Tuk-tuks, Temples and Touts

While visiting places in Bangkok on your own is guaranteed to give you the due excitement and joy, it also comes with added risk of being an easy prey to touts and gem scams. An over-friendly local, tuk-tuk driver or boat driver offering you a cheap tour should be enough to sound an alarm that something is wrong.

There are several ways by which travelers are cheated. Thanks to some prior reading on internet, we saved ourselves from two such traps on the day of visiting temples.

Cheap tuk-tuk ride:

We wanted to take tuk-tuk from near by location of our hotel to Wat Benchamabophit. A tuk-tuk driver quoted THB 100 and then came to 60 after some bargaining. Once we got ourselves into the tuk-tuk he told-us that he will take only THB 20 but we need to visit some gem store. This will earn him gasoline coupon as commission for bringing tourists to the store. He instantly disagreed to take us to the temple even in THB 60 when we told him that we are not interested in buying gems and would not go with him. Had we agreed, we would have ended up losing our precious time and money by buying some counterfeit gems.

Closed temple and cheap tour:

While finding our way to Wat Po from The Grand Palace we were directed towards an entrance by a person when asked for the way. On approaching the gate, another one encountered us and told that Wat Po is closed today because of school tours and only students are allowed to visit the temple today. We got it confirmed by observing a bunch of children in school uniform moving inside the premises.


That person with black pants and white shirt and with clear English accent successfully made us perceive that he might be a temple representative. Then he asked us which temple did we visit. He saw map in my hand and requested to open it. Highlighting couple of another temples he recommended us to visit them and also insisted us to visit a gem-store. He called a passing by tuk-tuk and told that the entire trip will cost us only THB 40.


Unwilling to leave the place in haste and that too without visiting near by Wat Arun we thanked him and walked away believing that Wat Po is closed. Hardly a minuite of walk and a lightning fast thought struck in my mind and I started moving towards the entrance again. I wanted to confirm from the temple security as I just recollected a travel tip from TripAdvisor.com that this is one of the modus operandi of Bangkok's (in)famous gem-scams.


He confronted me again but I ignored and reached entrance security. And well, it proved right. The entrance was not of The Wat Po and the same was next to the current premises, wide open for anyone willing to visit and indulge in the charm of the The Reclining Buddha.


Thanks to my mind for subconsciously recollecting some knowledge I gained by reading TripAdvisor.com and of course thanks to TripAdvisor.com's forums and reviews we saved ourselves from big trouble. 


Just for completeness a few words on what happens when you get trapped...


The tuk-tuk first takes you to some unknown remote place where a bunch of sales-people bully you to buy costly but counterfeit gems. You some how come out of the place just to realize that the tuk-tuk has deserted you after taking his gasoline credit/commission.

Day 6: A day devoted to temples

25th November. Bangkok is an easy overdose of temples(Wats), exhibiting marvelous architecture and serene environment. Choosing a handful of them to visit was not an easy feat. Finally we concluded on the following considering different aspects they offer...

• Wat Benchamabophit
• Wat Phra Kaew & the Grand Palace
• Wat Pho
• Wat Arun

Wat Benchamabophit (Marble Temple):

Wat Benchamabophit

The temple's name means the Temple of the fifth King located nearby Dusit Palace but is popularly known as the Marble Temple as it is made with Italian marble. Usually free from flock of tourists this is one of the finest monuments upholding the beauty of Thai craftsmanship.

The temple hosts a bronze sculpture of Buddha with blue lighting around it. The temple compound has a canal crisscrossing it and the surrounding provides soothing and calm environment in the middle of the bustling Bangkok. 


This gave us a nice start to get acquainted to the temples of Bangkok city.

Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha) and The Grand Palace:

Wat Phra Kaew Premises

The next to visit was the Grand Palace complex also housing Wat Phra Kaew. If you were to visit only one place in Bangkok then it must be The Grand Palace. Located near the banks of Chao Pharaya river, it is regarded as the most sacred temple of Thailand.


The temple complex is quite vast, consists of several brightly colored buildings, golden spires and glittering mosaics. A map given with ticket severs as guide to the temple complex covering all major points of interest.

Phra Si Ratana Chedi
(Sri Lankan style stupa housing ashes of Buddha)

A model of Angkor Wat
(The most sacred Cambodian shrine)

God gets the very best of taste

The temple houses a small (about 2 feet) dark green statue of Buddha carved from a single jade/jasper stone located on an elevated platform. The Emerald Buddha is covered in a seasonal costume, which is changed three times a year to correspond to the summer (crown and jewelry), winter (golden shawl), and rainy months (gilt robe and headdress). No one but only the HM King is allowed to touch the statue and change the costumes.

The Statue of Emerald Budhha

The Grand Palace is a complex of buildings. It is former residence of the King and currently used for ceremonial functions.

Chakri Mahaprasat
(The largest hall of the Grand Palace Complex with combination of Italian and Thai architecture)

A first taste of street shopping from Bangkok:

Just after stepping out of the Grand Palace complex, we were intercepted by a couple of road-side vendors selling embroidery work. One of them identified us as Indians and started showing us embroidery work of Hindu gods, Ram, Shiv and Ganesh. We found work on god  Ganesh attractive and asked for the price. He started with THB 200 and finally sold us at 100. Feeling proud of my bargaining skills, we started moving forward. Another one approached us and started trying to convince us to buy some more. We refused and started moving forward but the fellow kept coming with us lowering the price at every step. And guess were it ended finally? He was ready to sell us 2 for THB 40. THB 20 a piece, 80% less than what I bought at.

Tip: Bargain shamelessly while street shopping in Bangkok or be ready to get ripped off. 



Wat Po (Temple of The Reclining Buddha):


After extricating ourselves from touts (more on this in next post) we reached Wat Po which houses a huge reclining Buddha statue.


Wat Po is the largest and oldest temple of Bangkok and also contain more than 1000 Buddha images, most from the ruins of the former capitals Ayuthaya and Sukhothai. 


The highly impressive gold plated reclining Buddha is 46 meters long and 15 meters high, and is designed to illustrate the passing of the Buddha into nirvana. The feet also show the 108 auspicious characteristics of the true Buddha. 


  

The Reclining Buddha Statue

Wat Pho is also famous as Thailand's first university, and is center for traditional Thai massage.  If you want to experience traditional Thai massage, this is probably the best place available and is highly recommended.

Wat Arun (Temple of The Dawn):


Named after Indian god of dawn, Arun, the Wat Arun is located on the Thonburi side (west bank) of the Chao Phraya river. The temple is so named because the first light of the morning reflects off the surface. 

Wat Arun

It consists of a massive elongated prang (Khmer-style tower), and is surrounded by four smaller prangs. The central prang is 250 foot high. It is decorated by bits of porcelain. It is possible to walk the way up by taking very steep stairs of the main prang, which gives an impressive view of Bangkok across the river. From here one can see the Grand Palace, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha and the Wat Po.

Steep Stairs of main prang

Despite it's name, the best views and photos of Wat Arun are in the evening with the sun setting behind it.

View of Bangkok skyline across Chao Phraya river from Wat Arun

Tip: Start the temple tour early in the morning, by 8 AM, if you are visiting on your own. Most temples open at 8 in the morning. Visiting temples is exhausting proposition considering lot of walking in scorching heat.