July 11 to 12—Bangkok Sours: A Rouge TAT Office, A Bad Bangkok Tuk-Tuk Driver, and Bus 77 Turns Evil

Dear Family and Friends,

Wednesday, July 11, we decided to just head out into the city and see what the day offered. So about 3 PM, we took Bus 77 farther than the day before, letting it round the corner past the Central Chao Praya Expressway docking area and all the way to the end of Silom Road, which is a heavy shopping district. As the bus turned towards the North once again from our Eastward journey on Silom, we hopped out and took our feet Northward beneath the path of the Skyrail, a form of transportation that was not available when Martha was here eight years ago, but that has cut down on some of the traffic problems in the notoriously congested city. As many as 40,000 people use this new public transportation system each year, and it is said to cut down on commuting time substantially for those who can use its limited paths.

Past Lumpini Park, Dani bought a 20 baht bag of sweet corn that she shared with Martha. The corn here is delightful, so sweet and tender. The vendors roast it and then strip the kernels off of the husk and into a plastic bag for easier handling. Other vendors sold fruit, lunch meals to take away, and lots of cool, refreshing options to break the day’s heat.

As we began to admire a Wat along the way, we were asked the common, “Where are you going?” question from a man of about 70 years of age. We had decided to try to find the local tourist headquarters (Tourism Authority of Thailand or TAT) office to procure a bus map for Bangkok and open that doorway further to gaining cheap city access. The nice man said the TAT was just North of where we were standing, and he walked with us to show us the way. He talked with Martha about his former work as a teacher in Bangkok, about the religions of the region (95% of Thais are Buddhist, and the minority is made up of Muslims and Christians predominantly), and the different highlights of Bangkok. However nice the man was, his guidance was not what we expected, and we arrived at a local tourist agency certified by the TAT instead of the main headquarters.

Martha gave the man some baht for his knowledge and time, and we entered the shop to see if we could still get our bus map. The man showed us a map that had some bus numbers on it, and then went into his pitch about where we might like to go, soon giving us the details of a five-day trip to Chiang Mai in the North of Thailand for about 5,500 baht each that included train, two nights in a hotel, and a two-night, three day trek into the mountains to see the hilltribes people, ride elephants and bamboo rafts, and enjoy the hillside nightlife with other travelers. Interesting, but not what we were looking for at the time, since we tend to book these things on our own to save money. Dani became frustrated mostly because he was unwilling to give us a straight answer on costs. When he asked why we wouldn’t want to book the trip on the spot, he knew he was out of luck as we said in unison, “We don’t do that.” We grabbed the bus map, and the details of the potential journey, and headed out the door.

Back on the street, we returned to the Wat to find our serenity after being ‘had’ a wee bit and to explore the grounds. In the main building of red and gold, we enjoyed the peace and artwork of Wat Hua Lampon, brilliant beneath the gorgeous blue sky of the afternoon. Taking a moment for prayer to cleanse our mind of ill thoughts towards the TAT scammers, we were taken with the devotees in the room—three men who were spending their meditation time in quiet conversation on their cell phones! The artwork was similarly interesting, depicting some surprisingly irreverent behavior that we had not seen among the Wat artworks in other locations, making us wonder at the teachings of this particular temple. Out to walk the grounds some more, we spent time examining the second largest building on the grounds, which was all white and shared the stories of the Thai ancients in shadows between the edges of the sculptures adorning the outside of the building. We did not enter here as our heads were clearer by now from the distractions of our previous (mis-)adventure, but we wondered at some of the elements of this Wat, particularly a series of bells lining one wall, which a gentleman banged with a stick as he passed by, breaking the quiet with the bongs that perhaps called out to monks long past, bringing their spirits nearer to the present.

Deciding it was time for lunch, we followed the crowd into the back alleys of Little Tokyo, where foreigners filled the streets and signs offered services that we did not find appealing to our sensitivities. The Japanese salons offered the typical hair and nail treatments, along with ear-cleaning that hasn't been advertised in any other salons across town. We managed to make our way through the narrow street overtaken by cars and people, around the bend to a mall-type area, where we passed up the conveyor-belt style sushi to ‘have lunch with Maggie’ (Dani’s best friend who is of Lebanese descent), by enjoying lunch at the Beirut Restaurant for Mediterranean-Lebanese food. We ordered a course of six different options to share: green salad with refreshing mint leaves, stuffed grape leaves, chicken shawarma, kibbeh, houmus, and labneh with garlic, and Martha had an ice coffee while Dani drank a soda water. Delicious, although one of our more expensive meals at close to 500 baht (about 15 USD). The waiter, who may have been the owner, also appears to live in our neighborhood, as he waved at us the next day as he left the complex across from ours by motorbike!

Well-fed, we ventured to Lumpini Park, directly East of the end of Silom Road. A grand statue of Rama VI stands guard near the Southwest entrance of the beautiful parklands. Inside the gates, we found people lounging by the lakes, enjoying a meal from the vendors inside, running, or playing futbol or volleyball as their day’s exercise. We walked the grounds, taking photos of the activity, sitting on a bench to watch the runners pass, and licking up the fragrances of flowers that filled the air. It was dark by now, so we headed homeward on new streets, easily finding our way, working off our big dinner with power walking through the emptier streets and making it home from Silom down Narathiwas in a total of about an hour’s time (it had taken us that long just to make it down Narathiwas a few nights before!).

Thursday, July 12, we wanted to make a dry-run up to the main tourist area of town, off of the Tha Tien docking port of the Chao Praya Express. Back onto Bus 77, we found ourselves at the Central dock once again, paying the lower cost of 13 baht for one of the more-frequently-stopping ferries than the 18-baht trip we had taken with Sheila. Seeing the Chao Praya by daylight for the first time this trip, Martha is happy to note that the river is cleaner than it was eight years ago, when she saw floating refuse everywhere, children playing in the waters, people washing clothes or relieving themselves, and men fishing. Men still fish here, but there is much less litter in the river; we saw no children playing in the waters this hot day nor did we see much of any action waterside as the boat made its way North. The homes that line the waterfront seem to be in better shape than they were in 1999, and Martha looks forward to comparing the homes that she took photos of this trip with the ones from her previous adventures here to see if they are in fact, cleaner, better decorated with greenerie, and more stable, as they appear to her today.

At Tha Tien, we found ourselves in a vast land of open air markets and the great white palace wall. At the dock area, we stopped for a moment to look at the light-weight coconut shell Buddha masks, as we collect one mask each year to hang on our kitchen wall at home, and this would be a good one to carry with us. The asking price was marked double what the vendor was asking of us. He admitted that, “These prices are with commission for tour group guides. For you, half price.” We considered purchasing the mask for 250 baht, but passed and walked on since it was the first such item that we’d come across.

Just outside of the entrance to Wat Pho, one man pointed out that Dani’s choice of shorts for the day would keep us from entering most of the temples and the Grand Palace, so we opted to venture into the heart of the marketplaces that line the waterfront alleys. Wow, but that the Thais seem to be obsessed with amulets of Lord Buddha and other Buddhist images, as the business of selling these images, plastic or metal holders to protect them, and necklaces to hang them from their necks, is HUGE! Stall upon stall, floor mat next to floor mat on the sidewalks, line entire blocks and markets of this area of the city. Monks and laypeople crouched along the sidewalks and under the roofs of inside-areas to find the perfect representation of their religious life (or perhaps the special image that is said to have mystical powers of Partiharn [miracles] and good luck according to local legends). We later learned from our new friend Cindy (see next posting), some amulets are made by monks at different temples all over Thailand, and some are even sculpted in airplanes to increase their power and significance. Of course, we also saw dentures being sold on the street interspersed among the amulet vendors, and who knows how lucky they are when they've spent time next to miraculous pieces of metal and plastic!

Eventually, we stopped at another docking area to enjoy lunch: a spicy mixture of meat on top of rice at 25 baht for Martha and some pad thai for Dani at 30 baht. Martha splurged on a strawberry Fanta for 15 baht. In some of the marketplaces, patrons must change over baht for coupons before approaching the vendors. We changed over 100 baht for lunch, using the leftover 30 baht to buy three bottles of water for the day since we had already consumed our routine-travel bottles in the midday heat and humidity. Upstairs above the multiple food vendors below, we enjoyed our meal in the air conditioning. From there, we crossed the large ceremony field of Sanam Luang (where many of the recent protests against the former Prime Minister of Thailand have been taking place) towards the Grand Palace.

The Grand Palace of Thailand is surrounded by a tall white wall; as we walked along the wall, we passed a statue of three white elephants (important to the story of the life of Buddha) holding up the image of the Thai monarchy. A seemingly-kind Thai gentleman asked us where we were headed, and Dani expressed that we were figuring out our day around Dani’s attire. He kindly circled many places on our map where we could go for the day: Wat Saket of the four giant Golden Buddha, the Thai Factory (where we could get tailored clothes made … but only for a short time as they are open to the public ‘only seven days a year’), the Marble Temple at Wat Benchamabophit and the Government House nearby, and finally the Golden Mountain. The gentleman did not want any money or anything from us, but ‘just to make sure we have a good time in Bangkok.’ He then grabbed us a tuk-tuk, telling us that today was Buddha Day and the last day of Amazing Thailand, so gas was free to all tuk-tuks and we could get around for an hour at just 10 baht each. Now, we had heard about the ’10 baht-each’ scams that landed folks at unwanted shopping destinations, but had not heard this ornate approach to the scam … and were taken in.

However, we did arrive first at Wat Saket, where four gorgeous Buddha stood or lounged in four different poses. We also spoke with a smiling Thai gentleman, who took us into the temple museum to show us the ancient Buddha found there. He, too, spoke of the last day of the Thai Factory opening, saying that he had been the day before and purchased a suit for just 12,000 baht (about 350 USD) of the finest hand-made Thai cashmere, something he would not have usually purchased but for the good price and the factory being open at all right now to anyone but overseas merchants buying in large quantities! He, however, was at the temple awaiting the meditation class that was to start in the next half-hour. The bright smile of the guy was warming, and we believed him; but was it an extremely detailed hoax, or had this Thai gent been taken in by the factory the day before, too??

The tuk-tuk driver was waiting outside, as he said he would be, and we soon arrived at the Thai Factory, which was not a factory with a tour where we might be able to see the materials being produced, as we’d been led to believe. It was a shop, plain and simple. As we entered, a man shoved a Premier card of gold in our face, asking us if we were members. “No? No problem, we are on our last day of promotion where our doors are open to everyone. Happens for only a short time once a year. Let me show you our suits.” He plopped us into seats and we casually looked through the catalogue. Yes, we do plan to buy some tailored outfits while in Thailand, but not until the end of our three months here, when we hope to be more svelte than today. He quotes us the expected price of 12,000 baht, but since he will not be able to admit us into his shop in September unless we pay for the suits today, we exit.

Now comes the screw, as our tuk-tuk driver has "just learned of another shop where we don’t have to buy anything, but, for him, could we please go look so that he can get a free gas card? For him? Please?” We've heard that this "five minutes" can actually turn into hours and tourists buying poor quality clothing for expensive prices.

“Get out of the tuk-tuk, Dani. Look, we had an agreement, and we have no interest in buying clothes today. Don’t you get gas for free today, anyway? Get out, Dani. We’re done with this guy,” says Martha, pushing Dani out the door even as the driver was trying to take us to the end of our planned journey (away from this area, where the Marble Palace is located). We’d had every intention of tipping him much more than the 20 baht at the end of the hour’s tour, but now we scraped together what coin change we had—just 17 baht—handing it over with a less-than-kind “you have tainted our day … not completed your end of our agreement ….”

He left; Martha fumed for a moment at being ‘had’ a second day in a row (although in retrospect, we’d gotten to one location and pretty far North in the city for just 17 baht); and we ventured into the hottest, sunniest day yet by foot to find the Marble Palace. Hot, cranky, and drenched in sweat (thank goodness for our little washcloths to keep us from dripping profusely), we walked by the Government House and up past a school releasing its children into the afternoon freedom. Finally, we arrived at the Marble Palace, where we paid 20 baht each to enter the temple and view the stained glass windows (first seen in Thailand) and golden images on the windows. The walls were hand-painted, but looked like intricate wallpaper. Two devotees knelt before Buddha, and we enjoyed watching one slowly unfold pink lotus flowers, folding over the edges to expose the beauty inside of the buds and arranging them in pyramid-style facing the Buddha image. Again, we took some time to meditate and pray to let go of the disruptions of our day’s peace and calm, and then enjoyed walking around the outside edges of the temple where numerous Buddha in different poses from different periods in Thai history lined the walls.

The Golden Mount was the last stop of the day, and we headed South towards it by way of a bubble-tea stand that offered refreshing bubble tea (milky tea with black tapioca balls at the bottom, sucked up with over-wide straws) with crushed ice. Just the refreshing treat that we needed as we walked about two kilometers or so to the Golden Mount. By this time, however, our dynamic duo needed a break from each other in the day’s crankifying heat and frustration, so we took different routes up to the top of the temple: Martha up the exit stairs and Dani up the entrance stairs among the many paths to reach the top of this great man-made mountain overlooking Bangkok. Martha spied Dani from one ledge as she took photos of the bells lining the walls below. A nice young woman asked Martha to take her photo for her by similar bells up on her level.

“Oh, have you been to Peru?” she asks, pointing to Martha’s daily over-the-shoulder bag.

“No, actually, my parents gave this to me after a trip to the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador. My sister-in-law is from Peru, though!” And, so we got our second “Hello” from the Peruvian sect of the family, making Martha wonder but that the Ala Lunas are not sending little guardian angels to check in on us every once in a while. The idea certainly makes her grin.

We met again at the top of the mountain, where Martha paid the 10 baht to view the gold-laden unknown item in the center of the mountain below the stupa that created the ‘mountain peak’ on the roof. Climbing up to the final level of the mountain, she enjoyed watching a monk fix the ‘skirt’ around the base of the golden stupa and taking in the panoramic view of Bangkok on a clear evening. She also shot some video (which we will post to YouTube once we are out of Thailand, where the king has blocked access to the site), but her camera does not pick up sound so she missed out on sharing the lovely sound of the bells ringing from little bell towers at each corner around the circular stupa. Meanwhile, Dani enjoyed the view of the city from the slightly-lower level, enjoying watching the people as they entered and exited.

Both cooled off as the evening approached 6:00 PM, we still chose to take the opposite paths back down the mountain, planning to meet up where we had separated earlier in the day. Dani found some wild-growing orchids to photograph for Mark, a former coworker who grows his own in the states. Martha banged on the bells to say hello to the ancients (or whatever happens with those things), and waited by the Chinese-style lions at the exit area, rolling the ball that is captured in the stone. It is said that a person who can remove the ball from the mouth of the beast will live forever. This rumor has made for many broken-mouthed lions!

Determined to find dinner (or at least a cool beer), we headed South through the carpenter’s district, enjoying seeing the men at work at their handicraft: making doors and over-window adornments. No beer, however, so we kept walking, eventually ending up back in Chinatown, where we stopped at the air-conditioned seafood restaurant just across the street from where we’d eaten dinner with Sheila two nights before! Dinner, complete with the local beer Singha, was divine: crab omelet for Martha and steamed, mixed vegetables in an oyster sauce for Dani at about 100 baht for the food dishes.

We decided to continue our day’s walking all the way home, and set out for the couple of hours’ walk at a brisk pace. Unfortunately, Bus 77 appeared … and we thought that it would eventually loop back around the city to bring us to Narathiwas, so we hopped on board. BIG MISTAKE!! It headed North, and kept on going, past the Victory Monument, further and further North (Martha tracked it with her compass), and emptying of more and more people. When we arrived at the North Bus Terminal, the lady who collected the money said, “GO” in a very Bus-Nazi kind-of way, and we were ousted from the little green monster, far from home on an already-long day.

Not ones to bemoan the obvious idiocy, we made the most of our destination, taking a bathroom break with a three-baht entrance fee and learning about our bus transport options to other towns, including Chiang Mai, since we’d gotten it in our minds (thanks in part to our misadventure with the TAT the day before) to take a weekend-long adventure up North while visiting in Thailand these weeks; perhaps we would extend our stay with Sheila until the very end of July/beginning of August then, right up until our visa runs out 3 August.

But how to get home? We wandered around outside, misreading our map to where we thought that the SkyTrain was just North of us (it was actually several kilometers South), turning around, saying No to a tuk-tuk who offered to take us home for 200 baht, and finally getting into our first metered-cab, with glorious air conditioning. Even with the 60-baht toll for the expressway to the South, the cab ride cost us just 200 baht with nice tip for the driver!! Home again, we shared our adventure with Sheila before sleeping off the city-weariness of a couple of tough Bangkok days.

In love and light … and request for guidance not to be ‘had’ again!

Martha and Dani