A little delay in posting this, but the work in China is wearing me out. The last thing that I want to deal with when I get back to the hotel is the computer. So, it's a week late, but here's a little bit about Bangkok.
I had one full day to explore, so I set off with big ambitions in the late morning. I hopped on a river boat and headed quite a ways up the river. Then I got back on land and started just wandering around. While waiting to cross one of the streets, some random dude started talking to me, and it eventually lead into some story about how the yellow tok-toks (three wheeled buggies) were only 20 baht (about 60 cents) today. The driver would take you to all of the Temples and places that you wanted, and even wait for you. The only catch (I figured out later) was that you had to be taken to various 'Export shops' and at least feign interest in the merchandise (jewelry, clothes, crap). I got three temples (including a 40 foot Buddha), lots of sickening gas fumes, and two shops in my three hours of tok-tok riding. The big upside for the driver was that he got government sponsored gas coupons for taking the tourists around. He really wanted me to spend the day with him going from shop to shop, but I had had enough and was starving (see previous post about the horrid sausage). My last stop was the Grand Palace. I got yelled at as I entered because I was wearing shorts, but even after figuring out that I could rent some pants, I decided to forget the Grand Palace and wander around what appeared to be a religious festival. I assume that's what it was because there were lots of monks with microphones, and people trying to rip the tourists off. After one complete and boring walk around the event, it was now time to head back to the hotel and get cleaned up for the evening adventure. Part one of the full day was at a close.
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