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It was our last day in Bangkok today for the time being.
Our night last night wasn't particularly heavy but we woke up feeling quite tired and rough, probably because we were drinking cheap beer. There wasn't time to shower before check out so we quickly had some breakfast and left our bags in reception.
We had planned to go the the Grand Palace, but you need to be modestly dressed so I borrowed a scarf from
Vix and we bought some 'gap yah' trousers (basically light cotton harem pants) - mine have elephants on and they are incredibly comfortable actually, they will be good for lounging around the house in when I get home (I promise I won't wear them out and about gap year tragedy style).
We walked to the Palace and on the way were harassed by ladies with bird seed, they put it into my hands even though I was holding my camera in one hand and a bottle of water in the other, and she kept offering to 'take care' of my camera while I fed the pigeons (I
obviously wouldn't let her). I kept giving the bird seed back, even dropping it on the floor when she wouldn't take it, but she basically grabbed my arm and held the bird seed in my hand and tipped it upside down for me so it all went on the floor. She then followed me for ages asking for money, in the end I just had to shout 'NO!' and she eventually b*****ed off. Lots of people hassle you in Thailand but that was the worst so far.
When we got to the Grand Palace we found out it was 350 baht - that is £7 and a small fortune here, we considered not going in as that is the price of 2 nights' accommodation or 4 days' meals, but we eventually decided that we probably should as it is supposed to be pretty amazing. As we were paying we were told by some Australian people that we wouldn't be allowed in because they don't accept scarves as covering (although t-shirts are fine even though they cover less). I got a refund as we decided what to do. In the end we queued for 20 minutes and paid a 200 baht deposit to borrow a seriously unsexy shirt - just wait until for the pics, we looked very cool.
When we finally made it in, it was amazing. There were loads of really ornate buildings and temples which looked amazing in the sunlight, I took lots of pictures but they don't really do it justice.
Afterwards we tried to get a Tuk Tuk to take us back, but they were trying to charge us 100 baht (£2), which is ridiculous compared to the 5 baht (10p) we paid yesterday for a much longer trip. We walked back instead and on the way we saw a Boots so I went in and bought some suncream, it was buy one get one free on Soltan so I got two bottles for 500 baht (£10) which felt like an absolute fortune but I suppose it isn't too expensive. We got some lunch on Khao San road (noodles of course) and headed back to the hostel to get our bags and have a rest.
Vix is having a dress made by the tailors here, from one of the shops our Tuk Tuk driver took us to yesterday (they are sponsored by shops so they take you there before your destination - it's annoying but it makes the journey cheaper, or even free like yesterday!). She needed to go back there to have a fitting before we leave Bangkok, and she will be able to pick it up on our way back through in mid February. We had our backpacks on so we got in a taxi, but the taxi driver had no where to go so we got out after he had driven about 5 metres and decided to walk to avoid getting ripped off. The walk was a bit stressful and hot as we had our backpacks on, and the directions we received always clashed with our map. The locals turned out to be right so either the map is wrong or we just can't read them! The dress had already been
made , it is navy blue satin and looks really nice already!
The tailors was only round the corner from the tourist office, where we needed to be at 6pm to catch our bus to Chiang Mai, so we headed there. We actually had to be driven to somewhere else in Bangkok to get it, so some guy drove us there in his car (I assume he works for the tourist office!), it was quite surreal being in a random Thai man's car with the music blaring, he had even blinged his car up with a colour changing chandelier and diamanté locks. He took us to a Thai massage parlour which doubled up as a bus stop and told us our bus left at 8.30pm, so we had 2 and a half hours to wait! We read some magazines and Vix and I headed off to get some food, I had a vegetarian Thai Green Curry which was 80p and gave Zen (a good Thai restaurant in Durham where I went to university) a run for its money! Afterwards Vicky and Vix went off whilst I watched the bags, and when they were wandering around they bumped into the two Pakistani guys who we met on the minibus from the airport on the first day! They had a picture with them this time.
We are now on the bus, which is a precariously tall double decker, and our hostess is none other than a genuine Thai ladyboy. Apparently they are so widely accepted here that they are just considered to be a third sex, separate altogether from men and women. There are a mixture of Thai people and other travellers on the bus, and we have a ten hour journey ahead of us, so I should probably get some sleep!
I am writing a lot of my entries offline, whilst the day is fresh in my mind, and I will upload them when I am next in a wifi zone, so I am sorry if they seem
to be a bit late! I am also using stock library pictures for the time being or pictures I have taken on my phone, but if I get the chance to upload photos from my camera then I will.
Next stop Chiang Mai, where we have prepaid for our hostels and jungle trekking, so fingers crossed my spending will slow down for a bit!
xxx
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