Day 18
Woke with a sure plan to see the Grand Palace. Oh before that. The manager of our guesthouse, picture the land lady from kung fu hustle, roughly tossed us at an American man possessing of indeterminate old age and long beard. Her idea was, “you’re both Americans, you probably grew up in the same town.” Not surprisingly, he was less than thrilled with the sudden social pressure reserved for holding the hand of an unfamiliar child. We just wanted to know where to get breakfast, not adopt a new grandfather. He suggested a stall restaurant down the street which we went to. We awkwardly saw him there like 10 minutes later. Didn’t talk to him.
There is a river running through the center of Bangkok. Chao Phraya, is the name. Bangkok treats its river like a highway, only you can dump refuse on the permeable black top which swallows it magically; clap the dust off your hands, it’s taken care of. As for it being a highway, there are water taxis, water buses, and normal barges. We hopped a water taxi, the orange line, to the pier right next to the Grand Palace. Stalls choke the exit from the pier. As we looked for a map a policeman walked up to us. A well dressed man with a hat that said, “police,” anyway. He was very helpful in telling us that we can’t go to the palace wearing shorts or a sun dress. My sun dress billowed indignantly. He grabbed our map and ripped it to pieces while unintelligibly yelling at the top of his lungs. Just kidding. He called over a tuk-tuk driver and showed him where to take us. So, we hopped in the friendly driver’s tuk-tuk and were noisily off to sights more tolerant of skin-flashing barbarians.
First stop, Wat Indrawihan. Or, as everyone called it: The Big Buddha. Oh it was big. But, honestly, it could have been bigger. Seriously, much bigger. Once you have a thought like that it just doesn’t leave you alone. This wat was worth every penny; it was free. Our delightful driver was patiently reclined in his tuk tuk on our return. We crunched into the cramped back seat. We were transported to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). Once shuttled inside, a fast talking Thai man from Texas quickly put together a plan for our remaining time in Thailand. “Do this! Oh yeah, you should stay a couple days here! Definitely check this out! No, no, no, never mind that won’t work….etc” We didnt’ have the heart to tell him that we had plans of our own. So, we took a quote for all the logistics and left with promises to return. We didn’t return. He was not receptive to our own thoughts about our trip and clearly had a preordained tourist trip he markets to everyone. Hiring this tuk tuk for the day only cost 30 baht. We soon realized why. He is sponsored by two tailors. Part of, nay the reason for, his sponsorship is that he asks us to spend 5 minutes looking around the shops. We didn’t mind, he was so courteous and friendly we wanted to help him out however we could. The first place, was lethargic and plush. It was clear from the start that the employees hate the ones that come in for 5 minutes then leave. We left with a bad taste in our mouths; not excited for the next set of bored sales people to half-heartedly try and sell us finery. I had made the decision to buy a three piece suit before we arrived at this shop, on one condition: the people working there treat me like a legitimate customer. We get fitted tomorrow at 4:00 pm.
Then we got dropped at Wat Pho. A man outside the gate to the Wat offered a giant python to a group of tourists near the gate and none of them accepted it onto their shoulders. I was offended that none of them would jump at the chance to have something that large and life-threatening around their necks. There was no way in hell that snake wasn’t going on my shoulders. The enormous snake inched its way around my body. Every movement, every shiver, elicited a shockwave of muscular response in the body of the python. The sensory relay of muscle to brain was noticeable as the snake sized me up. It was exhilarating. Well worth the 100b which hopefully goes towards buying the snake proper food. Unfortunately, I didn’t ask the guy about his snake care. I realize, [(now)], as I am evaluating my trip day to day: I should have asked more questions.
Wat Pho was thailand’s 1st public university. The university consisted of engraved tablets laid in the walls. The tablets describe trade skills, art, medicine, political science, poetry, and literature. Notice I used the present-tense, “describe,” that’s because a large quantity of them are still there or have been restored. How awesome is that!? I was floored when I realized we were in such an early example of truly public education; which was really a library. An open-book library. I had no idea coming to the Wat that it was the first public university, no idea that it was going to be that cool. Libraries and reading are how I learned a great many things. Reading has molded and shaped me into the person I am today. Books put me in the shoes of others, let me ride shotgun in the adventures of others, and nurtured an always growing imagination.
That night we tried to take a tuk tuk to chinatown; they wanted to charge 200baht for a 75baht drive. We laughed in their faces and they in ours. Don’t look up the currency exchange because that would make us look like assholes. You looked it up didn’t you? In that case, let me explain. We stopped converting everything in our heads in order to effectively barter. If everything is super cheap: why not go for that pricey hotel, buy those shoes, order tricky cocktails every night, and generally go bananas? Because you will run out of money and you won’t realize it’s happening. Conversely, there’s no reason not to pinch pennies so we just tried to do that whenever we could. This seems to be the attitude of tuk tuk drivers, ‘you’re outraged by our prices? Go find a metered taxi, some other tourist will pay this price.’ They are absolutely right, so we found a metered taxi.
Chinatown here was amazing. The lonely planet completely undersold it. Stalls everywhere with all sorts of goods. All of thailand’s many fruits can be found in chinatown. We still haven’t tried durian fruit or “stink fruit” as it smells awful but apparently tastes good. I wonder who discovered that. We happily walked and snacked. Everyone was genuinely kind. People helped us order. Thailand being a Buddhist country, coupled with everything I had heard about Thai people, gave me the false idea that all Thais would be fair, helpful, and friendly. Not that people are rude or angry but sometimes they were. The ratio just happens to be the same as everywhere else. When viewing my experience objectively, I am once again humbled by the folly of my preconceived notions.
thecereallife 