Day 4 in Thailand .... the remainder of the sight seeing
Well .... after wasting yesterday recovering from too much beer .... today we decied to try a bit more sight seeing! Instead of falling for the old tuk-tuk scam [i show you all sights in 1 hour for 10 baht (about 20c) and see nothing but jewellers and tailor shops] we decidedd to try it on our own this time!!
So .. out of the hostel we went and flagged down a meter taxi!! In we get ... ask for the grand palace .... and the taxt driver looks blankly at us .... we repeat "Grand Palace" thinking he has to know the Kings Palace and still .. no response ... he hadnt a word of English !! So out with the Lonely Planet guide .. and the map ... of central Bangkok ... and a big "square marked" monument ... we thought at least if he brings us here we'll see something.
He gets back in all smiles and says ... "ahhh ... grand palace" and off we go!! Seemingly this is common enough for taxi drivers in Thailand .... they really don't know the city that well .... and i think we got a complete newbie!!!
Out we get at the grand palace .... and in we go ... buy tickets and get in the queue to enter only for me to be turned away by a gaurd for wearing 3/4 length trousers! Seemingly its an insult or tradition or something in the grand palace not to show too much of your legs .
After walking around that for about 3 hours in the mid-day heat ... we decided to get something to eat ... and in we go to Royal Thai Navy Club 77 .. or something like that ... and i had to try another Thai dish ... noodles with chicken mushroom and gravy!! It really was quite nice! Hit the spot at that time anyway!
So .. we get out of that and head further a field .. after being saturated with gold previously and then "fed and watered" .
Having done as much sightseeing as we wanted ... in we get to another taxi and head for the hostel .... again out with the Lonely Planet book ... point out where we are going and the taxi driver seems to know where he is going! Off we go ... get to the road our hostel is on but its 1-way ... so we go round to the next 1 to come back down the 1-way street the right way! Well .. thats what we thought ... we end up in a dead end at what looked like some stately residence ..... the taxi driver AGAIN ... stops for directions and askes the security on the gates!! Seemingly we were just round the corner from our hostel ... so we pay the taxi .. out we get and walk round the corner to our hostel!
Having spent the day almost lost entirely in taxi's ... we rested for a while in the hostel and headed down to Koh Shan Road again for a few beers ... home early and off to bed! A quiet day overall i thought!
We got a twin room with fan and access to a shared bathroom for 250 BAHT per night. The rooms are all part of a timber building that is very 'airy' and breathable which makes it cool in teh hot day and warm during the night.
The rooms were very clean and come with some hanging space and drawers. The rooms are quite a good size. The room we stayed in looked out into a resdential area so was very quiet at all times of the day. The shared bathrooms were individual shower (cold water only) cubicles and then seperate toilet cubicales. The guest house was run by a very pleasant old man and woman with limited but enough basic english. The hostel offered laundry services and had a beautiful common area on the ground floor. They also had a small selection of beers and water and there was access to a public phone as well.
Overall, highly recommended for anyone on a strict budget, a nice quiet location and clean pleasant rooms and shower facilities.
