Narrow Escape
Is there anyone here who isn't trying to scam me? Apart from monks, I mean. I think they're safe. This definitely isn't the place to come if you have a horror of aggressive salespeople - almost got my arm twisted into buying (a) a suit (b) jewellery (c) package tour, none of which I wanted, all cos I got a tour from a tuk-tuk (those sort of 3-wheel taxis you see in all the pictures of Bangkok) driver. To be fair I got to see some pretty cool temples too, and he was honest enough to admit that he gets vouchers from shops if he brings tourists there, but still...
Ah well, thank Buddha I was sober; I'd probably be putting desperate calls in to my parents and camping outside Western Union by now otherwise. Did finally manage to get up at a reasonable hour, and saw the Grand Palace and Temple of the Emerald Buddha this morning. Definitely worth seeing - a whole complex of very ornate and impressive royal and religious buildings, must have been about 40 of them in a square mile (appropriate: everything in this city seems crammed in). The Emerald Buddha is only 75cm high but the atmosphere surrounding it is quite awe-inspiring, even intimidating: when you enter the temple that houses it you have to remove your shoes, sit down with your feet facing backwards (it's a major insult to point your feet at anyone and obviously several times worse if it's at the nation's holiest shrine), be quiet, not take photos - I was terrified I'd sneeze or fart at the wrong moment and get arrested... Not this time fortunately.
Hopefully this'll be my last night in Bangkok for a while - with a bit of luck I'm getting a train to Lopburi, a few miles north, tomorrow, and from then on up to Sukhotai and Chiang Mai over the next week or so. At least that's the plan, but then not much has gone according to plan so far so who knows?
Ah well, thank Buddha I was sober; I'd probably be putting desperate calls in to my parents and camping outside Western Union by now otherwise. Did finally manage to get up at a reasonable hour, and saw the Grand Palace and Temple of the Emerald Buddha this morning. Definitely worth seeing - a whole complex of very ornate and impressive royal and religious buildings, must have been about 40 of them in a square mile (appropriate: everything in this city seems crammed in). The Emerald Buddha is only 75cm high but the atmosphere surrounding it is quite awe-inspiring, even intimidating: when you enter the temple that houses it you have to remove your shoes, sit down with your feet facing backwards (it's a major insult to point your feet at anyone and obviously several times worse if it's at the nation's holiest shrine), be quiet, not take photos - I was terrified I'd sneeze or fart at the wrong moment and get arrested... Not this time fortunately.
Hopefully this'll be my last night in Bangkok for a while - with a bit of luck I'm getting a train to Lopburi, a few miles north, tomorrow, and from then on up to Sukhotai and Chiang Mai over the next week or so. At least that's the plan, but then not much has gone according to plan so far so who knows?
posted by Pearson at 9:31 AM
3 Comments:
They get vouchers for gas apparently. Loving the blog, so many mini adventures already, it sounds crackin'! Keep them coming mate.
Congrats on not being dead or robbed yet! You can't be doing to badly. Sounds like youre having fun - I met a Thai girl called Yo once I wonder if its the same one. ;-D
Cheers guys, I'm hanging in there...
Apparently she got Yo from some Japanese performer (she tells me everyone in Thailand goes by a nickname) so it's unlikely it's the same one... although you never know! Stranger things have happened
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