I do have another blog to write on Taiwan but Thailand is fresh in my memory so I am going to do this first.

The cheapest flight we could find to Kathmandu brought us from Taipei to Bangkok. We got in around 9:00 pm and had till 6:00 pm the next day. So we booked a hostel somewhere between the airport and what we wanted to see (the Grand Palace, Emerald Buddha and Canal Market). The night we got in we just stayed at the hostel for beer and food, both were so good. The next day we tried to get up early and see as much as possible, this was delayed a bit waiting for breakfast which was never really ordered. We called a cab and headed to the grand palace, traffic was ridiculous and it took us over an hour. When we got there we were wandering around when some guy stopped us and told us that there was a special ceremony so we could not get in until after 1:00. He offered us a tour around the city in his Tuk Tuk for 30 baht (which is pretty cheap for the three of us). He said he would take us to many free buddha; a lucky buddha, sleeping buddha and very tall standing buddha then have us back by 1:00. So we went for it.

Bangkok seems to be a constant flow or jam of traffic with sometimes more vehicles then there are lanes. Motorcycles, scooters and tuk-tuks will fit anywhere there is just enough space and on occasion will just drive on the wrong side of the road. This was a lot of fun at first but after a few jerks, squeaking tires and close calls you are glad when you get off. On top of that you are breathing in all of the exhaust. He took us to a couple small temples with Buddha statues. One where we could buy birds in cages and then release them for goodluck. I realize this is a tourist trap and these birds are trained to fly back, but I still had to do it.

The driver then pulled over by a shop that made custom dresses and suits and told us he had to take a smoke break and that we should go in and look. We stepped in the door for a minute then walked out wondering if this may be a scam. We continued onto one more temple and then asked the guy to take us to a market so we could eat. He said yes then brought us to a jewellery store saying he just needed a break for a minute and we should look. We took a walk around then left. We were starting to get annoyed because the guy was wasting our only day in Thailand. He explained to us that he gets gas coupons if we spend 5 minutes looking at each place, we don't have to buy, just look. He asked if we could go to one more place for him and then he would take us. We said okay, he was super nice and it was only 5 minutes. This turned into two places and the second one we just killed time in the bathroom hoping he wouldn't know. As soon as we came out he asked us why didn't we look? We asked him how he knew and told him we have no time for this and just want to go. He then says he didn't get and coupons for gas so it will now be 100 baht to get back to where we came. We argued with him for a while then just agreed since it was still cheap and we wanted to go. On the way we found a market and told him to just leave us there. We gave him 50 baht and said thats all he gets because he wasted our day and did not do what he said. He argued then just took it, I think he swore at us in Thai and then left. It's a shame because he was so nice and friendly, if he didn't put us through that we would of tipped him big.

I definately will need to go back to Thailand some day.

Off to Delhi for an evening in the airport.