Ok..apologies for the delay on the English post…Ligita keeps hogging the laptop and by the time she had written her Lit post yesterday we had to go out for many beers..many many beers as it turned out so if this post is a little confusing then lets blame the beers.
So yesterday we set out from our hostel for the Grand Palace and not too far down the road we started chatting to a very nice Thai lady 
who was being ever so helpful (as they do) and started to advise us on a few things. Firstly that the Grand Palace was only open to Thai people in the morning (until 2pm) because of some special day (couldn’t really understand what was special about it) and secondly that we could get to see all other top sites in Bangkok in a Tuk Tuk for just 10 baht each…a bargain. That’s where the fun began, so we duly hopped into the tuk tuk that had conveniently pulled up beside us while we were talking to the nice lady and assured that we would spend no more than 10 baht each and get to see at least 5 top sites, off we went.
J***S C****T these guys are f****n lunatics!
Life passed before our eyes (several times) as we sped through the crazy streets of downtown Bangkok missing pedestrians, taxis and buses by a fraction. Innocent Bangkok citizens lining the streets with their mobile kitchens deep frying spring rolls and fish heads found this all too normal. What an existence.
Tuk Tuk Driver Concentrating (thankfully)
Over the next 3 hours we visited 4 temples all with their resident Buddha which we duly paid our respects to by lighting incense, hanging flowers and kneeling in front of him. I’m not sure I understand the significance of a tourist doing this apart from the 50 baht that we were practically forced into ‘donating’ following the ever so religious event.
During this marathon tuk tuk journey our faithful driver (clearly with a separate agenda) decided we needed a diamond ring and a couple of Armani suits during our sightseeing tour and proceeded to deliver us to several flash stores slightly off the beaten track with tailors and jewelers waiting at the door for their potential (and rather wet) customers to arrive. Now we knew why the journey was just 10 baht! I had heard of this kind of thing happening so we played along, pretended to be interested in the suits and jewelry for 10 or 15 minutes when really we were the winners in this game because the air con in those stores was just heavenly 
.
With the false promise of a return visit to their stores and a slightly lower body temperature we departed and our last stop was the Grand Palace. Our tuk tuk driver managed a smooth landing right outside the door. It was just 1pm, 3 hours after boarding our crazy transport and the Grand Palace looked very open to non-Thai’s.
Clearly the lady telling us the Grand Palace was closed until 2pm was a minor scam but that was one journey we were very glad we tuk!
R.
