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 | elgar |  | Asia Main Course Summer 2011 |  | So good we've seen it twice |
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Jul 29 2011, 10:28 AM
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Bangkok (Krung Thep), Thailand
Tip: every time we asked a taxi/tuk-tuk driver/man on the street to take us somewhere, they insisted that either where we were going was closed or not very good, we later found that this was garbage and they are just trying to steer you somewhere for their own ulterior motives. Wouldn’t it be great if we could get some local info from people who know what they are talking about but it seems not. Some of the taxis are honest and say if I take you it will cost this much but I have sponsors so must take you to this market or this tailors. However, others just blatantly lie.
We gave the address to the tuk-tuk man but despite our receptionist telling us it was open from 10:00 a.m., he insisted it did not open until 11.30. We later deduced that this gave him ample time to take us around all of his sponsors before taking us to where we wanted to go. This is one of those situations where you have to learn to be firm. He did explain that he had to take us to a market, I had thought we were going to a shopping centre which would not have been too much of a problem, however, and after weaving in and out of traffic for ages, he deposited us outside a solitary tailor's shop. We decided we did not want this so gave him his 20 Bhat and went off on foot. We had however lost a couple of hours due to this.
Getting back on track we started to walk through the city and found ourselves near to Wat Traimit one of the most important temples. Just across the street from it was a Chinese style gate and a man outside seemed keen to inform us of this fact. It was indeed reminiscent of the gates we had seen in China two years ago. We took a few pictures which were sufficient for a record and then crossed the road to the main temple, whose golden spire we could see rising up into the sky.
This temple houses the giant solid gold Buddha. We had been taken here on our previous trip but while I remembered the Buddha itself, I did not recall the beautiful settings, the temple in pristine white marble with golden turrets, and the complex with its several buildings with candles, votives and prayer stations which is breath-taking.
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