Anne's blog travel 06-07

Saturday January 13th 2007 - Bangkok

I finally managed to rebook my ticket back to Australia. It's getting harder and harder to change bookings even if the tickets are open and allow changes. So I went to Qatar Airways this morning and got that done postponing the return from Singapore to Brisbane until 22nd of Feb. That could change again however.

I then got back on the skytrain and made my way to the end of the Silom line which terminates at the Chao Phraya river. There I boarded a water taxi towards the Grand Palace. This is a really cheap way to travel up the river and really lovely too. Plenty of boats go up and down the river. Water taxis, powered long boats, more traditional boats. The water is a ochre colored brown but it's still great and I would recommend this mode of transport in preference to any other. The skytrain is also very good, efficient and easy to take.

The Grand Palace area was of course impressive with amazing monuments painted in gold and huge figurines and wall paintings. It's just awesome in a very litteral way. The complex covers an area of 218 000 square meters and also includes the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. The Palace was built in 1782.

I found a place to sit down and have a bite to eat before I got back on the Water taxi. A Canadian couple from Vancouver was shown to my table so we started talking. They must have been in their late fifties and only had been in Thailand for two days but are here for two months with another couple.

"You haven't gotten sick yet" the woman asks me. "No" I smile "not yet". I mean the food here has been easy to cope with. I have had no food upsets at all except for a few numb lips occasionnally from spicy food. And so we talk about things. The woman says almost as a whisper: "You know for such kind people, they do lie an aweful lot". And then she explain that just yesterday a man asked her where they were going and when she said she was going to the Shopping Mall he told her it was closed that day. "Was there not a friend driving a Tuk-Tuk who just happened to come along?" I ask. And she tells me that yes in fact one just pulled up (Tuk-tuks are sort of open air taxis which are usually a rip-off compared to the metered taxis). Of course the Mall was opened. She tells me as well that some other person today told her she couldn't get to the river with the Skytrain which she did just as I did. So I tell her what I think. The first man was a con artist and yes, he was definately lying to her. Had she said she was going to the museum or the Grand palace or anywhere else, he would have told her it was closed for a public holiday or anything. Then, ushered her to the tuk tuk and somewhere in there some sort of scam would have been suggested like cheap gems on sale that day or silk suits etc. Or even some sort of plan where the buyer could buy some gems and sell it to a purchaser in Canada upon their arrival there. Of course all those scams are engineered and one can only lose by taking part. As the old adage goes: "If it sounds too good to be true...it probably is."

However I tell her I don't think the second person was lying. I have also had that experience today when someone working for the skytrain also told me I couldn't get to the river with the skytrain. I tell her that in my understanding most Thais would not go to the Grand Palace the way we did as we had to go south to the River when the Grand Palace was pretty much directly accross. I feel that the Thais have trouble thinking outside their reality and I really don't feel anyone there was trying to lie at all.

Anyway, back on the water taxi I exit at the wrong stop and find myself in Chinatown. And then the experience is quite out of this world. People everywhere, tiny stalls along the streets selling everything from food, to wallets, to everything you can think of and everything you can't even imagine. And it's only when I stop at a dispensary to buy something and ask my way that I realise I'm really quite a way from where I thought. And the lovely lady takes her time to explain exactly how to get back to the river and also how to do it by walking through Sapeng Lane which is not to be missed.

Of course, Sapeng Lane is amazing. Narrow lanes (no cars) with all sorts of merchants either side and many people squeezing through and again suprisingly the occasional scooter even. How anyone could do any shopping here is beyond me but of course I'm a pretty hopeless shopper. By the time I make it back to the water taxi I'm really happy I got the wrong stop. Next stop is the Oriental Hotel. Famed for being probably the most beautiful Hotel in Bangkok and I'm sure one of the most expensive, a walk through the lobby is sure to impress anyone. And so I make my way to the courtyard cafe and enjoy a very expensive green tea. At US$5-$6 it's still affordable but it is 6 times the price I paid for my lunch.

From there it's an easy walk to the skytrain and I head back to Sukhumvit soi 24 and the President Park Apartments. Happy to stay in tonight after all that.
Bye for now