We arrived from Macau, took the bus into town and both our eyes were stinging. We think the stinging is from the air pollution, but fortunately the stinging has stopped.
The first night we checked in and went down to the Patpong night market.
The sidewalks were filled with people getting ready, unloading bags and boxes into their stands. So we were a little early. We were also early for the go-go bars: there the there were empty bars except for small groups of girls putting on makeup.
Yesterday morning we got up and had a full day in Bankgok.
We had breakfast at the hostel, and tried to get a taxi to the Grand Palace downtown. Fortunately there were two taxis outside of the hostel. Unfortunately they refused to use the meter in the taxi and wanted to negotiate a price. We had asked the hostel clerk how much a taxi should cost and she said about 80 baht. The cab drivers wanted 320 baht. Then they wanted 200 baht and finally they wanted 120 baht. We weren't really trying to negotiate, we just wanted them to use the meter, and while repeating that, they just kept lowering the prices. Figuring we might find a more honest taxi we headed up the street.
We went up the block and found a nice guy who suggested we take a tuk tuk for only 20baht to the ferries and take a ferry. For 20 baht, we figured we couldn't go wrong. The tuk tuk was pretty fun - no seatbelts in a crazy bumpy ride. The tuk tuk dropped us off at a ferry terminal but it looked like they only had tours - tours for 750 baht. So it turns out we escaped the negotiated price scheme of the taxi drivers to the overpriced ferry rides. We were only going downtown to the Grand Palace and, as we found out later, a boat downtown costs 17 baht.
At the ferry terminal there were two girls from Denmark who looked like they were trying to catch a ferry as well. They told us that the guys there wouldn't let them get onto a boat without purchasing a tour. So we decided to go and split a cab. And together we did that, and got a ride to downtown for 70 baht (for all 4 of us).
When we arrived at the Grand Palace we were not at the correct entrance, but a guy came and told us that because it was Sunday morning the monks are in in prayer until 2pm, after which the Grand Palace is free. He showed us pictures of his family and pictures of him as a monk and told us to only trust Tuk Tuk drivers in uniform. He gave us some tips where we could take tuk tuks for 20 baht and then come back.
We decided to just have a walk and sure enough the the grand palace was open, so we had a look inside. I had to rent some pants because I was wearing shorts.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I saw the picture of your rented pants that Kim posted on her treemo account. I was curious why you were renting pants. So do they just have big stands renting pants for your visit? Very interesting.
The pants looked nice on you.
You can't wear shorts or show shoulders near religious buildings. So they rent pants.
The deposit on the pants was 100 baht (about 3 dollars). I considered just keeping the pants and losing the deposit. But then I wasn't sure if that is moral. They set a price of 100 baht, but I wasn't sure if that 100 baht was what they were willing to part with for the pants, or if it was just supposed to be a dis-incentive for jerks who steal their pants.
In the end I left them their pants.
Post a Comment