Royal Palace and Salesmen

Renzo and I both woke up early. I went off to use the internet, while he had breakfast and read the paper. We reconvened two hours later.We took the ferry to the Royal Palace.

Renzo was at the Palace five months ago, but his camera and memory cards were stolen in Vietnam. So he wanted to return with his new camera and take pictures again. I was interested in seeing the palace, too. It looks magnificent and exotic.

We walked around and took pictures–typical tourist stuff. Nothing much to say here. The palace is covered in gold and precious stones. The big draw was the emerald buddha statue. It sat atop a delicate gold structure inside the main temple. It was the most magnificent church alter I’ve ever seen. No pictures were allowed in there, unfortunately. You’ll have to just come see it for yourself

Renzo figured me out. As we were walking around, he stopped and asked me, “Are you really from Los Angeles?”

“No. Wisconsin,” I said.

He exclaimed, “Ah! That explains it. When you talk, it sounds like wah-wah-wah!”

On our way back to the hostel, we stopped to look at a statue near the bus stop.  A Thai man approached us and said, “it is hot today.”

I said, “Yes. It is.”

Renzo stormed toward the man and shouted, “get away from us!”

The Thai guy looked at me and said, “What happened?”

I shrugged my shoulders. He looked at Renzo and shouted, “stupid!”

I started walking away. I guess Renzo is jaded from pushy salesmen. I don’t know if that man was a salesman, but I did have a few encounters with some later that day.

I took time to explore my neighborhood, Banglamphu, in the afternoon. Little did I know, I would be greeted by three men. Each one approached me in the same manner and carried the same dialogue with me.  I met them at various times and places within the afternoon.

Our dialogue went like this:

“Hi. Where are you going?”

“Kao Sahn Road.”

“Ok. It’s over that way.”

“Thanks.”

“How long you been here?”

“One day.”

“Ah. How long will you stay here?”

“‘A few days.”

“Where are you going next?”

“Chiang Mai.”

“Ah. How will you get there? Bus or train?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you have a ticket yet?”

“No.”

“Ok. I can show you where you can get a ticket. Follow me.”

“No. Thank you. I have to go now and meet a friend.”

That happened to me three times! They are sly salesmen for sure. It’s unfortunate. I must turn down conversation with Thai people on the sidewalk. Oh well.

I contacted two people I know of in Bangkok. Maybe I’ll get to hang out with one or both of them before I leave.