The hotel offered a complimentary breakfast buffet that started at 7am and ended at 9:30am. I got up at about 8am while my fiance’ pulled an all nighter looking for things to do in Bangkok. One thing about the people of Thailand is that they are EXTREMELY persistent and their hustle game is way strong. Almost immediately as we walked out of the front door of our hotel, we were approached by multiple *Tuk-Tuk drivers offering tours around the city. It’s not like in the states where you can tell someone you’ll think about doing something then blow it off. Nah fam, if you tell them you’ll think about it, or you’ll be back, that literally means right after you walk out of the restaurant across the street. At first I was annoyed, but I was reminded that this is how they make ends meet, so I got use to saying “no thank you” a lot.
The breakfast across the way consisted of a typical breakfast buffet, which included scrambled eggs, sunny side eggs, white rice, small cut hot dogs, an Asian dish that I forgot to ask about, white/wheat toast, Croissant’s, cold cereal, and a few choices of fruit and juice. I personally tried a little of everything. After wrapping up breakfast, we walked down the stairs onto the street, and sure enough, one of the drivers asked if we were ready yet. Obviously, we gave in and took him up on his offer. We hopped in his Tuk-Tuk not really knowing what to expect. Traffic was crazy, it’s more intense than NYC (which says a lot). I don’t recall seeing any stop signs now that I think about it. They kinda just get in where they fit in around here. We stopped at three palaces and my guy waited for us every time. He even told us to “take as long as we need”.
My fiancé took a nice picture of Monks. I felt like such a tourist snapping pics while they were praying, but they didn’t seem to mind much. At the last stop, a man sparked conversation with us. It was mainly small talk, but toward the end he mentioned how one of the local suit manufacturers was having a huge sale on cashmere suits. I didn’t think too much about it at the time.
After riding for a while, we made a stop at the tourist information center where they attempted to persuade us to purchase more tours. We respectfully declined the offers and to be honest, we only went in the building because our Tuk-Tuk driver told us that he receives a petroleum voucher even if we don’t purchase anything. So you know, I wanted to bless my man. We didn’t buy nothin’. We hopped back in the vehicle and drove a few miles to a local suit manufacturer (ironic huh?). We went in, was told to get comfortable and was offered “complimentary” drinks. The owner brings out two cold cokes. He began talking to me about the suits and how much I would save by buying one here in Bangkok oppose to back home in the states (I do have a wedding coming up next year). He also stated that I would pay more back home because of my size, but in my head I’m thinking “I’m back in the gym as soon as I touch back down, so I’m good”. After about 10 minutes of telling him that I’d pass, he finally gave up and appeared to disappointed. Meanwhile my fiancé is enjoying her cold coke and looking at me like “boy if you don’t tell him no and c’mon!”. After all, she was “only there for the free cola”.
Our driver took us to the grand palace, which was our final destination. I tipped him an extra 20 Baht (about .58 US. Dollar) for his kindness and patience. The Grand palace was blocked off and was closing in about 2 hours because the king was arriving later in the day. Turns out, we didn’t get to see the inside of it because I had on hoop shorts and a T-shirt while Chanel had on something similar. If you’re wondering what the big deal is, the knees and elbows have to be covered in order to enter the grand palace. Long story short, we didn’t get a chance to see it that day. I swear the two of us must’ve had “tourist” written on our foreheads. Another “hustla” attempted to get us to buy a floating market tour for 1,500 Baht a piece. Initially we refused, but after Chanel bargained him down to 500 Baht, we took advantage. Safe to say she’s perfected the art of bargaining and persuasion.
The boat took us around the Chao Phraya River where locals sell goods from there boats. I’m not sure why, but I was taken back when I noticed random snakes and lizards roaming the waters.
After the hour trip, we headed back to the dock and started the walk back to our hotel on Khaosan road. It was about 20 minutes away. Mind you it was 90 degrees with humidity. Maps on my iPhone through me off, so We eventually gave in and caught another Tuk-Tuk back to the hotel. It was still early after that excursion, but our bodies were tired and the AC in the room knocked us right out. Our intentions were to take a quick nap, but The day ended early for us as we passed out at about 4pm and slept until the next morning. Tune in to day 2.
*Tuk-Tuks are three wheeled vehicles that serve the same purpose of a taxi, lyft, or uber.
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