Day 2 Bangkok

OUr plan for day 2 was to catch the metro as far into the old part of the central city and then walk to and see some of the big temples (wats). Everything was going ok, on the way to the wats we walkedthrough chinatown and sampeng lane market, which was quite crazy as we just stumbled upon it.

Sampeng Lane. Chinatown.


We avoided a couple of scams near the big tourist attraction of the Grand Palace. People told us that the palace was closed etc etc and to go with them to see this that and blabla. so we felt ok about beating the con. Little did we know that we would get taken for a ride later on in the day...
At the Grand Palace (which was open) it was a special day as the Thai prince an his wife were visiting, we saw a lot of people sitting down and on a whim sat down next to them. After a while of being told no glasses, no hats, to sit the right way, we were told all this was for the Prince who was coming to pray. But we saw him and his wife as he came walked into the temple through the Palace grounds, something special we thought. Grand Palace
One of the Bhuddas at wat pho (sorry no 56m reclining bhudda, photos of that are on another J's camera. Note: Sorry for lack of photos, we will sort this out but it just 1am and we left at 10am this morning so cant be bothered doing it all perfect right now.)

After the Grand Palace we went to nearby Wat Pho, and saw the huge 56m Golden reclining Buddha, a hugely impressive sight. The grounds of Wat Pho also had a whole lot of massive buildings and golden bhudda images, which were really amazing. so the day was going awesome at this point. BUT.......

Then on leaving Wat Pho, a man sitting in the entrance/exit way of the grounds told us because of the ceremony at the grand palace today we can get into some other temples for free. So we got into a tuk tuk and went on this trip/con around bangkok. We did see some Bhuddas and temples. At one we were told was the lucky Bhudda, next to a school, a man told us he was an english teacher, and he seemed genuine, he talked to us about our lives in new zealand and university life. He said today was a special day because of the ceremony, that there was a tax free day on purchases, and that he knew a really good factory for us to go to that would do a great job on some tailored clothing for us. Now with our hardened skin we know that we shouldnt have even entertained the idea but we went to this suit place and im sorry im a bit too tired to explain it all but we pretty much got conned. we were told it was 100 percent kashmir material (which we now know doesnt exist) that it was a special price today because of the ceremony no tax blablabla special price for student bla bla bla. And we paid too much for some tailored clothes as a result. we knew very soon after what had happened because our tuk tuk driver said "can i take you to another factory and you just go and look and then i get a free fuel coupon". We thought ok what the hell lets see what price the next tailor would have given us for the same thing. So we go to this other place, which seems a bit more legitimate and they straight away offer us the same thing for about 2/3s the price. NICE

so after that we were all quite tired and disheartened. This increased when our tuk tuk driver tried to con us further by telling us he had to share his tuk tuk with another person so he couldnt take us back to the train station, but would pay for our taxi. Knowing something was up we made sure asking the tuk tuk driver had he paid for our taxi, he said yes. we got in the taxi and asked the taxi driver again had he been paid. He said what what what i dont know so we said strongly you stop the tuk tuk from leaving stop him. the taxi driver (who was on our side) did so and we said to the tuk tuk you said you would pay you said you would pay. He knew we had his number and paid the taxi driver without argument. Then on our arrival home we found a HUGE spider sitting within our toilet bowl. Jarryd and I (josh) needing to go toilet badly. So we tried to flush him but he jumped out. After a five minute stand off with brooms and shower water we were able to go toilet.

So a hugely dramatic day as you can see. This is Bangkok, each day something crazy and dramtic happens, almost every other hour in fact. Today (day 3) was no different, however I am too tired to get into today now, so youll have to wait in anticipation.

The main thing you all need to know is that we are all healthy, safe, and still in good spirits, and much wiser because of what has happened. Sorry for a lack of photos, they will be coming I promise, along with a post about today. Please comment on length and type of stuff talked about, we are doing this for you, especially the parents and family, so please let us know what you want!

But for now ill give you a quick teaser of what happened today (day 3)
- Ice skating inside a shopping mall
- Tourist Police
- Arguments with tailors
- Harry Potter
- Red light districts.

Ok. Please tell us if we are telling you the tyoe of thing you want to hear.
From JJJ

Day 1 Bangkok.

Arrived in Bangkok at 12 midday and were greeted by Fai and her aunt, a very welcome sight in such a big city. Fai and her family have been more than helpful and looked after more than we could ever ask for, which as you will find out has been awesome having someone to help us out!

So we took the skytrain into Bangkok to our bangkok home. sorry no photos of home yet but we will get to that. Fai then took us to the weekend chatachuk market. This thing was huge. I was taking photos on my Holga film camera, but some digital photos will be coming. think tiny alleyways that just go on forever and ever. we then met up with Fai and her friend Ran for a few beers at a small bar come street stall within the market, with live music! Was a very pleasant atmosphere.

Afterwards we went off to a festival that happens only once a year, a thanking to the gods for providing the people with water. Everyone goes down to the river and releases paper hot air ballons (sounds funny but it works, they dont light on fire) flower bouquets into the river with candles and inscence. Again guys sorry photos will be coming. But it was crazy. we were clueless and there were so many people, fireworks going off, it was great fun but tiring after a long day of travel! An attempted pick pocket of JB didn't help the situation either!!

So all together a crazy first day in Bangkok, little did we know there was more to come...

Sorry for such long wait for first post!

Bangkok is, in a word CRAZY.

First some photos of Brunei.

This is the Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque in Bandar Ser Baawan in Brunei. Unfortunately we couldnt take pictures from inside but inside there is a massive hall that goes all the way to the top of the golden tip you see in the photo. pretty amazing.





















The big shopping mall in Brunei.
Shopping malls=air conditioning=good














Kampung Ayer is the "veice of asia". Not really at all, more like a huge bits and pieces floating village. This place is amazing. They have sky dishes on some of the homes, which seem to all be made out of recycled bits and pieces. It was here that we had an amazing 5 minutes. We were exploring Kampung Ayer and then the midday prayer started booming out from the temples in the city, while this was happening there was a massive crack of thunder, followed a minute later by pouring rain. So we had to walk back, absolutely drenched... but this was good as it was f***ing hot.



Then it stopped raining, everything being so hot we dried off pretty much instantly. Lunch was some unknown meat with rice from the back of a market for 1 dollar. Back to the hostel for a welcome swim in the pool for about two hours. then out for dinner to another market for some really good noodles and satay kebabs while watching Kampung Ayer at night across the river.

Sorry i dont have more photos, only my camera (JB) here now, and we take turns taking pictures a little bit.

So then it was back to the airport in the morning on the rickety old public bus and off to bangkok. Brunei was a good first stop on the trip, all the people there were all smiles and friendly without exception.

From JJJ

Rough Trip Itinerary