Took by a Tuk-Tuk

October 17th--Today was our day to get out and do the major things that Bangkok has to offer. We left the apartment and caught a taxi to take us to Central Pier. Either the taxi driver didn't know where Central Pier was or he didn't understand us because he didn't drop us off at the pier. It is so hot and humid in Bangkok right now that when we get lost, it is hard to concentrate on how to get to where we need to go. Luckily though, the taxi didn't drop us off very far from the pier. Our plan was to see Bangkok's Riverside sites. So, we started by hopping on the Chao Phraya Tourist Boat that makes many stops along the river. As we approached our stop, on the left, we saw the Wat Arun, The Temple of Dawn. It was a beautiful temple to see from the river. We got of at Tha Tien to go visit Wat Po. We made the short walk to Wat Po, but not without having our smellers seriously tested. I'm pretty sure I've never smelt anything worse than walking through the market filled with fishy stuff. I say fishy stuff because I don't know what all the stuff was...I didn't stop long enough. But, we quickly escaped the smell and were standing at the Wat Po. Wat in Thai means Temple. The Wat Po is also known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. We pretty much went straight to see this enormous Buddha measuring more than 140 feet long. The statue is brick, covered with layers of plaster and gold leaf. The feet are inlaid with mother of pearl. From the Wat Po, we started our walk to the Grand Palace which was only a block away (although a very long block). However, it was a very hot and humid walk to say the least. When we arrived at one of the entrances to the Grand Palace that was for Thai citizens only, we were greeted by a guy that clearly looked like he worked at the palace. He informed us that the palace was only open from 2-4 today and it was about 11:30 at this time. I immediately walked away to stand in the shade to try to comprehend all of this while Mike spoke with this guy. Mike then came over to me and showed me on a map a couple of other temples we could visit until the Grand Palace opened. The guy had a tuk tuk driver waiting to take us to these places and then bring us back. We were told it would only be 20 Bhat (less than $1) for all of this, and we didn't have to pay until we arrived back at the Grand Palace. So, we thought why not...and we climbed into the tuk tuk. The first thing out of Mike's mouth was "I feel like this is a scam, but can't figure out how yet." We were first taken to Wat Intrarawiharn. This is a temple with a giant Buddha standing over 100 feet tall. The lady driver told us to take our time and that she would be waiting for us. Before going inside the temple, we got some drinks and chips to tide us over since it was lunch time. When we got out of the Wat Intrarawiharn, the tuk tuk driver was waiting for us. We climbed into tuk tuk and she told us that she had to go to the toilet. Behind the tuk tuk was a man sitting at a table. He started talking to us...asking us where we were from, etc. He quickly informed us that it was National Gas Holiday today and that tuk tuk rides are so cheap because they get free gas. I was the only one talking to this man at this point, asking him all kinds of questions. As we pulled away, Mike said "Now I remember what the scam is and it's this thing with the free gas." The driver pulled a couple of blocks away before pulling over and telling us she was going to take us shopping. She was telling us all kinds of stuff like "I get free gas" and "just for 5 minutes". When we told her to take us to the Golden Mount Temple (which is where we were told she would take us ), she told us it didn't open until 1:00 and it was 12:30. Mike kept saying "No, no shopping. Two kids, no shopping." She started driving again, very frustrated and talking on her cell phone. She only drove a couple of more blocks before pulling over at a temple and saying "Golden Mount. I'll wait for you here." When we got out of the tuk tuk, we immediately knew we weren't at the Golden Mount and turned around to see our tuk tuk driver speed off. We walked around for a minute just trying to figure out where we were before finally finding a group of Police officers. They were able to point out on our map where we were. Luckily we were not too far from the Grand Palace, so we stood at the curb to hail a cab. Once inside the cab, we came to the conclusion that the Grand Palace was probably open and was never closed today. When we arrived back at the Grand Palace, it was as open as it could be. We were a little angry that at this point in our travels we fell for this scam, but at the end of the day, we got to ride in a tuk tuk for free, see another Wat and we didn't fall for the shopping scam. What they do around here is get you in their tuk tuks, drive you around for a while to see a couple of temples before taking you to a shopping area that is outside of town. The driver goes into the shop to get their gas card and then leaves you at the area. Unfortunately, I'm sure a lot of tourist fall for it. Anyway, back at the Grand Palace...we get our tickets to enter and go inside. The Grand Palace houses not only the royal residence and throne halls, but also a number of government offices. We were first directed to the Wat Phra Kaew, Temple of the Emerald Buddha. It was spectacular to go inside this temple and see a beautiful emerald Buddha way up top. It was definitely not the size of the Buddha's we had seen in the past, but was impressive nonetheless by it's color. This temple is one of the most revered by Thai people. We left the temple cloisters and moved into the grounds of the Grand Palace. If it weren't for the golden rooftops, we would think we were in Italy. The buildings have a Western look to them with columns. We stopped off for some ice cream before exiting the Grand Palace. We hailed a taxi and got in. The taxi driver was trying to charge us 200 Baht and Mike just kept saying "Meter" until finally he started the meter. Halfway through our taxi ride back to the apartment, Mike asked to see the map. At this point, we felt like everyone was out to scam us so he wanted to make sure that we weren't going in circles, but the driver took us directly to the apartment and it cost us much less than 200 Baht. When we got back to the apartment, we went swimming and then ate dinner again poolside. Even though we got scammed (which in the end makes for a good story), we had a great day in Bangkok.