Skytrain terminal and headed back to the hotel to change.
We decided to jump in a Tuk-Tuk to the restaurant. This was where scam number two was attempted (and failed)
Looking cool in a Tuk-Tuk
. The Tuk-Tuk driver asked where we wanted to go and we gave him the street name, and off we set (we had already agreed a decent price). He drove for about 10mins and then pulled up saying we were at the street we had requested. Now, if we hadn't have already been to the restaurant in the afternoon, hence knowing where it was, we could have got out there and believed him! Tosser! When we put him in his place, he realised he would have to take us right over the other side of town and tried to increase the price. We stood our ground. He then said "just give me half the money and I will let you get out here. Nob-head, he was trying to con a Mansfield lad! Obviously, he was unaware of our kebab ridden home town. Anyway, we told him to get his engine running and take us where we wanted to go and that we would still be paying the original price. He obviously caught sight of Lorna in her Kung-Fu stance and took us to the restaurant.The curry was cracking and dirt cheap as well. Definitely worth it, even if it is hidden down a dodgy back alley!
Thai curry last night, Indian curry tonight, better warn the authorities about a soon to occur lavatory bombing!
