I woke up today very early and decided to wander the nearby area. The streets are very hectic and dirty, shops spilling into the street. wild dogs and cats everywhere. good smells and bad attacking your nose. thais approaching you to sell you things or take you places or arrange a tour - all for a hefty price. near temples men dressed very nicely approach you and become your friends. they also have a relative from Canada - wow I wonder to myself! They take my map from my hand and proceed to draw important tourist stops on it - nice i think. then they get to their point. for only 20baht, about 50 cents US they will arange a tuk-tuk tour of bangkok lasting about an hour or two; they will show me all the places drawn on the map.
A tuk tuk is a three wheeled motorised rickshaw of sorts... the driver is a very skillful weaver who flies through traffic, often careening into the oncoming traffic to pass slow cars. they cut off trucks, go faster than they should.... thrilling!

I finally accepted the 20baht offer with hopes to see a few of the more prominent temples nearby. I got a nice tuktuk driver named sam-something... he began by taking me to the first arranged point of interest, a lucky buddha - honestly not very interesting at all... i was doubtfull of its significance... after he took me on a detour to a tailor shop that custom designs suits. if came out here that the driver (who waits outside during the sales attempt) recieves both commission and fuel cuopons from this shop. I was mildly interested in a custom made suit - for about 150US$ - but deferred any comittment until tomorrow. I missed out on a suspicious one day sale, today only, they said! I will barter them down if i come back... after the driver took me to the TAT, a tourism authority of thailand travel agent. here too, he would recieve gas coupons. I did, however, succumb to buying a pair of tickets to Chang Mai - which i was going to buy anyways. next we went to a pair of shops - one a jewellry store of vast size, the other another tailor shop, also very large. I left these pretty quickly and scolded my driver. he recieved his coupons though... next he dropped me off at the original moument i was interested in - a massive standing gold buddha. he quickly dropped me off, pointed in the rough direction of the temple, and then in the direction of my hotel and he buzzed off. I tipped him. though i oughtnt have, i think.

I had a tour of bangkok that lasted two and a half hours for only about 1.75$CAD.

Spent the rest of the day wandering about, napping, eating yummy food....

They take my map from my hand and proceed to draw important tourist stops on it - nice i think. then they get to their point. for only 20baht, about 50 cents US they will arange a tuk-tuk tour of bangkok lasting about an hour or two; they will show me all the places drawn on the map.
A tuk tuk is a three wheeled motorised rickshaw of sorts... the driver is a very skillful weaver who flies through traffic, often careening into the oncoming traffic to pass slow cars. they cut off trucks, go faster than they should.... thrilling!

I finally accepted the 20baht offer with hopes to see a few of the more prominent temples nearby. I got a nice tuktuk driver named sam-something... he began by taking me to the first arranged point of interest, a lucky buddha - honestly not very interesting at all... i was doubtfull of its significance... after he took me on a detour to a tailor shop that custom designs suits. if came out here that the driver (who waits outside during the sales attempt) recieves both commission and fuel cuopons from this shop. I was mildly interested in a custom made suit - for about 150US$ - but deferred any comittment until tomorrow. I missed out on a suspicious one day sale, today only, they said! I will barter them down if i come back... after the driver took me to the TAT, a tourism authority of thailand travel agent. here too, he would recieve gas coupons. I did, however, succumb to buying a pair of tickets to Chang Mai - which i was going to buy anyways. next we went to a pair of shops - one a jewellry store of vast size, the other another tailor shop, also very large. I left these pretty quickly and scolded my driver. he recieved his coupons though... next he dropped me off at the original moument i was interested in - a massive standing gold buddha. he quickly dropped me off, pointed in the rough direction of the temple, and then in the direction of my hotel and he buzzed off. I tipped him. though i oughtnt have, i think.

I had a tour of bangkok that lasted two and a half hours for only about 1.75$CAD.

Spent the rest of the day wandering about, napping, eating yummy food....