Bangkok, day 2 or is it 3
I have no idea what day it is, or how long I have been here. It all sort of blurred together.
Yonis (my newfound travel partner from Amsterdam)and I are headed to Chiang Mai (in the North) at 7pm this evening. I'm staying at a hell of a nice hotel called the Chiang Mai Plaza Hotel cuz I'm a little bitch and want to be alone for a change, and Yonis is staying at some little guesthouse which is going to be hot as a fucking torch, but it's OK...he's on a budget cuz it's month number SEVEN of travelling around the globe for him.
I have had a good time with Yonis, and it's funny because for such a short time we have been thru quite a bit together.
We fell victim to an extremely well-orchestrated scheme involving 6 different people all seemingly separate--but when we began to put the pieces together like a David Mamet movie--we realized we fell prey to an amazingly contrived con.
This was many levels above the gem-shop scheme which you pretty much have to be drunk or high to fall for.
Luckily we prob only lost about 300 dollars US, on the whole thing, but anyone who believes you can't get taken in Bangkok unless you're a completely hapless idiot--be forewarned--almost anyone can be had while in the right state of mind. That was something interesting to learn that I didn't know.
I was impressed with the scheme which I will describe in great detail in a later entry. It ran like a well-oiled machine. It makes me almost smile to think of that first guy (the "student"). Jesus, was he good.
The rule in Bangkok is this: read the scams section of the Lonely Planet Thailand (Bangkok section) very thoroughly, if you are going to come here, and adhere to it. If so, you will be fine. If not, well....you could learn a little something about human nature.
Be particulary suspicious around the wats like Wat Pho, and Grand Palace and that general area along the river. The laughingboys REALLY like to hang out around there, telling people that this is closed and that is closed when it really isn't most of the time. This sets up part 1 of the scam.
If you REALLY get to a point where they won't let you in someplace and firmly insist that it is closed (because most of the time you can just ignore and walk past them...pretend that you don't understand), you might want to just leave that area and come back the next day (but EARLIER)...just my suggestion.
Anyway, no need to worry too much about that kind of stuff, really....but reading that SCAMS section TWICE over will arm you just fine, and you will almost certainly not get involved in anything like I did.
SO, in a few hours, I am taking a 2nd class train to Chiang Mai which is a pretty cool way to do, there's a sleeper bed and everything.
I will then go to Sukhottai to see the ruins, and THEN I'll go to Ko Samet and prob. go island hopping for the rest of the time.
Jesus, is travelling enlightning. Again... sometimes more than I would really like.
But I guess that I ask for it...somehow or another, I seem to really get INTO the places that I visit in more than a surfacy kind of way.
That's the way we like it.
Yonis (my newfound travel partner from Amsterdam)and I are headed to Chiang Mai (in the North) at 7pm this evening. I'm staying at a hell of a nice hotel called the Chiang Mai Plaza Hotel cuz I'm a little bitch and want to be alone for a change, and Yonis is staying at some little guesthouse which is going to be hot as a fucking torch, but it's OK...he's on a budget cuz it's month number SEVEN of travelling around the globe for him.
I have had a good time with Yonis, and it's funny because for such a short time we have been thru quite a bit together.
We fell victim to an extremely well-orchestrated scheme involving 6 different people all seemingly separate--but when we began to put the pieces together like a David Mamet movie--we realized we fell prey to an amazingly contrived con.
This was many levels above the gem-shop scheme which you pretty much have to be drunk or high to fall for.
Luckily we prob only lost about 300 dollars US, on the whole thing, but anyone who believes you can't get taken in Bangkok unless you're a completely hapless idiot--be forewarned--almost anyone can be had while in the right state of mind. That was something interesting to learn that I didn't know.
I was impressed with the scheme which I will describe in great detail in a later entry. It ran like a well-oiled machine. It makes me almost smile to think of that first guy (the "student"). Jesus, was he good.
The rule in Bangkok is this: read the scams section of the Lonely Planet Thailand (Bangkok section) very thoroughly, if you are going to come here, and adhere to it. If so, you will be fine. If not, well....you could learn a little something about human nature.
Be particulary suspicious around the wats like Wat Pho, and Grand Palace and that general area along the river. The laughingboys REALLY like to hang out around there, telling people that this is closed and that is closed when it really isn't most of the time. This sets up part 1 of the scam.
If you REALLY get to a point where they won't let you in someplace and firmly insist that it is closed (because most of the time you can just ignore and walk past them...pretend that you don't understand), you might want to just leave that area and come back the next day (but EARLIER)...just my suggestion.
Anyway, no need to worry too much about that kind of stuff, really....but reading that SCAMS section TWICE over will arm you just fine, and you will almost certainly not get involved in anything like I did.
SO, in a few hours, I am taking a 2nd class train to Chiang Mai which is a pretty cool way to do, there's a sleeper bed and everything.
I will then go to Sukhottai to see the ruins, and THEN I'll go to Ko Samet and prob. go island hopping for the rest of the time.
Jesus, is travelling enlightning. Again... sometimes more than I would really like.
But I guess that I ask for it...somehow or another, I seem to really get INTO the places that I visit in more than a surfacy kind of way.
That's the way we like it.