Bangkok - I can't believe we got scammed!!

But scammed we did. More on that later.....

Our arrival in Bangkok seemed like a step up in size. Everything about this city is so much bigger than anything we had seen so far in SE Asia. So much taller, so much brighter, so many tourists. We stayed a few blocks from the hedonistic pleasure zone that is Khao Son Road. A walk down that colourful street during the crazy time (evening) reminds you what you did when you were young.

After taking a ferry down to the post office (a very nice ride), we headed back up into town to see a few sights. But first we headed to the train station to book a ticket down south. We got stopped by a woman offering "free" advice. So we asked her a few questions and before long we were in a Travel office chatting to a young guy about diving courses on Koh Tao island (our next stop). The price was great, so before we knew it we had booked a PADI open water dive course for Greg in one of the most popular dive locations in the world. We then headed over to Chinatown to wander the spice and food markets stopping briefly for some beautiful Peking duck and succulent roast pork.

Now for our little scam. The next morning we decided to head down to the Golden Palace. As we were walking an older respectable looking gentleman came up to us and said he was a Buddhist teacher at the university, and that unfortunately the Palace was being visited by the royal family that morning and we should go to another couple of places first (note: at this point we should have clicked - a famous scam is that a popular tourist site is closed). He showed us on the map and then magically hailed a TukTuk driver for us. We headed out on our impromptu tour after thanking him for his help. Our driver told us he was an art student, and after going to the first reclining Buddha, he asked to stop at some (crap) jewellery place so he could get a fuel stamp, all apologetic at his lack of funds (I'm a student). After a look at the marble temple, which had a very cool selection of Buddha statues from various traditions around the world, he wanted to stop at a craft place. We reluctantly agreed on the condition that this was the last unplanned stop. But then he took us to a bloody tailoring place where a greasy Indian salesman followed us like a bad smell. We were not happy. When we got to the golden mount, we expected no more interruptions.

But when we came back ready for our next destination, are driver had buggered off leaving us in the middle of bloody nowhere. As far as scams go we got off very very lightly. We did not pay him for the trip and we did not get locked in a gem store (as the story goes). But we did miss out on seeing the famous Golden Palace and we were left feeling confused and distrustful. It's a classic Bangkok scam - we should of known better....

Eventually we found ourselves looking at the magnificent golden reclining Buddha. Laughing at how we got done.

Thoroughly exhausted from not being able to trust anybody, we headed south where the sun is shining and the beach is the place to be.