The next day we had to deal with some torrential rainfall on and off throughout the day, but eventually found time to go check out some of the local wats (temples). The grounds of these wats are beautiful with traditional Asian architecture and hand carved Buddha statues scattered around. The main temple tends to have the largest Buddha statue painted gold and the carpet in front of it where people come to pray and offer any donations. We spent some time walking around the grounds of Wat Pho, checking out the various smaller temples within it and ended up at the biggest temple where they have the “reclining Buddha”. This statue is about 250 feet long and 50 feet tall of a huge golden Buddha laying down on his side. The problem we noticed was that there was nowhere to view the whole Buddha in its entirety. The small walkway surrounding the Buddha had columns everywhere and there was no place to stand far enough back to fully appreciate it. Nonetheless it was one of the prized sights of Bangkok.
Huge reclining Buddha
Traditional Thai temple
After the Wat Pho we hopped on a bus going to Chatuchak Market where we heard you can find just about anything you’re looking for. We had no idea just how huge it was until we really found ourselves lost in the sea of tiny shops somewhere in the middle. It was only when we really went deep into the market where we saw some unusual things. First we passed the clothing section, then home improvement areas, electronics, and food vendors. As we went deeper we ran into pet stores selling puppies by the dozen, kittens, lizards, and other normal pets. Not too long after, we hit an area where they were doing live cock fighting so we stopped for a bit to see what it was like, but decided it was a bit cruel and odd being the only non-thai people watching and left. Then the pet shops selling squirrels, giant beetles, owls, and mudskippers started coming up. Then the saddest moment came where we saw a fully grown golden retriever in a cage just big enough to fit him a bit further back out of the main display, and realized that he was probably not for sale as a pet. At that point we turned back and figured we had seen enough for the day. We took a water taxi on the Chao Praya river back towards our hotel, which was a great means of public transportation. We found some great Thai food that night right before the rains came and stranded us for some time until a taxi agreed to take us without screwing us over (rare).
Live Cockfighting in Chatu Chak market
Countless puppies and kittens in the market
The following day was what turned our whole perspective of Bangkok upside down. We met some rickshaw driver while getting our daily portion of street vendor pad thai who said he would take us around the local sights (the ones we still wanted to see) for 20 Baht which is like 65 cents. We were very hesitant wondering why he would do that and he explained that they were all very near and if we wanted to tip at the end we could if we felt we were given a good deal. We agreed on the whole “no stops” clause because we had heard that rickshaw drivers will try to scam you by taking you to suit shops and tailors to get commission, so we decided to go for it with the driver. He instead gave us his friend who was with him and seemed nice and understood the deal. He took us to the first sight where it is just another 100 foot Buddha standing and we hung out there for a bit. Then some guy came up to us claiming to work for the government and talked to us about the importance of going to these TAT shops (Tourist Authority of Thailand) where we can book our upcoming flights, hotels, trains, etc. because then the money does not get outsourced to agencies outside of Thailand and therefore everyone wins. It sounded like it made sense and the guy said he studied at UCLA and spoke great English which made us less hesitant. After this first stop, the rickshaw driver took us to a TAT where we talked with a guy and figured it all out and planned to come back the next day to make our bookings on the islands. Everything seemed ok to this point until our driver decided to stop at a suit shop saying he needed to use the bathroom and to go take a look while we waited for him. Thinking he was full of crap we went in anyways as they watched us from the window and the entire time they tried to push crap on us we did not want until we booked it out of there. Our driver said he was feeling sick and apologized for making us wait, but it was at least understandable to this point. Then immediately after he went to another TAT shop saying that it was good for us to get information and ask questions. We looked at him like, what is he doing?? We were just at a TAT shop like 20 minutes before and he insisted we go up anyways. Very unsure what was going on we walked up and told the people inside we were not sure why we were there, our driver stopped and told us to go inside but we had nothing to ask them. They seemed puzzled and we went outside and drove off. Around the corner he stopped and said we were not in there long enough for him. Then we figured out he was stopping at all these places so he could collect gas cards and had no intention of taking us to our tourist stops before he got what he wanted. He then threatened us by saying, “You better not tell anyone about this,” and it started to get serious. He said he needed 1 more and he stopped at a final suit shop where they tried to sell us the entire time and we had to pretend to be in there long enough for that asshole driver outside to make sure we could get home safe at this point. We got the card and he asked if everything was alright. I was livid at this point and was considering strangling him right there but we chose not to respond anything more than just take us to the hotel. Suddenly we sensed his discomfort with the situation as he knew we were steaming with anger and every couple minutes he asked if we were ok. The whole day was wasted because of this guy driving us around stopping to collect gas cards and we were the guinea pigs. Then he stopped outside of some guy’s apartment and took some cash for him and explained, “it was my friend,” but we didn’t care to believe him any longer. He got us back and stupidly I gave him half of what we agreed on (10 Baht) instead of just spitting in his face. He looked at us upset and started to complain that we agreed on 20 Baht. It was really a shame it was a very busy section of Kao San Road that he dropped us at because I would have loved to handle the situation differently. We told him that he was a thief and a piece of garbage and he ruined our entire day because of his selfish crap. That same evening we stopped at a travel agency to ask them if they sold Muay Thai Boxing tickets and he said they don’t, and do not buy them at a TAT either. He told us that at the window you can buy ringside tickets for 900 Baht where as everywhere else they charge 2000 Baht. He explained that those stores are nothing more than giant scams, and that actual TAT’s are not allowed to sell anything because they are merely information centers. We could not believe our ears because the entire day just became a giant scam for us and the fact that Bangkok has huge tourist stores that are giant scams was unreal. He told us that they charge like 100% markup on anything you buy from them and stole the name of the government recognized TAT’s located in public facilities like train stations. Furthermore he said that rickshaws in general are nothing more than scam artists and to not take them to go anywhere in Bangkok. We went for a couple drinks that night to try and drown the absurdity of everything that went on that day.
Crazy Muay Thai Boxing winner
The next day we were a bit lazy and had a lot of work to do planning wise for the next several days. That evening we planned to go see Muay Thai boxing at the famous Lumphini Stadium of Bangkok which was a highly recommended experience. We were excited we were only going to have to pay half what we planned to if we bought at the window and avoid getting scammed yet again. We took the water taxi down and connected to the metro station to avoid any kind of rickshaw or taxi interference, and upon reaching our stop the rain had started coming. By the time we made it to the stadium we were beyond soaked and disappointed about our discomfort for the next few hours during the boxing. The salt in the wound was when the ticket lady told us that ringside tickets were in fact 2000 Baht and we were very confused. We decided to go through with it and sit ringside rather than in the upper sections because there are no seats and it is just a smoky gambling mess of Thai people that I am not sure we were ready for. To this day we still think we were scammed there because there was no way that every person in the upper section paid the 1000 Baht to stand there. The fights were pretty unbelievable though and from the 1st row we had a great view. These fighters were very young though as some of them looked like they were probably 14. As the night progressed so did the quality of the fights and the age groups. The main fight was great until it ended because of a foul after 1 fighter kicked his opponent in the face as he was falling to the ground, knocking him out completely. Just listening to the crowd screaming behind us as the rounds got nearer to the end was an experience in itself. I stopped to look back in between rounds to see the countless people trying to bet with the bookie man and as I watched, the bookie spotted me and held up a few fingers waiting for my response. I made sure not to gesture back so that I would not get hounded later for a few thousand Baht I never meant to wager. The best part of the night came when the traditional fighters came on to spar and with no referee or boxing gloves they went at it. They each landed some crushing blows to the opponent and it felt like we were watching a video game. Had one of their kicks or punches hit me I would have surely been knocked out, but they would get right back up and keep attacking. The final knockout move was unbelievable; make sure to watch the youtube video we uploaded at the bottom. After the fight we made our way back to the hotel to get packed and ready to take off for Cambodia the next morning.
Here's the video of the Muay Thai:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4PelzvE2Pw
No comments:
Post a Comment