Last Day in Paradise

I had to give this blog a happy title as it is our last day of our 40th Anniversary Tour (did we ever thank Sally and Jerry for the extremely clever sweatshirts that says “Dancing with the Stars, 40th Anniversary Tour” on the front and lists all of our destinations on the back?  If not – thanks Sally and Jerry.  They got a lot of comments when we wore them on the glacier).  However, we did get left with a little bit of a bitter taste in our mouths.

When we arrived yesterday morning at the Bangkok airport from Chaing Mai, we were inquiring about transportation to our hotel when we were waylayed by a booth selling tours.  We were informed that because our hotel was a client hotel, we could have a tour without the $40 American fee per person, but only 500 baht service charge for the both of us (about $17 total).  One of the tours offered was a canal trip which included the floating market.  Irith is interested in anything with “market” in its name, so we agreed.  We were to be picked up at our hotel the next morning at 7:30 am.

We were picked up by a guide and a driver in a nice, but well used, Volvo.  We were the only couple in the back of the car and they took us to the dock for the canal boat.  It was a long way from the hotel.  There, we were herded onto a boat the size of a bus that held about 60 people.  We went down the big river for a ways, passing some interesting sights, then turned in to a canal.  There were some temples on either side and a view of the people’s houses on the water.  The fish in the canals are sacred and are fed by the monks at the temples.  They grow into pretty good size and are a kind of catfish.  Very ugly.  They came through the boat selling loaves of bread to use to feed the fish (they also tried to sell drinks, post cards, hats, and you name it).  We then arrived at a destination, which turned out to be a touristy snake show for an additional fee.  We had no interest and felt betrayed as nobody told us that we were merely being offered a taxi ride to a tourist attraction that we would not cross the street to see).  We had to sit in the sun until the suckers finished.

Then we went back the way we came to the port (not before the staff on the boat  begged for tips like vagrants and giving their captive audience a long spiel about all of the other tours offered by their company).  Our driver and our guide in the Volvo then started to drive us.  The guy on the boat said something about our drivers being willing to take us to other tourist sites if we wanted.  We told them we just wanted to go back to our hotel as we were already upset that we were not given what we had been promised.  He said that they had to make a stop and they stopped at a house where they sell extremely high end gems set in gold.  We were glad of the stop only because we wanted to use the rest rooms.  Otherwise, we were not in the market for jewelry and had no interest.

When we conveyed these feelings to our guide in no uncertain terms, he said that they had to make two more stops.  We refused and demanded to be returned to our hotel.  He said that if we went in the Volvo there would be two more stops.  We had no idea where we were, but we had had enough and said we would take a taxi back to the hotel and simply walked away.  The taxi cost the same as what I had been contemplating giving the guy as a tip anyway (before we learned of their scheme).

The moral of the story is, if you are approached in the airport for a free (or reduced price tour), run away.

Nevertheless, the rest of our stay in Bangkok was fun.  Yesterday, upon arrival, wee got massages (foot for Irith, neck and back for me) and we both got manicures.  Massages in Thailand are the best deal in the world.  In Chaing Mai they cost about $4 for an hour massage.  Here, they were closer to $7.50.  The manicure was also cheap.  We went to the same place that we used to go with Sally and Jerry when last we were last here.  After an afternoon nap, we looked on the internet for a good but cheap place for dinner.  We found a place that seemed to fit the bill on TripAdvisor.com.  It was a seafood restaurant about 6 Skyway stops from the hotel.  Our hotel is very conveniently located an easy walk from both the Skyway (which is a subway that is elevated) and the subway.  The restaurant was right under the Skyway station.  It was nothing to look at, but the food was really good and the price was right.  I had a whole seabass with spicy sauce.  It was quick-fried, but not breaded.  Very good.  Irith also enjoyed her meal.  Our new favorite dessert is sweet sticky rice.  Irith learned to cook it in her class and it is yummy.  This restaurant had it with fresh mango.  To die for.

Today, after our morning fiasco, we went to the food court of the department store nearby.  They had about a dozed different booths with different kinds of Thai food.  You could order from as many of them as you want (they only take coupons which the central cashier gives you in exchange for cash) and, again, the price is right.  We then took the Skyway to the Sunday market.  We had forgotten from last time just how large this market is.  You can walk forever down each aisle and there are a dozen aisles of that length, which a different booth every several steps.  They are arranged somehow into different themes – clothes, handicrafts, housewares, etc.  Besides this huge indoor market are additional markets on either side of the main one.  And food vendors everywhere.  There is some amount of bargaining, but nothing like in China and Vietnam.  We helped the Thai economy and headed back to the hotel.  We had arranged that morning to keep our room until 9 pm for an additional $70.  Well worth it.

Now we are rested and clean and ready for our long travel ordeal ahead.  We both leave from the Bangkok airport withing about 20 minutes of each other.  Irith takes Turkish Air to Istanbul and then connects onto a Turkish Air flight to Tel Aviv.  She arrives at about 9:40 am Tel Aviv time on Monday.  I fly Thai Air to Rome.  Then fly USAir to Philadelphia and then another USAir flight into Washington National, arriving about 31 hours later at around 7 pm.

Thanks for enjoying our blog.  We started the hit tracker only after our first week and we still have had close to 300 hits since it started, so somebody is looking at it once in awhile, although very few are commenting on the blog.  Irith gets lots of comments on Facebook.  If everyone would comment on the blog itself, it will be a good keepsake for us.

Roger and Irith

Some Interesting Sight on the River

Reincarnated Catfish

Temple on the Canal

Water Taxi