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Tuk Tuk
- The transportation vehicle of Bangkok - |
At this day our plan was to get to Wat Pho, the biggest, oldest and most famous temple complex in Bangkok. We wanted to get there by boat because there's no other option besides Tuk Tuk or taxi which we disagreed because we heard many stories of tricksters who wants to get a high price after driving you. So the official way seemed the best :)
Information: Tuk Tuks are mopeds with a little trailer in which about 3 persons can sit. They're typical for the view of Bangkok.
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| Bad omen for the rest of the day ;) |
First, we went to the metro station "Hua Lamphong", because we also didn't want to pay extra for the Skytrain and then pay more for the boat. If we had taken the Sktrain, the way by boat had been actually farther. Then it started to rain and because of public works on the street, we couldn't see the boat station and were unsure how to get there. A Thai saw us and talked to us spontaneously. He explained that the whole area where Wat Pho and many other temples lay was closed because of the visit of the king and a Buddhist holiday. This is a popular lie and also travel guides described that only tricksters will talk to you spontaneously (what will be confirmed again later). Normally, Thai people are more shy and reserved towards foreigners.
Then the man wanted to send us to other temples in the south of the city and tried to convinced us to take the bus or Tuk Tuks which he (spontaneously) ordered from the street. At this point, it was clear he lied to us and wanted to trick us together with the Tuk Tuk drivers. So we said quickly goodbye and tried to take the bus. Then we realized that also the station he described wasn't the right one, the right one was in the opposite direction. So our instinct was right that he was a trickster. Now we decided to get to the river via the Skytrain even it was more expensive than the first way.
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| View from the boat over Bangkok |
So at the second try, we took the boat from the central pier. During the drive on the river, we had a great view of the city and saw lots of different aspects from the city: Religion (temples), Wealth (skyscrapers), Poverty (barracks) and Business (industry complexes). For me it was also a good feeling to sit on the bow of the ship and smell the fresh air of the river. The river seemed also very clean what wondered me. I thought because of the industry and tourists, the river would be dirtier. Another prejudice deleted ;)
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Big Buddha
at Wat Indrawihan |
By boat we arrived at the area of Wat Pho. Then we made the biggest mistake: We went to the entrance of the royal palace which is alongside the entrance of Wat Pho. A man on the guard post at the entrance talked to us (spontaneously) and explained that the visiting of Wat Pho AND the Royal Palace is limited to 3:30pm which was proven by an official sign next to him. In the end we recognized that we didn't read the sign properly because the time was ONLY for the royal palace and NOT for Wat Pho. But we fell for it. So the man showed us a route with two alternative places of interest: Wat Indrawihan which inherits a big Buddha statue (height is about 31.5m) and the Golden Mountain with a temple on the top.
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| View from a Tuk Tuk |
He organized also two Tuk Tuks with official drivers. They all wore the same blue jackets and they had also an identification card which looked very official. The whole route costs us only 40 Baht, so the man said, because this was a special offer of a promo tour which was only at this day. Additionally we only had to visit one store from the organizer of the promo tour and hadn't to buy anything. Because this offer sounded so good, we agreed. As you may have already recognized: This was a trick. How high is the possibility to be at the right time and the right place to get this cheap possibility? But the offer was too tempting for us and we felt for the trick. This is another proof that the human brain switches off when human sees discounts or something similar.
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Temple at Golden Mountain
(not the one on the top!) |
So we were driven to the first place of interest: Wat Indrawihan with the big Buddha. The atmosphere was very calm because about 75% of the people there were Thais who prayed. Then we had to drive to two stores (instead of one like they promised) and it started to rain again. At this point we didn't know how many stores we would have to still visit, so we demanded from the drivers to get to the Golden Mountain and then back to the next station. When we were at the mountain, we first wanted to cancel the visit after the first minutes because of the heavy rain. But the drivers were not at there Tuk Tuks. Maybe they probably drank hot tea somewhere.
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Golden Buddha
at Golden Mountain |
Then the rain stopped and we decided to give the mountain another try. It was a little adventure to get the 400 stairs of the mountain up to the temple because they were slippery from the rain. But it was worthy because we got a great view from the top over the whole city. I also bought a little bell as lucky charm. Let's see if it will work on the further journey :D
After that, we decided to walk to the next station (about 3 kilometers) instead of taking the Tuk Tuks and so we tricked the drivers by being driven to two places of interests for free. During the walk to the metro, we also saw a part of the city which wasn't so heavenly populated by tourists and we could see where and how the Thai people really lived. And we went through the railway station which looked a little bit familiar, if you know the typical railway stations in Germany ;)
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Entrance of the railway station
- The end of the long road - |
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In the next blog post, I will tell you about our last day in Bangkok, our arrival in Vietnam and how our family received us in the middle of the night :) Happy traveling! :D
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