Gypsies Tramps and Theives

Today we decided to go to Wat Po, and see the giant sleeping Buddha. It is an enormous Buddha which is lying on his side; after attaining enlightenment. This is also the site of the Wat Po Massage School, where they do Thai Massage.

The day began with a fun little sentence: Chao Fard Pad Fuk, Yen Fard Fuk Pad. This translates to something about eating squash noodles in the morning and evening. Our hostel has a fun little contest where if you can say this sentence in 4 seconds, you win a free night's stay in the dorm room (or in our case a discount on our private room).

Tuk Tuk. For those of you that may be familiar with them, let the eye rolling commence. Tuk Tuks are basically large motorized scooter carriers. They are open-aired, and generally you can get a really cheap deal with them, but at a "price". Tuk Tuk drivers are aggressive, and basically they will stalk you while you walk, trying to get your business. We got a driver this day who waited for us to have breakfast, and then swapped drivers on us, only to have the new driver cut us a cheap deal, with "fine print". This is the scam/deal they make. They offer you a cheap price, but you have to help them get gas tokens. That basically means that they take you to specific shops, you look around, but aren't obligated to purchase anything. They have deals with sponsors, and it helps bring business to these places. Our tour took us to mostly tailors shops and one jewelry shop. It was laborious and after the agreed upon 5 stores, he tried to offer us to ride for free if we went to just one more. We were over it, and so we said no, to just take us to Wat Po.

Wat Po was amazing, to say the least! Wat Phra Chetuphon, or "Wat Po", is well known as the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, as well as being Thailand's first “open” University.

This is where you go to get training to do Thai massage. They also offer Thai massage, which we got, with herbs, for about 20 bucks. While it is more costly here than in the area of our hostel, I felt okay about paying that price, since it was going to the school.

We took a few hours here at the temple, exploring each and every room we could find, and making sure we saw as much of everything as possible.

After leaving the Temple grounds we walked here, to Khao San Road. On the way we encounters some scammer gypsies. It was NOT a fun or pleasant experience, however, we quickly learned from it, and will be better of in the long run because of it.

We were on a search for our trekking/diving company host, to book our trekking and diving excursion coming up this next week. We made it to our destination; hot, sweaty, exhausted, and a little (a lot) jostled by the gypsies. 

After doing the dealing with the friendly people at Buddha view trekking company, we went for some food, which we both needed.

After we ate, we hopped in a taxi for home (hostel), and I basically passed out after my shower. What a day.

Until the next post-

xoxo