Bangkok - Thailand Day 1

Hey Everyone,

So we wanted to write about our first full day in Bangkok. We are staying in the New World Lodge Hotel which is in the Old City district of Bangkok. After getting up and having breakfast we hit the streets for some shopping and exploring. We got a metered taxi to take us to World Central Plaza. We walked around this huge mall checking out all the shops. We took our time in Jim Thompson a popular store in Bangkok. Jim Thompson was an American who got the Thai silk industry back up and running during WWII. We really liked the store.

After finding our way around the world central plaza Farrell sniffed out the high end stores in the Grayson mall. Here we shopped around Louis Vuitton, Prada, Gucci, and much to Farrell's dismay even after the 30 to 1 exchange rate things were still more expensive here then at home. So we didn't buy anything :(! We have a hard time understanding how people are able to afford the prices here, considering when you look around Bangkok and see how poor it is. After walking around Grayson we made our way to another mall called Siam plaza. Here we got some lunch, which was really good. The food at our hotel and around the city so far has been really good and we have been finding ourselves really enjoying our meals. We are also doing a good job of keeping Farrell away from all the peanuts which is a popular thing to cook with here. Dan got a little sick of shopping around and watching Farrell try on cute shoe after cute shoe so he busted out the map and tried to find a tourist spot to go to and take some photos. Dan decided to go to Victory Monument.

Farrell and Dan hopped into a cab and headed towards the monument. After about 5 mins in the cab Dan mentioned to Farrell that the meter was not working (or so he tried to tell us). So Dan brought it up to the driver who tried to say it as going to be 200baht to get there. This was double the cost is should have been for such a short drive so we started to go back and forth on the price. We said we would only give him 100baht and then finally when we got there and realized it should have only been about a 50baht taxi ride. After trying to give him just the 50baht he got a little upset and Farrell got scared so we gave him the 100baht and were a little pissed about it. Then we realized after cooling down it was only 3US dollars so we shrugged it off and said we would get out of any cab that did not turn on the meter (this would come up again).

The monument was a bust, we guess the Thais have nothing to be victorious about. After trying to figure out where we were, we realized we were no longer in much of a tourist area because we could not find any signs in English at all. So then we decided to head back the way we came to get to a more touristy area. Farrell was getting really freaked out but a massage place caught her eye and we decided to stop. Farrell got her feet rubbed and Dan got a Thai massage and is feeling a little sore today because of it, they really twist and push you around. Farrell was grossed out when getting her massage because two roaches crawled up the chair during the session and the women could not figure out why she could not relax. It only cost us 300baht total so we could not complain.

We continued down the street and made our way back to the malls where we started. it was rush hour at the time which gave us a lot of problems when trying to get a taxi. We wanted to go back to the hotel but every time we went to a taxi they would not turn on their meter. They just wanted us to name a price but what happens when you do that is when you arrive at your place they want more. So we refused to get into any cab unless they were going to turn on the meter. And this is not even the tutt tutt. They are even worse and give you a much harder time.

We waited it out, got some dinner and then headed home. We waited in the taxi line for about 20mins and got a cab driver that would finally turn on his meter. We made it home safe and sound and are learning more about this place every day. We head out today for some more adventures.

Lots of Love,
Farrell and Dan