Today I had some free time to explore on my own. I ended up exploring a firehouse and crawling into an attic, and meeting a few Thai people. They are extremely helpful. They will tell you where to go to get the closest razor, and what time a given museum closes. They will also cheat you, if you aren't savvy enough (we ended up getting dragged around the city the first day here).
I noticed that taxis around big hotels start at a few hundred baht, while taxis else where are in the ten digits. Even Tug-Tugs will look you up and down before offering a price. Usually in the morning/afternoon, if you are in a non-hotel area you can catch a tug-tug for 20/15baht per hour. After going to your first destination (if not before) they will take you to 'their sponsors' where they will expect you to buy a suit, tie, dress shirt, ring, or other piece of jewelry. If you are lucky, they will take you to a TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand) shop where they will help you plan your trip and offer you free water. Towards the end of our time messing around with Tug-Tugs we would relax and throw out extravagant hypothetical situations while sipping on free water provided by the agents.
Tug-Tugs are a thing of the past, now that we are on day 3. We would just as soon walk 10 blocks before snatching up a Tug-Tug and driving in circles until they decide which sponsor to bring us to.
Anyways, the people here are kind, if you know the way the game is rigged. They will give you directions to the most isolated places with hopes that on the off chance you will chose them in your next journey.
Too much to write about!
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2 remarks:
Jon,
what's a Tug-Tug? How long will you be in Thailand? Then, what/where will you meet Eric?
tug-tug is like a rickshaw, or motorbike with space for two people in the back.
I will be in Thailand until June 21st then I will be going up to Beijing to meet Eric on the 25th.
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