Ahem. A few comments....
1.
"Suze was interested in the Grand palace and we agreed to go as well. Would you believe we had never been? We tried to get in once and were not properly attired and since then never tried again. So we paid 800 bt each and arranged this for Thursday."
800B EACH for the Grand Palace??? My god. How much would a taxi and the entry fees cost?
2.
"I went into one shop and asked the price of one bag to be told it was 81,000 bht. .... Dave nearly ran suppose it was a good job ‘cos the other alternative was to smack her one !!!"
This is indeed a wee bit pricy for a hand bag. (It's 4 months salary for a state university teacher) So you did the right thing not buying it. Also choosing to leave in a dignified manner rather than smacking the shop assistant one was the correct thing to do.... otherwise you would have lost face which is THE worst faux pas in Thailand!
3.
"We had tried on 2 other occasions to go to Cabbages and condoms and not been able to find it."
For those who don't know cabbages and condoms...it's on soi 12 after the dodgy Turkish bath place on the right... look for the fairy lights. Overpriced and almost entirely patronized by tourists but it's in a good cause...the proceeds go towards AIDS prevention and helping AIDS victims. Also you get a free condom after your meal rather than a chocolate. The quality of the food varies according to what chef is on...usually it's OK and the setting is nice and quite romantic.
4.
"This all went wrong when we crossed the road to go into Robinsons. I still don’t know how we got across the road and then back again.
For those of you who do not have Jaxw's intrepid sense of adventure....
If you look carefully at busy roads in Thailand you will see pedestrian bridges with steps leading up to them at frequent intervals. Also you can cross over the road at BTS stations. Both these life saving options can be found very near Robinson's department store at Asoke. In Thailand cars don't stop for pedestrians.... it's quite logical, you risk getting more of a bruise than the driver does.... so it is customary in Thailand for YOU or smaller vehicles like motorcycles to get out of the way.
5.
"I said to the driver if you take us straight to MBK you may get a tip. If you take us to some stupid shop you may get a smack! He understood this and got us to the MBK within 20 minutes the fare 55 bht and I gave him 100. Nice man."
The taxi driver probably only actually understood the words "MBK" (and maybe "tip"). But usually any taxi driver would have taken you straight there anyway. Ah well, I'm sure he appreciated the 45% tip! It's usual just to round up to the nearest 10B....sometimes more if it's to the airport or in the wee small hours and he doesn't need to be asked repeatedly to put the meter on.
Ummm finally, the shopping for bags thing.... why on EARTH did you take him with you? It's torture for all concerned! Next time, just put him in a massage place or a bar for a couple of hours and present him with the shopping bill afterwards...then everyone is happy!
