[I'm still not happy about lying, but I was thinking I do have some friends who are girls, so perhaps technically "girlfriend" is not an out-and-out fib... I do worry about these kinds of things, believe it or not!]
Ok - just picked up my tailor-made shirts from the tailors and they are incredible. I can't believe I didn't bring my camera. The fitting room is literally wallpapered with US govt business cards and one of the guys getting some shirts when I turned up - a huge black guy with the regulation buzz-cut hairdo - smiled at me as I was saying I can't believe these prices. NZ$40 is just insane for nice tailor-made cotton shirts. Must try to swing by tomorrow and take a couple of pics. Victor the part-owner is such a nice gentle guy for such a crazy part of town.
Nice things of the day? Visited Wat Po, the famous temple her from the 16th century (I think). Takes up a space as big as a couple of rugby-fields I guess and one building has the biggest reclining Buddha I can imagine there is in Thailand. You have to see it to believe it.
Missed the Royal Palace again (amazing place with murals from the Ramayana, the story of the divine avatar, Rama) but will try to catch it tomorrow first thing.
But I did get some really nice smiles. (And I love a good smile :) Nice smile from a caretaker of one of the smaller temples within Wat Po. And got some real tingles from being there - obviously an active temple. Lovely smile from a beggar in the red light area. Alex tells me the beggars are all syndicated through some kind of beggar pimp gang people and the ladies are often sitting with kids who aren't even theirs! But if I get a nice smile, I am always going to drop 20 baht - roughly 80 cents or so - I mean who cares? And that is a lot to them! Nice smile from a girl in a traditional massage store (no, not a brothel!) as I was admiring the beautiful lotus flower blooming from a tiny pot outside. Kinda stunned a lotus can grown in such a small pot, but there we go. Of course it's a hot as a hot-house here, so I guess that helps a lot! In fact my T-shirt was drenched by the time I'd walked back from the Royal Palace. No tourist in their right mind would walk all that way (about 45 minutes) but I like walking to see a city - you get such a different perspective.
But walking does have its problems. Especially if you are dumb enough to consult your tourist map on a street corner near the tourist spots! Can anyone really be that dumb??? (Ok, I will never make that mistake again! ) A guy stopped who seemed nice enough and asked where I was going - and the conversation moved on and he told me that because yesterday was Wesak festival (and it was), there were some temples open today which are never usually open. And some of the government tuk-tuks (motorcycle rickshaws) can take tourists around them for only 20 Baht - i.e. nothing at all! So what did I have to lose? However while I was admiring one of the Buddhas that he dropped me off at, a Chinese-looking guy (who claimed to be Thai) just happened to bump into me and started telling about the gem tax which is exempted for a few days a year and how rubies and sapphires will be extremely rare soon as the mines are running out. He spent ages telling me how much he'd made, and it simply seemed like a random encounter at the temple - as the tuk-tuk driver was nowhere near us. I thought well now, I've been praying for good luck, so maybe this is a little wind-fall. But investing in gems is pretty mad. I tried to look for signals as to where this was good or not. The reclining Buddha in there had such an odd expressing - seemed to be saying "Yeah - really?"
Anyway, once the tuk-tuk driver took me over to the supposed govt-controlled gem store, it suddenly became obvious. The place was a gem store, all staffed by Chinese people, with no other customers were in there. "Where you come from sir?" asked the middle aged man who greeted me inside. "New Zealand" I replied. "My dream country!" he purred. Come one - there was definitely something going on. The most ominous thing was that as I'd got out of the tuk-tuk taxi, and started walking across the street towards the store, the door eerily started opening from the inside - they'd seen me coming...
Then I remembered that the blasted tourist map warned people that tuk-tuk drivers often take people to fake gem stores. And I'd honestly been thinking about paying some serious money over! But only if it looked really legit and there were heaps of other people doing the same of course. So I walked around the shop, thought it looked really bad and walked out and back to the taxi. The driver didn't seem too disappointed, and I guess he got his fee for dropping someone over. He wouldn't take me back to the hotel though (too far!) so I walked. But it was a very good lesson.
From now on, my rule is this. Anyone who tries to help you in the street who isn't a westerner is a bloody crook! Yes it's hard, but it's been the case all the time up til now. And I am still stunned at their smoothness...
And of course plenty of people have been stung - take a look here!
On the positive side, I've found a great tip for bargaining. Show an interest in something that you have no desire to buy. They name the price (in this case a watch for 2000 baht). Keep telling them you don't really want it or need it. Then the price drops and drops. "Ok, you take it for 1000 baht" Now this is after they'd assured you you couldn't get it for that earlier because it's such a nice piece. Well, the problem is I didn't really like or want the watch so I left it. Oh, to have the balls to do that with something I really like! Note: Alex assured me that you can never get anything for less than 60% of the opening price, so that seemed to be doing well. But there's only so much you'll pay for a rip-off designed watch from a street stall, right? (Especially as all their watches are way too big for my skinny little wrist :)
Ok - it's 10:20pm and I've missed Alex which is probably just as well. Going out drinking with him at the bars might be a very bad idea. And of course when I say "bars", you can assume that all bars within a mile radius of here are full of syndicated Thai girls ready to hook up with sad westerners. I should try a Thai beer before I leave, but I might have one back at the hotel, though it is actually pretty empty late at night. Obviously everyone else is down at this end of town! Well, who knows :)
Flying back tomorrow afternoon and it will actually be good to be back home. Bangkok is nice, friendly, very pretty in places, amazingly green with lovely trees all around, but it is hard work just wandering around checking the place out and my suitcase is begging to be emptied. Such a shame to leave all this cool food behind, but maybe I will eat a lot more tom yum soup when I get back. Apart from the fact that eating the noodles in it tends to spray soup all over your shirt, it is actually bloody nice. And Thai people look so damned healthy by and large, it must be good for you.
All right - that's enough for now. Kinda hoping tomorrow will be nice and uneventful!
Lots of love,
Richard :)
[BTW the next day I just sunbathed by the pool for the first time on the trip and it was truly wonderful!!! You lie there in the gentle midday sun - for ages too - and sweat like you're in a sauna. I can tell you it is so strange when you are used to the New Zealand sun which fries people in minutes. I think I could handle another trip back here sometime. It's a weird place, but with the food and the sun and perhaps a little shopping and sightseeing, you can really enjoy yourself.]
