$7 and change in Bangkok

We'll do our best to keep bloggin as we go and with a few minutes to kill before I pass out, lemme fill you in on today. (side note; we're watchin Delta Force with Chuck Norris right now...they play the same cheezy inspirational song everytime Chuck kicks someones ass, its awesome)

Anyway, we woke up today to a fantasmic breakfast at the lobby and then got ourselves some freebie 10 minute massages that losened up the muscles for a day of hikin around the city in 95 degree weather.

We avoided the onslaught of cabbies and tuk-tuks in favor of the skytrain which took us near the river for 20 baht a pice which is less than a buck and after2 peeps tried to sway us towards some tourists traps, we made our way onto the local ferry and headed upstream to see some sights for 14 baht each. This was a success as we were initially being sold on a tourist boat that was 150 baht each and went the exact same way and in fact, stopped running earlier than the 14 baht ferry. Tip: look for the boats with the yellow or orange flags...if you are not sure, try asking the man or woman at a gate thats not openly trying to sell you on something...thats usually the local ferry.

Along the ride we met some nice Asian women who were retired and got some tips on where to go for a bite and to walk around.

We hit up a small Thai food spot on near the docks for some lunch which is when we realized that we had basically come financially armed with the change from yesterdays run to a 7-11 which totaled a little over $7 bucks. Now, anywhere else and this might have been a situation, but fortunately we are in Thailand and for 2 beers and a healthy serving of seasoned rice and chicken, we escaped for about $5.

So, if you happen to a biz a whiz with numbers, you know its a tight fix the rest of the day but as we came prepped with apples and water to last us, the only money we really needed was money for the trip home, which we had, barely.

The only time this came into question was when we were basically forced to feed pigeons corn as a symbol of good luck and demanded to pay 20 baht a piece. But, when you are scroungin like we were, runnin away from some older Thai woman as they grab for your shirt seemed just fine.

We took in the sites of the Wat Phra Kaew, Wat Phra Chetuphon, Thammasai University and the Wat Arun but all from the outside since entry fee was not an option ;)

To be honest, what we saw on the outside suited us just fine. I think the real experience today was just watching the people, seeing the colors of the city and working on saying avoiding eye contact with the locals runnin game on us.

The day came to a close with a good nap and some Thai room service which was coupled by a dessert full of Chuck Norris in Delta Force.

I'm spent, your tired of reading, lets part ways...thanks for reading!

adam


PS. Those of you who have ever been to any of my homes for the last 10 years or so, I have owned a brightly colored elephant wind chime bought in DC from a specialty shop on a trip to NIH with my mom. The lady who owns the shop is a dentist who comes to Thailand a few times a year to do dental work for the needy and buy the local goods, then sells them in her shop to finance her trips back to the country.

Well, I have had it forever and have sworn it has brought good luck, thanks to the elephants with their trunks up. Today, I saw one...her in Bangkok, across the street from a temple...the same exact one...it brought a huge smile to myself...and I wanted to share.
(left picture, in Thailand, right picture in our old apartment)