While Grace worked, Brian was reading the Lonely Planet book on Thailand.
See the yellow watermelon?If you closed your eyes...it would taste exactly like the red ones we're used to!
From the window of our room, we could see a shrine amongst the nearby big concrete buildings, so we decided to walk over to the shrine.
See the shrine in the middle--between the taller buildings?
Here's a closer view of the shrine.There was construction going on around the structure—and, Brian, being a Facilities Manager, was interested in how they did stuff so we took a much closer look.
Amazingly strong scaffolding made from bamboo.A young man in a white shirt and dark pants came up and said something to the effect that the shrine wasn’t open to the public due to construction. (Duh).
He was very personable and helpful. He could see that we were tourists and asked how long we’d been here, where we were from…etc. Thai accents are hard to understand. He explained that today was a very holy day for the Buddhists, and told us about the “Lucky Temple” which was across town. No worries, though, he could get us a Government tuktuk really cheap and would explain to the driver in Thai where to take us. His second suggestion was to go to the National Export Center, where there was a sale ending today. He told us there were great deals to be had, and sent us on our way.
The Lucky Temple was indeed across town, and took about 25 minutes to get there. Along the way, the driver was pointing out various government buildings, historical monuments, etc.
Young monks in training.
Grace sitting down in quiet contemplation.
We arrived at the temple and before we went in, the driver said he was going to park in the shade and wait for us. Inside the temple was very ornate and beautiful, and of course we took lots of pictures. We found our driver and as we got into the tuktuk, he said he needed to use the bathroom. As he disappeared, a guy was climbing into a truck parked next to us. This guy was very friendly also, and asked many of the same questions the young man asked – where are you from, how long are you staying, etc. Then, he starts telling us about the gem sale at the National Export Center and Brian’s hackles are up, radar is fully engaged and is very wary. The guy goes on and on about the deals to be found, the money to be made, and how the sapphire supply has dried up in Thailand – making them more valuable. He tells a story about how he just brought his mother up from the south to partake in these savings, how his brother has been financing his trips to America by buying here and selling there.
Finally, our driver comes back from the bathroom and we’re off to the “Export Center”. He takes us into an old part of Bangkok and while driving down the street points at a building on the other side of the road and says that’s our destination. The building has no signage on it, no identification whatsoever and so as he is working thru traffic and making a U-turn, Brian instructed Grace to start acting sick – like she was about to throw up. Given the heat and humidity, it wasn’t much of a stretch for her. She starts leaning out of the tuktuk and making hacking sounds, and Brian, being the concerned husband, tell our driver that he must take us back to our hotel. He suggests that we proceed to the Export Center, and Grace can sit inside and “recover”. Brian tells him no, he needs to take us back.
We’re still sitting in traffic and he gets on his phone and has a conversation with someone in Thai. He hangs up and tries again to convince us to continue. Brian tells him NO, we must get back to the hotel because Grace has medicine there that she must take. His face falls. He suggests that taking a taxi back to the hotel will be better for Grace since it will be air-conditioned. Brian agrees, and the guy flags down a taxi for us.
As the taxi pulls away, Brian proceeds to tell Grace that the Thailand Guidebook had several pages devoted to scams in Thailand. On page 180, they talked about the Gem Scam being run against the gullible tourists visiting Bangkok. It talked about how to watch out for overly-friendly locals approaching you and offering help. So—we got to experience the slick work of these con-artists—without having to fork out any money. The first guy even got us the tuktuk ride way across town…at a much cheaper price than we normally would have paid AND we got to see the Lucky Temple, which we didn’t know about—and it really was beautiful…and lucky. ;)
Got back to the hotel and went to Central World…a huuuuuuge mall just across the street from the hotel. Walked around in the mall…and also outside the mall where there were a lot of food vendors. Got some spicy seafood with glass noodles and shrimp tempura. Went back to the hotel and had much-needed showers and stayed in for the night. You may notice that we haven’t gone out much to experience any “night life”. The main reason is that Grace is working during this vacation. Which means she has to be on-line in the evening—as it is the previous (er…same-day) morning in the U.S. She stays on line until about 1am…and then gets up around 4am to get the rest of the day’s mail/work.
