My aim was to get to the river and turn right and I wandered around until I got to a junction where a tuk tuk driver accosted me and started to unfold his plan to take over my life, circling all the places we would go on my map. I managed to extricate myself and sought a bit of peace in a nearby temple, Wat Pathumkhongkha Ratchaworawiharn - my first Wat and described as a second class one. Being completely naive, I was amazed at the size of the complex which must have had housing for hundreds of monks. It was midday and had a very sleepy feel to it in the heat. Walking through the grounds, there was a view of the river I had been seeking.
Coming out of the temple I headed up the road, keeping the river to my left. Eventually, I came to a pier where the boat buses stop. It had a lady selling tickets and I got a ticket for the incredibly reasonable 15 Bart (around 30p). I later discovered this was a flat fare, at least for all the stops I wanted and it is the bargain of the century.
The river buses are good fun with lots of animation. At the stops, the guy at the stern communicates with the driver at the front with a series of whistles and the lady with the tickets comes round rattling her tin. Overcrowding knows no bounds but at least everyone gets to where they want to go. This is the public bus. There is also a tourist bus that makes fewer stops and costs the massive sum of 40 bart (about 80p).
I got off at the stop for the Grand Palace and made my way to the entrance to find out 'the deal'. There is a continuous message played over loud speakers to try and save tourists from the clutches of touts and scammers. The problem is that there are several entrances, open but not to the public and guarded by a soldier. If you go to one of these, there is a fair chance that an official looking person will come up and offer to sort you out. Which, apparently they do but not in the manner you would have preferred. You get told the castle is closed and taken on some elaborate tour of people selling gems etc.
Anyway, I avoided that, went to the main entrance and walked down the long drive to where tickets are sold. This affords some views of thee main (ticketed) complex and is worth a visit in itself.
By now, it was 2.00 p.m and as the castle closes at 4.00, I thought I'd wait another day before lashing out my 500 bart on a ticket. Instead I went to the next door Wat Pho which stayed open rather later and is also on the tourist hit list.
What a good move. It was a really interesting place and I was there almost three hours. The focus of it is the reclining Buddha, an absolutely monumental Buddha in the pose suggested by the name but some 30 metres in length. I went round twice to try and take in as much as I could.
After Wat Pho, I headed back to the hotel with a combination of water bus to the Central pier, skytrain and MTR. I got back around 7.00 and had a welcome shower and change before heading out to eat at about 8.30. I decided to go to a no-frills restaurant near last night's Front Page. Called North East, they cook outside and so it seemed like a sort of street food/restaurant compromise. I walked in, only to be greeted by my new found friends from the night before who kindly invited me to join them and share what they'd ordered (which proved more than enough for us all). It turned out that we had a lot in common, including sailing, Alicante and London. They (Steve and I'm terrible with names) were off to Phuket for a week on Sunday and we said our cheerios assuming we were not going again to bump into each other the next day. (We didn't)
On my way back to the hotel, I threw in a small diversion to check out the Vertigo bar in the Banyan Tree Hotel (where Steve and ITWN) were staying. The hotel is super lux and made my luxury feel like a hostel. The bar on on the 61st floor and affords incredible views of the Bangkok skyline. It was pretty rammed when I got there and I didn't stay that long before heading back to my now homely billet for a good might's sleep.
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