We’ve seen countless shows about how many scams there are in Bangkok. It’s true! Although it is an intriguing city, there are certainly some things to be wary of. The scam we encountered was at The Grand Palace. Note – The Grand Palace is open every day!
WARNING: Do not trust wily strangers!
At the first entrance we encountered “wily strangers” who told us the temple was closed for the morning due to monks being on the premises. Only, we’d just seen a whole tour bus of tourists let in! He said women weren’t allowed in at that time because it was too distracting to their prayer. The official-looking man tried to get us into a Tuk Tuk for other sight seeing. We didn’t go with it.
At the second entrance we encountered the same thing, only the story was slightly different, same Tuk Tuk scam though. Again, we didn’t go with it. Unfortunately there was no avoiding them and just walking through the entrance anyway as they are quite forceful and have great scam technique. Luckily, at the third entrance we finally got into the Temple. It really was a waste of time just trying to get into the Palace.
Phra Sumen Fort
We stayed near Phra Sumen Fort which gave us the opportunity to explore on foot. We were able to visit the impressive Buddhist temples of Wat Pho, Wat Saket, and Wat Arun. While we were there Songkran festival, Buddhist New Year in Thailand, was taking place.
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From what we learned, there are several things to do as a Buddhist during Songkran festival. Washing Buddha, and pressing gold leaf on to Him asks for forgiveness and fortune in the coming year. Making sand “castles” in the temple also returns all of the dust carried out from the temple on the soles of the feet during the year. There were offerings of colourful fabric, money and bells as well.
For a first look at Buddhist temples and practices, Bangkok was a great start.
No, I’m not going to bust out the lyrics to the song, I’m gonna talk about money! Little known fact: I like collecting currency when we’re on vacation. Not so much the bills, but the coins. This isn’t about amassing a foreign fortune, but it does work well with the photo projects when we return home.
Obviously, I have to do a little pre-trip research before we leave to make sure I know what I’m after. The best part is in Vietnam I will be collecting DONG! Giggle away my little minions; that’s funny as hell!The exchange rate is approximately 20,000 Vietnamese Dong to $1US. I think it’ll be crazy to be paying for items with 50,000₫ notes. (That’s only about $2.50.) Also try wrapping your head around being able to take out a maximum of 2,000,000₫ from a bank machine. Apparently, that’s the machine limit. (That’s about $95!)
The least valued currency for exchange alternated between the Zimbabwean Dollar and the Vietnamese Dong for a while. Now the least valued currency is that of Somalia with the Vietnamese Dong running 2nd. Thanks VietnamWiki for the photo.
The Cambodian Riel is approximately 4010៛ to $1US. Unlucky for me the coins are rarely used. That could be a bit of a struggle collecting them. The Thai Baht is about 30฿ to $1US. Gotta love travelling with exchange rates like that. It definitely helps the bank account!
FYI: All of this learning, and now I know a lot of currencies are actually descendants of the Spanish Pieces of 8. How very Piratey! Arrrr!
So, the UNESCO World Heritage Site tally is up to 16. If everything hadn’t gone wrong with air fare to Chan Chan in Peru, we’d have seen that too. Yellowstone National Park was the last UNESCO site visited. If all goes according to plan we’ll add at least 5 more on our next trip.
I’m uber excited for Vietnam, mostly for the over night stay in Ha Long Bay, and for the trip through the floating markets on the Mekong River. Ooo, and the architecture and history in Ho Chi Minh City. And for all the photo potential! Gotta love being a nerdy traveler.
Adventures of a couple seeing the world 2 weeks at a time.
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