Thailand Holiday: Bangkok

Fri, 02/03/2012 - 15:40 — sslabbert

Earlier in 2011 we went to South Africa to visit friends and family and get our documents in order. Because our parents helped us so much financially during that visit, we could afford to take another trip. Our contract allowed us almost three weeks of vacation time so we took it all and headed for Thailand.

We went to the airport straight after work. Packed up our work desks. Bags were at the ready.

We were having a cup of coffee because our flight only left at midnight. Sipping on Starbucks feeling bourgeois as the sun sets over Busan. Also it was minus degrees outside! We were in great anticipation before the trip. We were vainly trying to distract ourselves with coffee and series loaded onto our phones, all just to clam the excitement.

Our first location was Bangkok. We stayed at the fabulous Villa Cha Cha one street parallel to the famous Khao San Road in the centre of Bangkok. The weather was good and warm with a sweet smell in the air. The hotel was stunning and quirky with lots of stuff everywhere. Crazy and spunky. We were starting to get into holiday mode.

This morning we were using the free WiFi to plan out some trips and our routes over dirty cheap breakfast. Here are some more pictures of Villa Cha Cha.

We took a tentative ride on a Tuk Tuk. The driver suggested taking us to Unseen Travel Agency.

The agency was big with many people inside, foreigners too, all buying packages and arranging tours. Our agent, Mamm, took us by the metaphorical hand and lead us through the whole thing. She gave us good suggestions and advice on what to do, where to go and how to get there. Half of one month’s salary later we had our trip with all accommodation and transport done.

The Tuk Tuk drivers are relentless most of the time.
Do you want see factory? -No.
How 'bout suit, mista? -No.
I take you to jewelry shop, ledy? -No.
Show you good temple, ok? -Okay fine! But that’s the only one!

Nothing amazing about the tuk tuk driver’s special ‘temple’ at all. In the picture right above you can see images of the King of Thailand. This we saw everywhere. They are very patriotic and fond of their king. The anthem is played before almost anything starts, even in the movies!

We then headed to Wat Indrawihan (The Standing Buddha). Stands 32 metres tall and is 11 metres wide. This thing is massive! Look how small Sandra is standing near it.

Huuuuge feet!

We walked down Khao San Road. This is what Wiki has to say about it:

Khaosan Road has developed into a world famous "backpacker ghetto". It offers cheap accommodation, ranging from 'mattress in a box' style hotels to reasonably priced 3-star hotels.

Khaosan shops sell handcrafts, paintings, clothes, pirated CDs, DVDs, and second-hand books, plus many useful backpacker items.

There are several pubs and bars, where backpackers meet to discuss their travels.

One Thai writer has described Khaosan as "a short road that has the longest dream in the world."

Have some lunch, all the food in Thailand is exquisite. The lazy buzz of the tuk tuks down the street, like bees, buzzing around multi coloured hotels with bright lights and colourful decor.

Back home to relax and check some of the places we have booked with the agent. Our hearts drop into our stomachs as we read the google results of Unseen Travel Agency Bangkok.

SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM

We had just handed over half a month’s salary each in cash to some woman at some place that an unknown tuk tuk driver had suggested to us! We followed every step in the book of what NOT to do. Even in our hotel there were notices placed telling us not to trust a tuk tuk driver who tells you he will take you to a travel agent as these are all scams. Step by step we did it all! Panicking and not knowing what to do, we read on... Each person’s story sounded exactly like ours.

After about 40 mins of reading through comment after comment about how Unseen Travel is a scam we started seeing a pattern. Most people were complaining about how expensive they are, how they charge too much. Very few people actually reported not getting hotels or transport that they paid for. Okay so taking a step back we roughly calculated that at most we were over charged 30%, compared to what we thought it would have cost us to buy each individual hotel, ferry, bus, train, tour, etc. ourselves.

We chalked it up to 15% ‘lazy tax’ on ourselves and 15% goes to Mamm for all the work she has to do, which we didn’t think was SO much. Thailand is a third world country and their systems are not like Korea where everything works and information is clear and honest. We would have made many costly mistakes booking wrong transportation's ourselves and not knowing which areas at which beaches are good let alone hotels that are actually worth staying at. We didn’t have time before we left to do much research and we had big bags and weren’t prepared to wander half a day each time looking for accommodation on foot.

It’s a valuable reminder to not believe everything you read on the Internet. But this experience left a bitter taste in our mouths that lingered for the entire duration of the holiday. Every point we had to worry if our pick up would actually arrive, or if our booking for the hotel would actually stand.

We tried to pick ourselves up and enjoy a night out in Bangkok city in the vibey, but which turned out to be seedy, area of Sukhumvit.

A new day! We did the temple thing in Bangkok: The Grand Palace.

Next up the Reclining Buddha, Wat Pho. Also part of the Grand Palace Temple Complex, yet it’s another entrance fee to go into this part.

Wiki says:

[It] is 15 m high and 43 m long with his right arm supporting the head with tight curls on two box-pillows of blue, richly encrusted with glass mosaics. The 3 m high and 4.5 m long foot of Buddha displays are inlaid with mother-of-pearl. They are divided into 108 arranged panels, displaying the auspicious symbols by which Buddha can be identified like flowers, dancers, white elephants, tigers and altar accessories.

There are 108 bronze bowls in the corridor indicating the 108 auspicious characters of Buddha. People drop coins in these bowls as it is believed to bring good fortune, and to help the monks maintain the wat.

Here’s a video of the curious sound it makes as people drop their coins into the bronze bowls down the corridor.

After a ‘hard’ morning’s temple going it was time for a massage. If ever you’re in the area I would recommend Shewa Massage Spa. They are technically ample and their facilities are lovely and private. Unlike the street side massages where tourists line up like beached whales on the sidewalk with glistening oily calves being rubbed toe to knee for everyone to see.

In the evening we attended a Thai cultural show, called Siam Niramit.

It really was quite spectacular with all the scene changes and the flying characters and the visual effects. A real water ‘river’ ran through the stage and they made it rain too. A full sized elephant on stage along with free roaming goats, chickens and ducks on stage! Also interesting was the story of the various different Thai cultures and their similarities and differences and their history together.

Before the show dinner was included, and the staff came through banging and chanting about something.

There was a mini dance performance outside where we could take photos, unfortunately no pictures of the actual show inside.

And there was even a little traditional village there too, where you could walk off your buffet dinner.

The next day we went to Damnoen Saduak Floating Market just outside of Bangkok. Houses floating on the water, each has a variety of plants and a little shrine. Old ladies on narrow boats peddling their fruits and spices.

After this we relaxed a bit again at our lovely Villa Cha Cha and got ready for the night train which would take us from Bangkok to Chumphon, where we would then take a boat ferry to the tiny island Koh Tao.