Travel Diary

The hotel offered no breakfast, but that was fine. Again, the price was great as was the location. Still, it did seem like a place where the older men took their young "dates" to, but we never heard any shenanigans going on.

The city was like a ghost town when compared to the night before. Few folks were out walking around now. I had to guess that they were sleeping off hangovers or resting up for the next night ahead.

What I had was a craving for gelato, which I had smelled even before I saw the shop. This treat was probably the biggest overpriced item we had come across, but it also isn't something easy for many to sell or keep, as the weather is hot most of the year. The cost was about 120 baht ($4). I was starving so I paid it. The price included two scoops, but I asked for only one. She said it was the same price, but I said that was fine--I didn't need that much junk food. I just wanted a cold treat.

I also purchased a freshly-squeezed juice drink. I believe the fruit is a cross between a mandarin and a lime. It's very tasty. I wish we had that particular fruit back in the States.

Returning to the hotel, we checked the internet one more time and then checked out. As luck would have it, we found a small shuttle bus that headed into the city of Bangkok. Perfect. The price was only about $5USD too. They said it was leaving in 30 minutes. We found that to be the case each time we checked. Until we bought the tickets, it was always "30 minutes" from leaving.

After paying the fare, we got in and waited about 10 more minutes. A couple more people boarded and we left. However, this bus didn't head straight there; it made other stops to pick up more passengers. Eventually, it was full and we were on the highway.

Soon, we were at a gas station. I sort of wondered why this wasn't done BEFORE picking us up, but I supposed it saved money that way. And paying less was always nice. Again, this was almost a 2-hour ride deep into Bangkok.

About an hour and a half later, we reached a Bangkok train station and exited. We were in the big city now. Still, we had to get a taxi to reach our hotel. Oh yeah, this time we had a reservation. The day before, we had used Booking.com to reserve a place in Bangkok. This "randomly searching around" method wasn't panning out too well.

Now the problem was that the cabbies all spoke no English and we spoke no Thai. We had the address written, but if one doesn't speak a language, there's a good chance one doesn't read it either. Funny how that just makes perfect sense after thinking about it. And the location was in English. About four cabbies later, we found one that called the hotel and got directions.

We were then off!

We were then stuck in traffic.

The traffic situation was awful. At times, we were stopped for 5-10 minutes at a time waiting for cars to move, and one pays by the minute there when things aren't moving along. After some apparent confusion, he got us there and we checked in.

The room worked, though it was a lot more Spartan than we had before. That was an interesting trend. At each place we checked into, the accommodations were less than the previous one. The same exact thing happened to me during my central Europe tour in 2009. While it wasn't enough to cause any real problems, I just notice it happening when I travel.

After checking in, we explored some of Bangkok. The Grand Palace had closed at 3:30pm and it was now 4:30pm. I was glad we missed it by a lot. It would have been a lot worse to know that if we had just been there five minutes earlier, we could have gotten in.

Thus, we headed south along the sidewalk markets. There, they sold all sorts of random items. It wasn't like the markets with mass produced stuff. These places just sold odds and ends: old computers, TVs, telephones, sandals, belts, clocks, cell phones, and even some assorted telescopes. It was fun to see the variety involved.

During our perusal of the neighborhoods, we got out the map and looked for the boat piers. A man approached and claimed to be from the Tourist Office. Obviously, he was probably not, but heck, if he wanted to give free advice, so be it. He explained where the best boat docks were on the map. This was fine with us. But he wanted to keep explaining. Okay, got it. No, wait. There's more. Yeah, yeah. Cool. Thanks. Let...go...of...the...map!

Then of course he pointed out a special taxi we could use. Nah, we were fine walking. But it was so far, he said. We didn't mind, we stated. Thus, no sale. The scam may have been nothing more than him getting kickbacks for directing tourists to certain cabs, yet walking was still our preferred option. We did thank him for his advice though, so it wasn't a total waste of time for him. I mean, who doesn't value a good, friendly smile?

Moving onward, another helpful local came along. (They're everywhere!) He wore a suit and said he just came from the Ministry of Defense. He even flashed his identity badge. Well, then he must be legit, because no one anywhere has fake badges, even in a country that has multiple vendors in the night market selling fake IDs, including American driver's licenses. (Notably, these sellers didn't offer fake passports. I guess the country has some sort of control over contraband. It's not complete anarchy.)

Again, this guy had advice on the docks and even offered to walk with us to reach a boat station. We said that that wasn't necessary, but he professed that it was on this way home. Okay, fair enough. We went down a few blocks and the down a back alley.

There, the boat workers said they could offer a great tour and then named the price: 800 baht. Wait, there's more! Per person! Wow. That wasn't even close to being agreeable. It was about $25 per person. We laughed and said no thanks. They asked how much we could pay, but it was too late. Something just didn't seem right. One guy then said "100!" We paused. "US Dollar!" Okay, ha, ha. Yeah, yeah, very funny. I looked back after walking down the street some. The Ministry of Defense was walking back up the street. Who knows what his agenda was. He may have done that full time, or simply freelanced after a hard day's work. All I can guess is that such people get kickbacks when tourists are referred. I would be shocked if he made anything that time since there was zero money to kick back. Receiving a percentage of zero isn't good business sense.

Continuing on the docks again, we finally reached Pier 7. That was the one we wanted. The signs were tough to read, but a lady finally helped us out and said which one to take. We took some photos until the boat came. The sun was setting, although the scenery on the opposite side of the river wasn't particularly great.

When the boat taxi arrived, we hopped on board and headed up the river, just letting the boat's path determine ours. Also, the price was quite nice: 20 baht. About $.80. Much better than $25. As we passed the Pier with the over-chargers, I wanted to yell out, "Only 80 cents! Much better deal!" But we never had the chance. Maybe next time.

It was a colorful sunset over the river, although the sun had dipped inside some clouds. Oh well. Got at least a couple of decent shots.

Exiting the boat, we had a few cheap beers at the pier (pier beers) and then walked inland. Needing to use the bathroom, I found a place. It charged money, but the total cost was about seven cents. I'd say it was worth it.

Continuing onward, an outdoor restaurant looked heavily populated by locals, so we dined there. I had some green curry and rice, which was delicious. (This has now become my favorite Thai dish.)

After that, it was time for the two-hour massage. We journeyed on over to the market street, which was packed with people, mostly tourists.

The massage was great and the two hours flashed by. That being done, we headed home. All around the hotel were now street girls. The place was just crawling with them. I believe one girl flashed her breast at me as I passed by her. It was hard to tell, and since genders are often hard to discern...I didn't even look back.

I suppose it wasn't the best neighborhood we were in. That said, it never really felt unsafe. I guess that's a huge difference between some of these Asian countries and back home. There, you can be in a run-down, impoverished, poorly lit area and not worry about high crime. While the people don't have a lot of money, they still don't intend on robbing others directly to get it. Scamming perhaps, but not aggravated assault and robbery.

Back at the hotel, sleep came fast.

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