monday, monday, monday

[9-22-08]

Today was a very interesting experience. Boss 2 and I went to the Grand Palace. To get there we took a taxi (which if every in thailand make sure to take a metered taxi, otherwise you will have to negotiate the price once you get there) As soon as we stepped out of the taxi we were re-directed to, what seemed to be the entrance. well, as it turned out it wasn't. We were then told that the palace was closed for lunch [which i found suspect but boss 2 went with it] and the man we were talking to told us that it would be a good idea to take a tuk tuk ride to the giant buddha statue, which seemed like a good idea. Half way into our adventure, and after the second store that we didn't want to stop at, I mentioned that I didn't believe that the palace was actually closed and my boss agreed. So, when our driver mentioned stopping at yet another store we asked him to just take us to back to the palace, but he didn't really like this idea. He turned around and informed us that if we went into 3 more stores for a minute he would get gas money. [i believe he only told us about the scam because i saw him getting money from the guy at the second store] Instead of being side tracked from our original adventure any further we decided to just offer him 100 extra bot to just take us back. [the ride was supposed to only cost 20 baht, but he ended up getting 120 baht instead] Once we were back at the palace it really sunk in that we had been, literally and figuratively, taken for a ride. But all in all we only spent an extra $3.50 or something close to that, so it really didn't affect us very much and probably helped the tuk tuk driver eat that night. Either way we got to the palace and took a lot of pictures [to be posted soon] and to night....the ping pong show. [i'm slightly concerned with what i might be getting in to]