Bangkok: Day 2 [Birthday of Si]

Happy Birthday to Si! The day didn’t start too well. We decided to get the sky train as recommended by our rep to the IT Plaza to try to find a filter and lens hood for my camera. On stepping out of the hotel we were approached by a nice local asking where we were headed. He told us the plaza wasn’t open until later as today was the King’s birthday, and because of this there was a 30% sale on jewellery and Thai silk at a nearby market [bollocks]. Scamming bastard even had a tuk tuk lined up, so we made our excuses and crossed the road, only for another local claiming to be a teacher to give us the same story, with the same tuk tuk driver lined up ahead of us. We went back to the hotel, followed and hounded the whole way by the tuk tuk driver. It’s hard not to get angry when you have these arseholes blatantly trying to scam you. We asked at the hotel and they had lied to us, the plaza was open and the doormen called us a cab and let us know how much we should pay.

We took the taxi to Panthip Plaza - 5 floors of technology heaven - laptops, tv’s cameras and of course, you guessed it - pussy! We passed on the pussy and had chicken rice instead - I bought a polarising filter & lens hood for my camera and we headed back to the hotel for a sleep and a swim.

We went back to the Mango Tree for dinner and had tom yum soup, green curry and shrimp paste fried rice. We didn’t stay out long. The night market is a bit same same, and we decided to put off most of our buying until we get to Phuket - it’s too much hassle here and the bartering is too much effort. From paying 125 THB [£2] for a T-Shirt at one stall to being asked for 750 THB [over £12] at the next - for a rip off that is pretty wank material and will only shrink in it’s first wash. Ah well, tomorrow we arrive at the Chedi and hit the beach :]

After watching the first episode of season 4 24, we couldn’t sleep and ended up in the 24 hour bar at 4am, eating won ton soup and pad thai. Still on UK time!