Water and Walking and Wat's oh my

Today is our last day in Bangkok, and I think we are all pretty much ready to leave. Actually scratch that, I know we are all ready to leave, we talked about. We were going to kick up to Kanchanburi to do a little more sightseeing, but after all of the hustle and bustle we decided that a beach was more in order so we are heading south later today. Originally we had hoped to take the train but everything was booked up for the next couple days so we found a plane flight for $58 CDN and are off by 5pm today. Overall I think the Bangkok experience has been mixed. The tourist stuff has been super interesting but the bad air quality and just overall pulsing amount of people just wears on you.

Yesterday we managed to take a boat ride on the river and canals which was a nice different way to see the city. It is pretty amazing how mansions can be right next to slums, and that there are a lot of slums right along the canals. It wasn't anything I wasn't expecting, but it still can be a little tough to see. We also did Jim Thompson's house which was surprisingly good. It was a nice little guided tour around a neo-traditional Thai house with lots of interesting artifacts.

We also experienced our first attempted taxi scam yesterday. I say attempted because after being in the city for 4 days now we are starting to learn our way around so we got out before it got crazy. Basically what happened is that we jumped in the taxi near the grand palace and got on the meter like we always had. The taxi driver then just started driving. After about 20 minutes I started to compare where we were going against the map I had and realized we were basically going the wrong direction. Interestingly though the taxi driver was driving by another site we were going to go to later so we just got him to stop and we went their first instead. I'm sure it would have been an interesting experience to find out exactly where he was going to take us, but we’ll save that experience for next time. I must say though, the free map that you can get at the airport has been extremely useful in bouncing around all over the city. I think we have used it way beyond its expected capacity but hey, whatever works.

Morgan and I also decided to make things a little more interesting last night. Mike and Anthony had turned in to bed and we were sitting around talking and decided that you really can't come to Bangkok without seeing a Ping Pong show. Yes this is perhaps a bit of a bizarre attraction, almost like watching a car crash, but in the end curiosity just got the best of us. So, we did like any white twenty-something tourist on Koh San Road does and jumped in a tuk tuk and said ‘take us to a show’! Eager to please our tuk tuk driver quickly blasted us off into the city taking us further and further away from our happy little comfort area and landmarks we knew. I kept watching streets though just in case we needed to find our way back on our own. I should also mention that before we undertook this endeavor Morgan and I got rid of most of our cash and brought a map just in case. I mean just because you want to be a little bit crazy doesn't mean you have to be stupid. Anyway our tuk tuk driver finally took us to this non-discript complex and told us we had arrived. We were then quickly ushered into the building and greeted by a man all too happy to take our money. $600 baht ($20 CDN) was the quoted price (with a free drink of course). We quickly said no, we didn't want to see it THAT much. We then got a free 1 minute taster of the show. The room was like your typical seedy strip club except it probably had 20 seats and a rather unattractive Thai girl on stage. Ushered back out of the room we were then told that he would give us a deal and $1000 baht for both. We didn't want to pay more than $500 total, he came back with $800 and we said no thanks, 500 was our final offer. We were then told if we didn't like it would could leave, I think he was trying to call our bluff, but being the stubborn people that we are Morgan and I said, ok, fine, and left. We decided then that our one minute experience was enough and set out to walk back. I ball parked the walk at around 1:30am. Our tuk tuk driver came chasing after us at first offer cheaper clubs and more thrills, but we declined and kept walking. It was only later that we realized we hadn't paid him anything. Reverse scam! Score one point for the boys. So then for the next hour and a bit we walked back to our guesthouse. For those of you thinking we must have been very crazy or totally drunk let me assure you we were neither. I never felt unsafe once the entire walk back. It was actually very nice and relaxing to be wandering around the city without all of the hustle and bustle; it actually made me like it more. I certainly wouldn't recommend it for most people but it was one of the nice walks I've had here. It isn't something we are necessarily looking to repeat later in the trip though.

I think that's all for now, time to back to the guest house and pack up in preparation for our plane.
PS - for those of you wondering about the cyclone that hit Myanmar we haven't experienced any effects from that in Bangkok but that's a pretty fair distance away. Things might be different when we head down to Krabi later today as that is on the same coast.