BIG BUDDAH

Bangkok is all about the Buddha, the people and the food. We started off going to visit the Grand Palace when we were immediately struck by the heat and humidity along with the smells and the food vendors scurrying about setting up for the day. Of course we had no idea where we were going but with Carin and her guide book in tow and no knowledge of the language we were ready. It wasn't long before a little, elderly Thai woman saw us staring at the map and offered to help with directions . The exchange went something like this. "where you going, see Big Buddha? We told her we wanted to go to the Grand Palace and she replied, "Palace closed 1:30pm Queens birthday (pointing north on the map), see big Buddha". After 10 minutes of her trying to persuade us (which Mike bought into hook, line and sinker) to see Big Buddha we remembered reading about the numerous scammers and tallied on until we ran into "Ar-may". I am Ar-may, you know Ar-may, (pointing to his uniform), where are you going?" and also wanted us to see Big Buddha. Eventually we realized his name was not Ar-may but he was in the army therefore we should believe him. Scammer! We did find the Palace which was open all day. Scamming is an absolute art form here and very well polished. Needless to say we did not see Big Buddha but were amazed by the Emerald Buddha, The Feathered Buddha and the tremendous Reclining Buddha.The rest of the day was spent sampling the street foods and trying to cross the streets with out getting run over. Aside from our "new friends", the people are kind, helpful and very smiley. We leave Bangkok tonight for Ko Samui.