Monday, February 4, 2011
Our plane descended through a thick haze into Bangkok about 10:30 in the morning. The Thai's claim the haze is water vapor, but it looked and smelled more like LA Smog. We were greeted by our pickup driver from Destination Asia Shuttle Company with a templed prayer hands, head bow, and big smile. The car was plush and new. It took us about 40 minutes to reach our hotel located in the heart of the city connected to the MBK shopping Mall. We were greeted by another Destination Asia tour representative who confirmed with us the two day tours we had booked that would take us out of the city to the floating market, Tiger Temple and bridge of the River Kwai.
Our representative also warned us off of opportunists who would appear friendly and encourage us to go shopping at the Thai Local Product Markets in a TukTuk (three wheeled, small open air taxi), Apparently lots of shoppers get ripped off by being charged too much for the taxi or the markets to which tourists are transported. We appreciated her tips and raising our awareness as we were approached within just a few minutes of stepping into the shopping mall.
After organizing ourselves and freshening up, we decided to venture out a bit, check out the sky train, and browse through the shopping mall and look for the Siam Square. I had called a former student of mine, Dylan Schnieder, (5th and 6th grade) who is currently living in Bangkok, and made arrangements to meet him for dinner the following evening. In the meantime, he suggested we check out the Jim Thompson House and the Siam Square.
Our first stop was to a bank to exchange some dollars. The rate here is $1.00 = 30 Bahts. Shortly after our departure, a young woman struck up a conversation with me. She commented on my clothing, and asked how long we had been in Bangkok? A few hours we said. "Has anyone told you a out the grand opening and celebration of the trade center? " she asked. "Too bad, today is the last day. Try to get there if you can? Where are you staying?" Even though I was becoming suspicious at this point with regard to her last question, I pointed down the mall and said, "just here". "You can catch a tuk tuk outside' the center is not far from here." We thanked her and extracted ourselves, thinking we had not really given her much information and she wasn't pushy.
Russ and I continued down the mall. Within two minutes a middle aged man walking toward us waved to us and said, "Hello, I recognize you from the Princess hotel. I work there. perhaps you don't recognize me as I am not wearing my uniform and am off duty. Are you enjoying your stay in Thailand?" "Yes, but we just got here, so we haven't seen anything yet," We replied. Our antennae are not yet working,
"Just be careful as you walk through the crowded markets, and watch out for pick pockets. My father was a policeman, so I would hear daily about tourists losing their wallets." We thanked him for his advice. "i am waiting for my wife," he offered. "She is getting her hair done. We just got back from the celebration at the trade center." Out pops the antennae. Two people in three minutes tell us a out this trade center. "Thanks," we say. Russ whips out his map, "Show us on the map where it is and we'll go tomorrow."
The man circles this place on the map and writes something in Thai. (probably.."these guys are ripe for the picking.") After he was finished writing, he says, " But you should go now, the celebration is over in 2 hours." Show this to a TukTuk driver outside and he can take you." We thanked him for the information, and he said goodbye and strolled away from us in the same direction in which he had come which struck me as odd, since he had been coming toward us originally.
Now, had we taken the bait and changed our direction to the doors and the TukTuk drivers, we would not have seen him turn around with his cell phone to his ear observing what we were doing. He was most likely describing his pigeons to a particular tuktuk driver. When he saw us looking at him and following him, he pocketed the cell phone and pushed off into the crowd of shoppers.
All of this happened with in the course of five minutes. It wasn't until later that we started to connect the dots and realized that the woman set us up for the sell job and contacted her partner telling him what hotel we were staying in, the man "hotel worker" did his best toto gain our confidence and sell us a tuktuk ride. Most likely a specific tuktuk driver was most likely waiting for us outside. Perhaps, the duo inside were the fronts for all the Tuktuks. It was quite a good little scheme, but it didn't work on us.
We enjoyed an afternoon of exploring the local malls and the Siam Square which is a set of malls that houses medium to upscale designer products and boutiques. There are no trade restrictions here and the food court had all sorts of American Franchise restaurants. Having had fish and rice for breakfast and nothing for lunch, we were hungry and ready for our own culturally comfortable food. The Sizzler salad bar looked good. After stuffing ourselves, we returned to our room and went to bed early for a day of exploration on Tuesday.
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