Thailand Bangkok – Part 16

January 7th 2016 saw me fly out of China; after all my worry, and I had worried, they didn’t need many of the documents I had been warned they would ask for. Better to be prepared but I could have done with more peaceful days the previous week.
The sun and the heat in Bangkok were most welcome after some wet days of late.
I met my couch surfing host who picked me up from the station and he even paid for my tea. I already had a good feeling about Thailand with everyone I met nice and friendly; everyone smiled and there were so many westerners, not what I had been used to in China. Having not got my bearings yet I got a tuktuk tour to take me around, once again there were many temples and I saw some amazing floating markets. I tried Pad Thai for the first time, a stir fried noodle dish, flavoured with fish and sometimes chicken as well with bean sprouts, garlic and loads of other things. It was so incredible I went back for more but she was closing up. Walking around the Grand Palace I was approached by another tuktuk driver who offered to take me to view a large golden Buddha, a suit-maker and a night market all for a very good price. The Buddha was impressive and I got some good silhouette photos, then to the suit-makers and it all went downhill from there. I was told I had to stay at the suit-makers for a minimum of 10 minutes to enable the driver to receive his fuel voucher – needless to say another scam; you’d think I would have learned by now! As soon as I entered I was pounced on and despite using every excuse and argument I could think of I ended up paying out for a suit. Yes, I know! You that know me well, won’t believe what I’ve done, I do not buy clothes or shoes unless I am desperate – most of my clothes have been gifts from embarrassed parents at the state of my attire. In my defence I was not an easy customer, they said I’d been their most difficult but managed to convince me it was a good price for a cashmere suit, it could be packed tightly without creasing, it would be made to measure etc. etc. So having parted with my money I hope that when I return to Bangkok in a few months’ time the suit will be ready and I will be pleased. Looking at reports on Trip Advisor it seems that the scam part is getting you to the shop but the suits are actually really nice - hope they are correct. Needless to say the tuktuk driver was over the moon with my purchase , I expect he gets some kind of commission, so he tried to persuade me to visit some other places but no way was I falling for it a second time. I enjoyed the night markets and more Pad Thai. The heat must have warped my brain though as I then decided to buy some leather sandals – to cut a long story short, they fell apart and I paid £1 for a repair they then rubbed my feet, and within 2 days I had binned them. I knew there was reason I don’t do clothes/shoes shopping!

I thought I would have more luck with some food shopping; I bought what I thought were onion rings that turned out to be squid although quite nice then fancied a crepe – due to some language barrier it was topped with ham and chocolate!!! O well, you win some you lose some.
Bangkok was OK but too busy for me and so after a few days I was on the move again…