Tuk tuks, suits, and a whole lotta Buddha

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It's been a lot more difficult to keep up with the blog than I remember, I don't have any down time. And when I do I use it to sleep.

As I was checking into the hotel by the Airport - at midnight, now a 12 hours ahead of east coast, 2 girls and a guy showed up. The girls were from Illinois, finishing up their trip after 3 weeks in Chiangmai volunteering to help rescues elephants. The guy (olivae), not with the girls, was from France and on a 1 year round the world backpacking trip. All with intentions of going into Bangkok the next day we agreed to meet in the morning to share a cab to the train. The hotel, which advertised itself as a hostel, was small, humble, and had a great view of the airport so you could see all the planes taking off and landing, but more or less in the jungle type setting. It was hard to fall asleep initially because of the 1st class nap I had on the plane. I awoke about an hour to this incredibly loud scratching and movement in the the ceiling. I could only assume it was some kind of hybrid rat dog that could smell me and would stop at nothing to claw to get me. This thing sounded huge. I went downstairs and got another room- upgraded to one with a fan! Woke up, had some fruit and tea watching the jumbo 747s take off to go all over the world. All four of us piled in a taxi bound for the train station. First thing i realize is how crazy traffic is. Motorcycles, mopeds, tuk tuks, cabs and trucks all weaving in and out seamlessly with very little room for others' space. Getting to the train station people are more than happy talk to us, ask us where we are from, and try to help us. We were a little reserved, not sure what they wanted. Eventually some people are genially interested and just want to talk to you in what English they know. A ticket for 4 of us, an hour train into then city was 28 batt (thai currency pronounced bot) the conversion rate is $1 to $30 batt, so the train cost less than a quarter each, amazing! The old rickety open air train took us through some pretty slum areas, everything so far a polar opposite to Tokyo - a challenging transition. We decide to walk from the station to see the city. We ended up walking to my hostel, glad I packed light because it was about a 3-4km walk. Couldn't check in until 2, so I dropped off my stuff and headed back out with the girls, the Frenchman set off to find his own hostel. 

I want to diverge and talk about Tuk Tuks. A tuk tuk is a 3 wheeled motorized cart type taxi with no meter. They are open air with a canopy atop and a bench seat with "oh shit" bars for railings. You negotiate the price before you get it. Minimum price is 30B ($1). Tuk tuks are everywhere, weaving in and out of traffic, guys hustling you to get in and take a ride. Taxis are cheaper but you have to be careful they don't take the long way to your destination. Plus tuk tuks are a lot of fun. Tuk tuks play a key role in the interconnected network of scams and hustles- mostly custom made suits, ping pong shows, and body massages. I havnt seen any drugs , crime or felt threatened in any way. They just want to steal your money in a more "honest" way. 

So we take a tuk tuk to the famous Khao San road to check out what it's really about. Khaosan road is a small side street about a kilometer in length, pack with food, bars, retail, and non stop action. You immediately get lost in the busy yet casual glimmer of everything offered. Food, drink, tshirts, CDs, tons of women's clothing, food carts it's hard to take it all in in one lap. The later it gets the busier. 

So after a couple hours just wondering khao San and the side streets, and eventually loosing the girls, a tuk tuk driver asks me if I wanted to see some of the temples and explains that Tuesday is Buddha day and all are free to get in. He says he will have his driver take me around several temples and wait on me, drop me by the thai certified travel agency for any questions and bring me back for 20B, hell of a deal so I go with it. He wizzes me over first to standing Buddha. A 100 foot gold Buddha statue was really cool. A lot of detail was put into the temple. I don't really know much about the temples because there was no English translations anywhere. The next stop was travel agency which answered some questions on how to get to my next destination : koh phangan. The driver says he wants to make a quick stop by a custom suit manufacturer. Said I was not obligated to buy anything-just check it out. Instantly I was greeted by a sharply dressed guy with good English who was "so interested" in me. I was poured a fresh beer proceeded to get the pitch of how all suits are custom and hand made with the finest of materials blah blah blah. Then he asked if I were to get a suit what I would be looking for. Since part of my Christmas present was some money to put toward an nice jacket or suit I decided to show more interest. He pulled out some fabric and draped it over my shoulder to see how it would look- and it looked pretty sharp... Long story short I got upsold, sized and fit for 2 custom made jackets, pants, shirts and ties for $450. Not exactly what I was looking for but what the hell. I
Haggled him down from $900. I went back the next day for a fitting and its going to be a pretty sharp looking suit(s). I just have to figure out how to send them home... So after a couple more beers i was feeling pretty good, trying not to regret the purchase, the tuk tuk driver took me to golden mountain, a golden temple sitting about 300 feet high with an incredibly commanding 360 view of the city.  It was really spectacular.  Afterwards I headed back to check into the hostel, got situated and met some people downstairs in the common room. 4 girls that just graduated from ucf that were traveling for 2 months.  We buddied up with 2 other guys from northern England. A short 15 min walk from the hostel to khoa san we were back in the middle of the madness. Picked up some beers from a 7-11 ( 47b $1.50 for a 64oz- cheapest on the street) place  and walked down the street just gazing, after a lap and a half and a couple more stops back to the 7-11 and got convinced to see a ping pong show. Next thing I know we are piled into 2 tuk tuks racing down the streets to god knows where. Haggled for a group discount and proceeded to get grossed out for the next hour. A quick cab back to khoasan we found a 3rd story bar to dance and drink buckets of rum redbull and coke. You only need 1. After the group got split up, we eventually reconnected back at the hostel to call it a night.