BANGKOK (visit #4)
So, only really a brief visit this time, but as I stayed here over 24 hours my rule is to post something at least if staying somewhere over a day...
Again, I find myself in Bangkok and this time actually doing some of the touristy stuff. I had deliberatly (and for once wisely) decided to leave the stuff liek that here untilo helen's visit, some touristy stuff can be 'school trip' enough without having to do it twice!
So, as already said in the previous Bangkok post, armed with cameras and backpacks in a Japanese style myself and Helen got to see some of the many temples around Bangkok, including Golden Mountain and Sitting Buddha, as well as reclining Buddha.
The 'templetastic' day was referred to in the previous Bangkok post was supposed to include a few more of the peripheral places although this was cut short due to our Tuk Tuk driver abandoning us! (Not mentioned!)
This was due to the fact that we'd already been round his affiliated taylors (which hand out petrol coupons if you bring toursists in) so he'd decided that the petrol was worth more than our fare and promplty disappeared. Schhoboy error #378.
So, armed with our new Tuk Tuk driver under my slightly over aggressive insistence, we went atright to the Grand Palace, with no stops at taylors, jewelry shops, brothels or anywhere else that might be affiliated with Tuk Tuk companies looking for a quick Baht.
The other toursity activites undertaken during the second stint in Bangkok for us was a trip to Ayuthaya, which was Thailand's old capital before it was moved to Bangkok, following the (one of many it seems) war with Burma.
The temples themselves were fairly impressive, although I have to admit I had now reached saturation point and found myself going for the 'school trip' approach and giving the temples a cursory look in between thinking about lunch and hometime!
However, the trip was made slightly more entertaining by perhaps having the worst tour guide in the world!! The guy barely spoke english, which although I commend anyone that can speak more than 0.5 of a language like me, it was pretty hard to understand, and if you didn't gaze directly at him to make out the words it sounded Thai!
This was not a real problem, althouh what did complicate matters is when he agreed to meet two of our group on the other side of the temples to be picked up later (unbeknown to the rest of us) and then promplty forgot, thereby sending himself on a wild goose chase looking for people he wasn't supposed to be picking up yet!
This was also made more comical by the fact that he'd decided to abandon them after 20 mins of looking, and when stumbling upon them again at their arranged meeting spot to promptly shout at them for wandering off.....bizzarre.
OK, so the guy made a couple of mistakes, but he showed his true lack of care / attention / professionalsim when he forgot that the chair that had been emplty on the bus the entire time didn't have a person in, once again sending himself on another hunt for a goose until the entire group tried to explain that we were all there, and can we go home now please!!
After a bit of thought, and an ill matching tourist guide pass my sceptical brain leads me to believe that the real tour guide was sick / bunking off or whatever and decided "how hard can it be?" and asked his brother (our actual guide) to do it. As to what his original proifession may have been I will never know, although I could confidently rule out such academic pursuits as rockets science, brain surgery etc......
The remaining day of touristy action was taken up with a cooking course in a small house along the river, which although my cooking skills only extend to one dish from scratch (those who know it, feel free to make fun of me now) it was good fun, and surpisingly easy...my repetoir of dishes has now been extended to four in total, so anyone from now on who asks me to cook will be getting either Pad Thai, Green Curry or Tom Yum until I learn some more!!
Besides some horizontology besides the pool and dangerous levels of shopping, that pretty much concluded visit four to Thailand's captial, only to be followed by a brief stint after my return from Macau, China and Tibet....the destination following that will remain a mystery for now for those who don't know!
Updates will follow from Macau (next stop) when possible, as well as some pics when I can find somewhere that actually has USB, unless I get swallowed up in a casino and never come out again, although the lack of English (and my Mandarin) being what it is I'll do well to make it out of the airport!
Until then....
So, only really a brief visit this time, but as I stayed here over 24 hours my rule is to post something at least if staying somewhere over a day...
Again, I find myself in Bangkok and this time actually doing some of the touristy stuff. I had deliberatly (and for once wisely) decided to leave the stuff liek that here untilo helen's visit, some touristy stuff can be 'school trip' enough without having to do it twice!
So, as already said in the previous Bangkok post, armed with cameras and backpacks in a Japanese style myself and Helen got to see some of the many temples around Bangkok, including Golden Mountain and Sitting Buddha, as well as reclining Buddha.
The 'templetastic' day was referred to in the previous Bangkok post was supposed to include a few more of the peripheral places although this was cut short due to our Tuk Tuk driver abandoning us! (Not mentioned!)
This was due to the fact that we'd already been round his affiliated taylors (which hand out petrol coupons if you bring toursists in) so he'd decided that the petrol was worth more than our fare and promplty disappeared. Schhoboy error #378.
So, armed with our new Tuk Tuk driver under my slightly over aggressive insistence, we went atright to the Grand Palace, with no stops at taylors, jewelry shops, brothels or anywhere else that might be affiliated with Tuk Tuk companies looking for a quick Baht.
The other toursity activites undertaken during the second stint in Bangkok for us was a trip to Ayuthaya, which was Thailand's old capital before it was moved to Bangkok, following the (one of many it seems) war with Burma.
The temples themselves were fairly impressive, although I have to admit I had now reached saturation point and found myself going for the 'school trip' approach and giving the temples a cursory look in between thinking about lunch and hometime!
However, the trip was made slightly more entertaining by perhaps having the worst tour guide in the world!! The guy barely spoke english, which although I commend anyone that can speak more than 0.5 of a language like me, it was pretty hard to understand, and if you didn't gaze directly at him to make out the words it sounded Thai!
This was not a real problem, althouh what did complicate matters is when he agreed to meet two of our group on the other side of the temples to be picked up later (unbeknown to the rest of us) and then promplty forgot, thereby sending himself on a wild goose chase looking for people he wasn't supposed to be picking up yet!
This was also made more comical by the fact that he'd decided to abandon them after 20 mins of looking, and when stumbling upon them again at their arranged meeting spot to promptly shout at them for wandering off.....bizzarre.
OK, so the guy made a couple of mistakes, but he showed his true lack of care / attention / professionalsim when he forgot that the chair that had been emplty on the bus the entire time didn't have a person in, once again sending himself on another hunt for a goose until the entire group tried to explain that we were all there, and can we go home now please!!
After a bit of thought, and an ill matching tourist guide pass my sceptical brain leads me to believe that the real tour guide was sick / bunking off or whatever and decided "how hard can it be?" and asked his brother (our actual guide) to do it. As to what his original proifession may have been I will never know, although I could confidently rule out such academic pursuits as rockets science, brain surgery etc......
The remaining day of touristy action was taken up with a cooking course in a small house along the river, which although my cooking skills only extend to one dish from scratch (those who know it, feel free to make fun of me now) it was good fun, and surpisingly easy...my repetoir of dishes has now been extended to four in total, so anyone from now on who asks me to cook will be getting either Pad Thai, Green Curry or Tom Yum until I learn some more!!
Besides some horizontology besides the pool and dangerous levels of shopping, that pretty much concluded visit four to Thailand's captial, only to be followed by a brief stint after my return from Macau, China and Tibet....the destination following that will remain a mystery for now for those who don't know!
Updates will follow from Macau (next stop) when possible, as well as some pics when I can find somewhere that actually has USB, unless I get swallowed up in a casino and never come out again, although the lack of English (and my Mandarin) being what it is I'll do well to make it out of the airport!
Until then....
posted by aboutabwoy at 10:57 AM
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