Bangkok part deux: taken hostage

Yesterday was a crazy assed day! We went in search of the cambodian embassy only to remember that it was saturday and all embassies are closed! Duh! We have vacation brain, we toil the day away occasionally asking "what time is it." each time with a little more enthusiasm. Anyway, against our better judgement we jumped on a tuk tuk ( a motorcycle with a bench seat back) and immediately regretted our decision. For those of you who are unaware of the notorious tuk tuk driver in Bangkok, they are all scammers. Somehow we thought we woudl be above this. the tuk tuk driver immediately took us to a local pagoda so we coudl go in and make prayers and pour water over our heads. we told him we were not interested in praying and ouring water and he seemed offended. We again stated that we wanted to drive by the cambodian embassy so that we could find it on Monday when they were open. He then drove us to a tourist center where we could book a trip to cambodia. again we stated we wanted to go to the cambodian embassy and he then took us to another tourist center to try and get us to book with another company. We were starting to get angry. He was going to these places because it is a game they play with unsuspecting tourists where they take you to a business they know and if you book a trip or buy an item they get akick back. we were not playing. He then took us to a clothing store where they custom make a suit for you. This was just too much. But this time Will and I decided to play. We chose each a suit we wanted, picked out the fabric and were at the stage of paying and being fitted when we finailly bailed. The idea of having fine suit custom made to your measurments souds awesome but what usually happens is you pick a fabric and pay for it and then they actually make yor garment from a lower quality fabric. Bait and switch at its best. Will almost had a gorgeous camel colored suit made of cashmere and silk. Lovely. Anyway, the tuk tuk driver was able to get a stamp and he seemed happy and we were happy and thought he woudl take us back to our hotel then he said he would take us to one more place and we flipped. We both be came angry with him and I forcefull said if he took us to one more place we woudl not get out of the tuk tuk. Our driver got quiet and sad and actually pouted. We explained to him that we hired him to take us to one place, the cambodian embassy and we still had not seen that one place. ASSHOLE. we finally got back to khao san road and decided to spend the rest of the afternoon drinking beer at an outside cafe. So that is what we did. then we went to dinner at Mai Kay Dee's (the cooking school we will attend) and then were home and in bed by 7pm. Will says the tuk tuk driver took it out of us. We then were both up by 530 and hit the road running for along run this am at 630. We ran through a local market and got to see all of the fish and pigs and cows that were being sold in pieces or alive. Sanitation and food preservation are a whole lot different here then back home. We both want to try the thai version of fish sticks which is a whole fish fried on a stick. The original fish stick!

Also, had a nice breakfast at the new joe guesthouse. fun times. every day is an adventure.

music: summer breeze, seals and crofts
sights: hoards of traffic, tiny people, images of the king.


willandcody