Bangkok - 22nd June 2009

We had a bit of a lie in this morning, only getting up at 7.15, before heading out shortly after 8am. On our way to find a tuk tuk we went past a market which smelt quite bad. I was quite tempted by the lychee. Robbie wasn't keen to get a tuk tuk as he was getting a bit sick of all of the tailor shops we'd been taken to, but we got one anyway as we thought we'd just been a bit unlucky in the past, but unfortunatly he was as bad as any; cheap, but he used us a bit like prostitutes, taking us into all the places where they would give him vouchers to buy petrol; It wasn't as bad as two of the three were jewellry shops, which were a bit different! But we had to practically barter with him to take us to the places we wanted to go, before he took us to the annoying voucher shops. He did say he was only charging us 20 Baht each though.
The first stop was to a couple of temples; one from the Ayutthaya period and another from the Bangkok period. Inside the more modern Bangkok period temple was a golden Buddha rescued from Ayutthaya when it was being invaded by the Burmese(?). The temple, although quaint, was incredibly beautiful. There were paintings all over the walls, and the ceiling and tiered platform where the Buddha was sat was pretty too. There was a chair embedded with (can't remember the name) which was really pretty. A man who happened to be in the temple told us about the history of the temples and was really helpful. The temple from the Ayutthaya period wasn't so great, it was a bit more plain, and with no paintings, although it had more Buddha's in it.
Next stop, where we stopped twice, was to a temple where we could get more good luck from the Buddha, it happened to be shut the morning we were there so we couldn't go in.
One of the highlights was climbing the zillions of steps up the Golden Mount. It was a fantastic view of the city, and was quite pretty inside. There were lots of bells on the outside, and trees and other greenary; It felt very natural. It was absolutely boiling that day, and I had to whip out my sunnys. It was a bit hard juggling my camera, glasses, leaflets and the like.
For our final destination on the tuk-tuk journey we got taken to the Grand Palace. We decided to say goodbye to our tuk-tuk driver and we paid him his offered price of 20 baht each, with a bit of a tip. He'd made 10 litres of petrol from pimping us out to the tailor and jewellery shops!
We were glad to see the back of him, although he did look quite cute, and he'd looked so happy with the prospect of getting free petrol.
We were attacked by people trying to sell us boat rides and various other things. I managed to get away from the boat man by using the "I get sea sick, sorry!" approach which made him finally leave us alone! I then got flogged a really beautiful sun-umbrella, made of wood and paper. It's pretty amasing how it can be made out of such things and be so sturdy and well made. It was only 4 pounds too, after a bit of bartering on my part which I'm quite proud of!
People had tried telling us that the Grand Palace was shut, to try to get us to go elsewhere, but we managed to ignore their lies, and get inside anyway. We had to be covered to our knees/shoulders if we were in a dress, and full length trousers and to our elbows otherwise. I was alright in my dress, but Lucy and Robbie had to hire out a wrap to use as a skirt (Lucy), and some trousers. It was 350 baht (7 pounds) entrance to the palace, but it was well worth it. It was so amasing! There were many buildings, all absolutely beautiful with mosaic tiles, murals and lots of statues. There was so much attention to detail and such a range of colours and designs; the place was just stunning, especially in the bright sunlight. This has got to be one of the wonders of the world. There were some practicing buddhists having a study session, and in one of the temples, we heard them praying which was a very calming sound.
We then were getting pretty exhausted due to the heat, and also quite hungry as it had been quite a few hours since breakfast, so we went to the street where I was mobbed by three vendors all chasing after me trying to sell me another umbrella, a booklet of postcards and a painting! One of them chased us quite far down the street until we finally managed to escape into a cafe. It was an old fashioned, quite stylish cafe with quite a few dogs in it; which made Robbie a bit nervous! I had noodles, which looked more like pasta, with vegetables which was very tasty! I tried one of Lucy's spring rolls but it was incredibly spicy!!
We had hoped to go to Wat Pho, a temple, but apparently it was only open in the morning, although on reflection it might have just been someone trying to scam us into going onto a tour instead; I'm not sure.
We got in a taxi to take us to MHC centre (??) where we were going shopping as Robbie needed a few things. It was an incredibly large mall, and very cool to shop in! There were so many shops!! I think there were 7 floors, and it was a bit like Hogwarts in that there were so many escalators in various different directions! There were quite a few shops selling t-shirts with cool slogans on; and Robbie bought a coca-cola t-shirt which he's always wanted! I managed to not buy anything which is quite amasing!! We went on the internet for a while, and had thought about going to the infamous ping-pong show; where girls do various creative/imaginative things with their vagina(!) including shooting out pingpongs; as an alternative to the Ladyboys of Bangkok. We weren't too sure where exactly it was happening, and it seemed like it could cost quite a bit of money if we didn't buy enough drinks, so we decided to just continue shopping. We had dinner in the food hall; I had a chipati (sp?) with a vegetable biryani, which was extremely spicy!! I drank heaps and heaps of water and it practically made me cry! It was unfortunatly very tasty though, apart from putting my tongue on fire so I kept on wanting to eat it!
We were just walking around shopping, when a lone man, looking directly at us, burst out laughing! It was obvious he was laughing at us, but I still have no idea why! We burst out laughing too! It was so random!!! Whatever he found so hilariously funny about us, he obviously couldn't keep to himself!
We got in a taxi back to the hostel, except on the way when we were stopped at a junction, a tuk-tuk drove into the back of us!!! My first ever RTA!! Both drivers pulled into the side of the road, and discussed the scratch a bit, before the taxi driver told us we'd have to pay him and then go in another taxi to get home. I think he was a bit relieved as he didn't seem to really know where he was going anyway! we got into another taxi, and this guy knew even less where he was going; it's incredibly frustrating when they're asking us for directions!!
We had a game of ludo when we got back which was really good fun! Lucy and Robbie also booked themselves in at the Sunday Guesthouse in Phnom Penh, which is where I'll be staying. Poor Lucy seemed to be eaten alive during the day as she's covered with bites; the mosquitos or whatever is biting her don't seem to be as bothered for a bite of Robbie and I.
I had a shower which felt surprisingly warm, and then went to bed around midnight.