We started our day off by moving to another guest house because it was cheaper and nicer, a winning combination. After sitting down with our guidebook, map and the all important calculator, we had strategically planned out our day starting with the National Museum. On our way there I decided to consult the map to make sure we were heading in the right direction and a Thai man approached us to see if he could help. When we told him where we wanted to go he said: "You go tomorrow, English tour tomorrow, French today." He then grabbed the map and started circling places that we should go and taught us how to say 60 Bhat in Thai - this being the amount we would have to pay the tuk tuk driver. We kind of nodded and smiled and thought we'd let him go on his way and we would carry on with our original plan but then he pulled over a tuk tuk and almost forced us on it. We drove through the traffic and were taken to all the sites he had marked off. They were:
1. Big Buddha - a temple with a really tall buddha statue.
2. Black Buddha - a temple with black walls.
3. A Travel agent - the guy had said this was a government owned tourist information place but it was an ordinary travel agency where one of the ladies planned a 2 week itinerary for us and we were to polite to interrupt her. All we wanted was train ticket prices.
4. The Golden Mount - A buddhist monastery that was built on a hill and has great views of Bangkok. All the way up the steps to the top there were hundreds of bells that you could ring.
5. Another Travel Agency - When our tuk tuk driver took us to the previous travel agent he practically begged us to go to another one so he could get free petrol from them. Another hour of our day wasted.
After our sightseeing we decided to never trust tuk tuk drivers and strangers who approach you on the street - even if they have good intentions. Once bitten, twice shy. We headed towards the shopping district to get some food and I had to go to a fitting for my suit. We decided to keep our lunch authentic and went to Burger King. This was a big deal for me because the last time I had burger king it almost killed me. I had such bad food poisoning that I was in and out of consciousness for a couple days. It tasted like McDonalds.
The suit fitting went well. They had finished the pants and they fitted perfectly. While walking to the bus stop we passed the nearby national stadium where they were having a international thai boxing tournament. There was no entrance fee so we watched a couple fights before catching the bus. On our way back to our guest house after a long day, Luisa decided to buy a popular street side snack called mango sticky rice. It's a sticky glutinous rice mixed with palm sugar with strips of mango on top. A ladle of cocunut milk is then poured over to make a delicious dessert!
Phil
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