Ok, ok … Mercy. I’ve good reason for being a slacker with posts … I’m dragging my heels on what I need to write out.
2 Preambles:
1. Moms: No pity comments please, we just need to say it out (Kelly tells me it’s cathartic)
2. Shelly, Hannah, Sarah … I blame mostly myself and Conrad, but second to us, I hold you three quite responsible. I expected more warning from friends.
Ok … (stomachs courage).
At the end of my Singapore stint, Conrad came to visit. It so happened to also be Chinese New Year. This meant flights to Cambodia and Vietnam – where I really wanted to go – were not available. So on advice and stories from friends (ahem, see #2 above), we decided to explore Thailand. 5 vacation days won’t get you too far, so we only went to the capital, Bangkok, and a beach resort, Krabi.
As soon as Conrad and I landed in the Bangkok airport, we agreed – this is the most foreign we’d ever felt. I think it’s the first time either of us were in a country where we knew nothing of the language or anyone else who did. And it’s not like we had landed in Germany or Portugal where the language is similar / discernible. No, Thailand has a very graphic alphabet that looks NOTHING like the Roman alphabet we know. It’s just a lot of pictures. Well, most of the signage was also in English, and we found our taxi driver understood enough English to get us to the hotel and the hotel was lovely. Once settled, we headed out to explore. We hadn’t even made it to the end of the block when we were approached by a local (we must have looked very touristy). She took over our map and rewrote our travel plans. Even called over a “tuk tuk” driver to take us to a couple of places (a tourist office to buy a tour of Bangkok’s famed floating market and then to a private tour boat) — we declined the tour boat and walked to the ferry, tour tickets for tomorrow firmly in hand and pleased with the very helpful woman.
Ferry is a glamorous term for what basically amounted to a water bus … but that’s a story for another day. We managed to get on and get off where we wanted… near one of the many buddahs in town. We got off the ferry to a super crowded warm filled with steaming bowls of curries and fruits and grilled meat and lots of trinkets, scarves, etc. We had arrived. Only, we were approached by many friendly locals who apologized, the prince’s sister had died that week, and all the temples were closed for locals to mourn… some entrances were open, but they told us the lines stretched around the block. “We can take you to another temple across the bridge…….” and on and on. We declined and took to strolling.
A short walk found a man with a card table, a sheet, and some pants … “Sir, you can’t go into the temples with shorts. How about a new pair of pants?” Conrad was frustrated with himself for forgetting, and before we knew it, he was changing behind a sheet and walking away with a new pair of pants. The Thai’s were so nice & helpful!
We wandered hesitatingly through the gates of a Buddhist temple and explored the grounds. A woman was selling bottled water and warned us briefly of the locals who will try to take advantage. We explored a bit more and were approached by a friendly, young man who engaged us in conversation. He was a music teacher at the university on the other side of the wall. His English was great. He looked at our map (remember, first highlighted by us, then highlighted by that woman on the street) and “corrected” our plans further. And he had a little secret for us, one of the custom tailors (we had passed many already) was having a sale. What?! Sale is Conrad’s favorite word!! Apparently, this is a Thai-only shop who is making special accommodation for tourists this week, what luck we’re here the very same week! Anyway, this very nice university man called us over a tuk-tuk and gave the guy the run down in Thai for us. He was to take us to all the temples he’d circled and then drop us off at the taxi stand at the end of the day … basically, we had just been given a full-day, local tour (by someone who can’t speak English) for $6. Bargain.
We zoomed all over the city. The man loved his town and his temples … he took us in places we wouldn’t have gone on our own, he took our photos, he smiled a lot. At our umpteenth buddah, he made a pit stop and left us with the tuk tuk. We were parked in front of a Mercedes and didn’t its owner come out while we were waiting. We chatted, turns out he lived in England and was visiting his ailing father. Where had we been? Where we were going? We spilled our guts. Wait, who told you about this clothing store? “It was just on the news last night,” he told us. Then he pulled out the members card from his wallet for the same store, he’d just been that day. They have a deal, buy 2 Armani suits get one free.
Well, you’re seeing through the story. We went. Surprisingly, the tuk tuk driver knew exactly where this particular place was (there are hundreds of them in Bangkok) and we met with a salesman there. The salesman spoke excellent English and was as convincing as a snake-oil salesman. Conrad and I were mixed – our guts were saying no, our outstanding bills waiting for us in NY were saying no, but the temptation of custom-made clothes was too strong to resist. We walked out with orders for 6 suits and 2 winter coats.
It was a scam. A big one. We did get our clothes, and to be fair, Conrad’s suits fit him better than anything else he owns (even better than the Nordstrom one we got him for our wedding). But my suits are mens suits cut for a woman’s frame. The waist for my coat is somewhere around my hips, with 2 of the beltloops overlapping at the front… very odd.
<Sigh>
We are fortunate — we have great memories, our health, and saw great sites. But if you’re planning a trip to Thailand, be very aware of the Voglee scam. We heard our story, word for word, retold on another blog just a few weeks ago. Since then, I’ve been sick. The self-doubt this was a price-gauge was enough, knowing it’s an offical scam is a disappointing realization.
With time, I’ll be able to tell the story with a laugh I’m sure. Until then, Shelly and Sarah who lived in Thailand and Hannah who’s visited often, shame on you for not giving us ample warning! 
(All kidding aside, nothing but love for you ladies!)
Oh well, glad it’s out there! Now I can get on to the other posts about spring in NYC and living like a tourist / local!
We wandered over to a mall called the Funan DigitalLife Mall (near City Hall) as the first stop. It is floor-on-floor-on-floor-on-floor of techy stories where the goods are priced as marked, vs. Sim Lim mall where it’s all “special price for you” and you better know just how “special” it can be. Hannah needed some things in there — sorry Conrad, I still don’t have the gumption for IT-shopping in Singapore.
Sunday was great as well. How random is it that neighbor’s from my parent’s village not only have plans to stay in Singapore for a day, but are staying in the Marriott hotel which is directly opposite my apartment. We met up in the afternoon & strolled through the Botanical Gardens and Singapore — a collage of orchids in virtually every size, shape, and color… absolutely beautiful (and crazy hot). From there, it was back to Raffles for a quintessential hot-weather-drink, the overpriced and much lauded Singapore sling. After our thirst was quenched, it was off to the taxi queue and then a scenic ride eastwards to East Coast Seafood center for a lasty meal of Drunken Prawns (live shrimps drowned/suffocated in alcohol … and then steamed with rice wine … talk about a way to go) and the famous Chili Crab. Sharon had actually found a write-up in another blog, so we followed the bloggers menu and also ordered the “bean sprouts with salted fish” — something I wouldn’t have tried on my own, but it tasted much better than it sounded (I’d actually order again). Seriously, sometimes I think these people need some marketing help (see previous post re: “egg skins” … aka “crepes”)!
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