Thailand Day 14 - Bangkok

Leah and I split from DZ today and we each did our own things. Leah and I got out by about 9:00, and caught the metro as far as we could take it, and got off at Chinatown. We walked the 3-4 kilometers of Chinatown, and couldn't really believe how HUGE it was! And it wasn't like Chinatown in SF or LA. Almost no one was selling crappy souvenirs or anything. It was genuinely where the Chinese people live in Bangkok. We continued walking to Wat Po, close to the Grand Palace. Wat Po is home of the famous Reclining Buddha. When we arrived there, the swarms of Tuk-Tuk drivers assured us that Wat Po did not open until 1:00 (it was about 10:30), but for 20 baht, they'd be happy to drive us all around town visiting all the other tourist attractions, returning us to Wat Po at 1:00. I had read in my guidebook of similar scams, so we went to see for ourselves. Sure enough, it was open.

After visiting the temple, we were ready to actually hire a taxi or tuk-tuk to take us to the Vinanmek Palace and museums where we were anticipating a dance show. Everyone and their brother wanted to offer us a ride there, and all around town. Again, for only 20 baht. However, they do this by stopping at their friends stores and factories. They'd give the list of destinations so quickly, you'd barely hear that they were taking you to some unwanted stops! We finally found a taxi that would get us there "direct". We were very thankful and got in.

When we got to Vinanmek, we discovered that they had cancelled the traditional Thai Dance demonstration that our book had said would've happened at 2:00. We were pretty disappointed since that was one of the main reasons we'd gone all the way out there. We already had a free ticket to the museum from a few days before. However, once we came to get the guided tour (that was free with the visit), they told us that all purses had to be checked into a locker as you were not allowed to carry them through the mansion. That was understandable. What we thought was not cool was that they charge you to use the lockers! after charging you to go to the museum, they don't tell you not to bring a purse, and then they charge you to store it. Geez. Good thing all the temples didn't charge you to store your shoes when you go in!

After Vinanmek, we figured out which bus would get us to Kho San Road - which is the road that pretty much all backpackers stay on. However, after waiting at the stop for 20 minutes, and the bus did not come in either direction, we had our doubts as to if the bus actually existed (even though it was printed on the sign and the lady at the palace confirmed it). So we decided to catch a metered taxi instead. We decided that since Kho San was close to the National Museum, that we'd see the museum first. We went to the museum that gave Thailand history and was full of all sorts of relics - from old elephant seats for royalty to beautiful mother of pearl inlaid items.

From the museum, we walked to Kho San Road. Just as expected, Kho san was full of hippie backpackers, many of whom have probably been traveling the world for months or years, and all of the required street vendors. After walking through the street, Leah and I headed to the port to catch the boat down the Chao Phraya river. There is a stop where the river boat overlaps with the skytrain, so it would be the easiest way to return to the hostel. We finally got back to the hostel around 6:15. It was certainly a day filled with sightseeing!

For dinner, the plan was to get together with the cousin of a friend of Mine and David's - Alana. Her cousin, Naomi has been living here for the year. Naomi had this grand plan of going to a restaurant for dinner, and then a bar for a couple drinks afterwards. Unfortunately, she'd mentioned that if the weather didn't cooperate, we'd have to change plans. Of course, the weather did not cooperate, and it poured. it poured for a LONG time. She finally made new plans, and we'd have to catch a taxi to get to the restaurant. After two taxis denying us service saying it was "too far" or they didn't understand where we were going, we had one agree to take us there. In order to go the direction we wanted, we had to turn onto a one way street out of our hotel, and later make a u-turn. There was so much traffic though, that by the time we went left, and then u-turned to get to the end of where our street was, took about 30 minutes, so we talked to Naomi and finally got out right where we started. We all finally agreed on a place that the skytrain could take us to. The place was called Skybar, and it was a pretty chill little place on the top floor of a building. It was nice getting to hang out with her and meet her, and we were out until about midnight when we caught the last skytrain of the evening back home.