After failing to watch the game we decided to check out the exercise room which was pretty pathetic there were a few weights that went up to 35 lbs and a few other machines. I decided that it wouldn't even be worth exercising there do I went back to the room. Afterwards we went down to the concierge desk to see if they had any recommendations on things to do. I really wanted to go downtown and see the backpacker road and some other things in the city but we quickly found out that our hotel was an HOUR AND A HALF from the downtown area (my dad booked a place near the airport without me know even after telling him multiple times to make sure we were close enough to the city or at least the metro). Not only were we far but the only way to get to the city was with a $30 taxi ride ONE WAY. At this point I was furious with my dad. Anyway we decided to book some 'tours' of the downtown and another for tomorrow of the floating markets and bridge over river Kwai since it was about the same price as just taxiing down there. I'm hesitant to call it a tour though. Basically we got this driver who spoke very poor English and drove us around. I didn't know this at the time we booked the 'tours' otherwise I would not have agreed to it. It seemed like a big waste of money and a scam to me but I'll get more into that later.
The driver took us downtown which is actually an island just barely separated from the main land. And just has he predicted it took just over 1 and a half hours to get there. Once there we stopped and had some phad Thai for lunch. It was so much more delicious than here than in Cambodia. After eating we got to walk around Khao San road, which is the backpacker road I mentioned earlier. It was really cool with tons of shops and things all over the street.
While walking around I bought a redbull tshirt for myself and a gift for Rachel then we had to go in order to see all the things on the 'tour'. I would've really liked to explore the area more but it doesn't look like I'll be able to since it's so much of a hassle and expense just to get downtown.
The first stop on our 'tour' was the royal palace. We had to borrow pants in order to go in since you can't wear shorts (it's a sign of disrespect). It was pretty interesting if you like temples and stuff. We went into the main temple of the palace called the temple of the emerald Buddha, which apparently is one of the most sacred temples in all of Asia. I took a picture and found out afterwards that we weren't allowed to...oops!
We walked around the royal palace for like a half hour, it was a huge area with tons of different buildings and temples. Next we met back up with our driver who took us to see the temple of the reclining Buddha. Apparently there is a different Buddha for each day of the week or something and they are all in different positions (sitting, standing, reclining, etc). I found out that the Tuesday Buddha is the reclining Buddha, I have no idea what that means though haha! The temple was actually pretty cool, the reclining Buddha was HUGE, it's the biggest reclining Buddha in Thailand.
There were also tons of other smaller Buddhas all over these temples with various sizes. It was pretty interesting to see how obssed they are over Buddha haha.
After this temple we met back up with our driver who took us across the river to the mainland to see the last sight on our 'tour' called wat Arun. It was basically this big spike thing that you could climb up to the top of. It also has some religious significance but I'm not really sure what.
After we finished here we we back to the island and started to head back to the hotel. Okay so here's why I think it's a scam. So the guy who told us about this 'tour' was the actual driver/'tour guide' who took us downtown and then on the way back to the hotel he stopped at his "buddy's tailor shop" and was saying how we should buy a suit from him....umm no thanks I'm not really trying to buy a suit let alone fit it in my backpack. We told him before we got there that we weren't interested, but he stopped anyway so we walked in and told the guy we didn't want to buy anything then left, I think our driver was kind of surprised how fast we came back out haha. Then when we got back he told us that he would take us to a Thai place for dinner. We agreed since there's literally nothing around the hotel.
So we went to dinner around 7 and the restaurant was delicious, we had shrimp fried rice phad tie, and some breaded shrimp and honey that was sooo good! It was very reasonable price too so overall I'm glad we decided to go. Anyway after dinner we got back and he told us that we owed him 200 bhat ($6.5) for the ride to the restaurant, which was a surprise to us since it was the first time he mentioned paying him for it. I'm not sure what exactly it was but the whole thing just gave me the vibe of being a scam and now were already signed up and paid for the 'tour' tomorrow so well see how that works out haha!
From now on I'm making sure that we're not booked to stay somewhere like this again. It is such a waste of money but for now I guess I'll try to suck it up! Hopefully tomorrow will be better! I'm excited to see the floating market and bridge both which are about an hour outside the city.
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