Back in Bangkok

On our way to Singapore, we had a twelve hour layover in Bangkok. This time, with maps in hand and better understanding of the subway system, we decided we would actually see something, unlike on our first time around. It would not happen to us twice!

After being taken advantage of many times in Thailand and Laos, we are not so trusting anymore. Which is so disappointing, It would seem that most people like their home and would love to show it off if given the chance. But, alas, when money is involved or could be involved, the truth takes a back seat to fake kindness and lies. It now sits in the back of our head when confronting anyone in our path.

It started the moment we got off the plane. Our arrival in Bangkok, did not go smoothly. First, Laos has something called a closed currency, which I have never heard of before. No one at the airport would trade our Laos Kip for Thai Baht. They told us we could trade it in the city. But, not really…it was Sunday.

Before going into town we needed to dump our bags, so, we looked for a baggage hold desk. And looked. And looked again. And asked 4 different people. We could not find it. Even though they all pointed in the same direction, we could not find it. Those lousy bastards are trying to scam us again! Wait, no… not this time. It’s because we were thinking American English instead of trying to read Thai English. Of course, the desk with a sign that clearly says, “Left Luggage” was the proper place all along. Another hour wasted.

Finally, we were able to hop on the subway and headed to a shopping area where we were hoping to see a movie in a fancy movie theater. In Thailand, they serve you food and you sit on couches and they massage your feet during the movie. Not really about the massage, come on. But it’s a good idea!

After exiting the subway we encountered a very nice man who could speak English. He says, no don’t walk it’s a bad neighborhood, although I suspected otherwise. “Take a tuk tuk, it will be only 100 baht ($3US)”. That was nice of him to help out! He wasn’t even trying to get anything from us. Too bad he told us the wrong direction to head. Also too bad that a tuk tuk driver told us it would be closer to $20. GRRRRRR!!!!! When was this trickery going to end!? We walked, we survived.

We finally got to the mall where the movie was and nothing was playing that we wanted to see. Failed. Plan B. Maybe we could find some flooding. Last time we were in Bangkok, our hotel concierge informed us that all of the major sights and temples clustered in one part of town were closed due to the flooding. That’s where it has to be, then!

About 4 subway changes later, no flood. “No, no! Do not believe people if they say that everything is closed! Everything is open! There is no flood here!”, said the tourist information lady. WTF are these people trying to do to us? Into a taxi we went, we now had very little time to see several things on our list.

As we pulled up to the first place, we found that we had missed entering by 4 minutes. Closed. Next door was Wat Pho, a giant temple, so we finally got to see something. Finally.

Wat Pho is ginormous. With ginormous buildings and buddhas. That’s all I’ve got for ya. I told you temples don’t do much for us.

That’s it. That’s all we did. Twelve hours and we got into just one temple. Sounds exactly like our last attempt at seeing Bangkok. Back to the airport in time, we prayed that Singapore would treat us better.