I started off just taking in the sights then out of the blue some man starts to hold a conversation with me. In good spirits and knowing that the Thai people are super friendly, I let him talk. That my friends was mistake #1. He asked if I had a map, was telling me these stories about Thailand and the king, pointed out on my map where I should go, filled in a few extra places that I should visit, yada, yada, yada. He proceeded to tell me that the government for today only was paying for the gas for the tuk-tuk drivers because it was holiday, but it had to be a specific tuk-tuk, and the price was only 20B for 2 hours. Wait low and behold there's that specific tuk-tuk, magically appearing by my side, ready to take me to the sights. And that was one of the scams you are warned against. Me wanted to immerse myself in just going with the flow didn't realize this until after the fact. They tell you some cock-n-bull story then the tuk-tuk drivers take you jewelry stores, tailor shops & tour places(T.A.T), where they receive a commission. Then the driver lets you out at a wat(temple) and says that he has to go before the 2 hours are up. Okay so it's honestly not that bad and I don't regret it but it's still a scam no matter how you look at it. My first stop of the scam was "The Lucky Buddha", well come to find out later, there is no such buddha. I do believe however the temple is real, but who am I to know, I fell for the story in the first place. Off to stop #2, the tailor shop. I walked out with an order for custom made cashmere blend dress pants. I don't think that the guy in the shop was all that happy since I had started off with 3 pairs of pants and a dress, then he showed me the price and that was nixed very quickly. He was a hard seller, but I was able to stick to my guns and I think if I attempted to I could have had the price slashed more. I ended up paying 3500B (appx $105) I do feel that it was a good investment considering I have a really difficult time finding pants to fit my muscular thighs and small waist, they were made for me. I was measured and set up with a fitting day, then I was on to the next stop. My #3 brings me to a T.A.T. station. T.A.T. is a tourist help place, they are everywhere in Thailand. They help out tourist set up hotel reservations, tours, and any bookings that you may need to do that you don't want to deal with yourself. A super useful outlet. I knew that I wanted to go to Chiang Mai after the New Year but since I wasn't such a great planner before I left, I never set anything in stone. That and my friends changed their itinerary a few weeks before the trip, so originally we'd all go to Chiang Mai together, then they decided to go to Burma. Being more hassle than I wanted to deal with I stuck with flying by the seat of my pants. The T.A.T. was my booking savior. My agent Tong set me up with a sleeper train to and from, a hotel for the first night, and a 3 day 2 night trekking tour through the jungles of Northern Thailand. All this including most of my meals cost me 4500B. I didn't have to lift a finger, just told Tong what I wanted and she took care of the rest. Finished up there and was taken stop #4 and the finale of the scamdom, The Golden Mount. This is an enormous temple that to get to the top you climb somewhere around 2500 steps. It was an awesome veiw and the relics inside were amazing.
S0 after taking it all in I had to find my way back to the hotel and I had no idea where I was. I certainly wasn't going to take a tuk-tuk again, so I brought out the map (there was no use in trying to hide the fact that I was a tourist, seeing as I'm not Asian and I stuck out like a sore thumb) and attempted to figure out which direction I needed to go. Roughly 2 hours, 3 monuments, a dozen failed attempts at scams, an iced coffee, and a very hungry stomach I found my way back to the hotel.
Oh and the scammers I figured out all had the EXACT same opener "Hi! Where you from? What your name? Where you go? How long you in Thailand? You need help finding place?" It's like they have a manual which they learn only those broken English phrases. I was tempted at some point to start speaking in another language because I'm pretty sure that the only other language they knew was English.
Oh and the scammers I figured out all had the EXACT same opener "Hi! Where you from? What your name? Where you go? How long you in Thailand? You need help finding place?" It's like they have a manual which they learn only those broken English phrases. I was tempted at some point to start speaking in another language because I'm pretty sure that the only other language they knew was English.
When I got back to the hotel Mo was up. She too was hungry so we ventured out together in search of food and she wanted a massage. By now I was an expert at the area. Or 
atleast I could semi navigate my way around with the landmarks. We stopped at a street side stall/restaurant to enjoy a late lunch. We moved along in search of the Thieves Market as well as the Flower Market in Chinatown. A few turn arounds, flips of the map, and deciphering street signs, we found the Thieves Market or atleast that what we thought it was. Interesting is the least of what you could call this street market. I guess if you need something random you come here and hope that you find what you're looking for, since there's no rhyme or reason to the stalls. They were selling things like jigsaws, outdated remote controls, books, plenty of fake bags, you name it it was probably somewhere in the chaos. Here I begin adventure with trying odd foods. Starts off with ice cream, no ice cream is not unusual but this wasn't just plain ice cream. It had bits and chun
ks of, well to be honest I have no idea but it was yummy. We ate it in a cone, but there were rolls (bread) that people use instead of cones. I love bread but that seemed a tad bizarre. Next up mango, again not just any mango, an under-ripe mango that was super tart. Accompanying it was what looked like a sweet sugar, turned out to be sugar/salt/dried shrimp & chilies. I wasn't up for trying that one again. We also had a few pieces of some random dried fruit. I was done for the day on experimenting. Last thing I wanted was to get sick after only being in a place for 1 day. Our main search was to find the Flower Market, which is boasted to be best at night and an amazing sight. Well we didn't find the market. Between the 2 maps we had there wasn't a clear and concise direction. We walked, and walked and came up short. At one point we found ourselves at what looked like a highway, our only choice not to walk on to the freeway was to cross it. We were standing in a punchline- Why did the 2 American girls cross the busy road? To get to the other side. We had an audience on the other side probably taking bets on which of us wasn't going to make it. We made it safely across. Definitely a humorous event.
atleast I could semi navigate my way around with the landmarks. We stopped at a street side stall/restaurant to enjoy a late lunch. We moved along in search of the Thieves Market as well as the Flower Market in Chinatown. A few turn arounds, flips of the map, and deciphering street signs, we found the Thieves Market or atleast that what we thought it was. Interesting is the least of what you could call this street market. I guess if you need something random you come here and hope that you find what you're looking for, since there's no rhyme or reason to the stalls. They were selling things like jigsaws, outdated remote controls, books, plenty of fake bags, you name it it was probably somewhere in the chaos. Here I begin adventure with trying odd foods. Starts off with ice cream, no ice cream is not unusual but this wasn't just plain ice cream. It had bits and chun
ks of, well to be honest I have no idea but it was yummy. We ate it in a cone, but there were rolls (bread) that people use instead of cones. I love bread but that seemed a tad bizarre. Next up mango, again not just any mango, an under-ripe mango that was super tart. Accompanying it was what looked like a sweet sugar, turned out to be sugar/salt/dried shrimp & chilies. I wasn't up for trying that one again. We also had a few pieces of some random dried fruit. I was done for the day on experimenting. Last thing I wanted was to get sick after only being in a place for 1 day. Our main search was to find the Flower Market, which is boasted to be best at night and an amazing sight. Well we didn't find the market. Between the 2 maps we had there wasn't a clear and concise direction. We walked, and walked and came up short. At one point we found ourselves at what looked like a highway, our only choice not to walk on to the freeway was to cross it. We were standing in a punchline- Why did the 2 American girls cross the busy road? To get to the other side. We had an audience on the other side probably taking bets on which of us wasn't going to make it. We made it safely across. Definitely a humorous event. That was enough adventure for the day so we set off back to the hotel, to meet up with the rest of the gang that was slated to arrive later in the evening. While waiting for the arrival of our friends we went to get a fruit smoothie and foot massage next door. Sweet! After we finished up Helen & Eric had made it safely to the hotel. Perfect timing since it was dinner time and I was...imagine this...hungry again! We settled at the place next to the hotel where I had had dinner the previous night. Good food and good friends...what more could someone ask for. We finished dinner when for a short stroll to up the street, got ice cream again (Hey, I needed to satisfy my wretched sweet tooth and Eric wanted it too), and then called it a night. What a long day!
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