ditto

Oops

Forgot to mention going to the government ??? Jewellery store and whilst there buying a sapphire necklace and earrings - as I saw them in the picture that I posted and of course they were worn that night - whilst I now know these were not the bargain they pretended to be they were definitely cheaper than in the uk and Heather loves them which is all that matters - from memory about £250 for the pair - She had also managed to lose the ring I got made on the first trip so the morning of the following day the appointment with the jeweller in bkk was to replace said ring - although it was claimed for in the uk through house insurance - I am sorry if this is all over the place BUT - you have to remember that I am trying to remember events a good number of years ago and when the events get closer to me typing the more accurate they will be - another thing that slipped my mind was that the following day we were to do a tour of BKK - ie the river - the grand palace - etc and more shopping - my taxi friend was to do the driving - so now off to bed me thinks ………..

enjoying the posts and the pictures

__________________
Kiss
God laughs at people who make plans.

Jaxw your back how was your holiday :)

Day 3

We were picked up after breakfast and a fitting for heathers clothes we headed straight for river city in our taxi - where my taxi driver friend arrange a long tail boat for us he also instructed the crew where to take us and where to eat etc - so off we went we spent about 20 mins on the water with the guys pointing at different hotels and buildings of interest - where we then arrived at the Grand Palace it’s a great place and if you only see one temple in Thailand it has to be this one a word of warning cover up legs shoulders etc if not you will have to queue up to “to borrow some cover” its free but it can take a good few mins - take you shoes off every time you go to enter a building - also beware of hawkers who try to get you to go elsewhere or even show you round the temple etc - only go with a licensed guide - I will let the photos speak for the Grand Palace - after this we changed some money and headed back to the boat where we were taken to the snake farm which is good on first trip but second time for me and was a bit bored we ended up with the cheesy plates with pictures of us holding snakes - we then went to eat at a real Thai floating café it was great and very cheap - we went up all sorts of side waterways where you could see the real people of Bangkok living off the water - fishing - laundries - boat building / fixing - kids playing in the river etc etc - at one point we stopped and bread was throw overboard the feeding frenzy of fish was crazy - we then went to the jewellers where to my disbelief they remembered me from last time and remembered I drove a hard bargain - we went to try to replace the ring Heather had lost but they did not have any Burmese sapphires “very rare” that did not help matters - anyway we looked around at stones and we found a ruby and a sapphire to match the earrings and necklace bought the previous day and Heather could not make her mind up which one - we were on holiday so what the hell I said get both we will get a better price so after about ¾ hour bargaining we arrived at a design for the stones to be made into rings the ruby in yellow gold and the sapphire in white gold to match the others the price struck was £410 for both - try as I might I could not get them down the other £10 to £400 that’s when you know you have a bargain even saying we go and think about it did no good - the taxi driver got a few coupons out of that visit - it was agreed they would be delivered to the hotel the morning after we arrived back into BKK from Kanchanaburi - we then went back to MBK about the I pod - and Heather managed to but more clothes - we picked up a few things for the lads t shirts etc - we then headed back to the hotel - it had been a long day and we were tired we also needed to be up early the next morning to head off the Kanchanaburi at 6.30 for breakfast and leave at 7am so we decided to stay and eat in the hotel again with the obligatory singhas - Heather got a bit tipsy and was dancing in the bar - we then fell into bed - but I could not sleep so I went back down and was talking to one or two of the guys that worked in the hotel over a few beers - where I learnt that the guy standing in the toilet with a tuxedo on who as you were shaking off the drops he was running the tap then standing in an almost bowing position offering you a towel, did not actually work for the hotel he would come each day and the hotel would lend him the “uniform” he would then stand there for hours on end performing this role for tips - no tips no money - no money no food - and it seems this is true of a lot of “jobs” in Thailand - I had already taken to tipping on my way in and running my own tap a getting my own towel as I thought it was over the top - I could see I was going to have to change a few on my conceptions and how I went about things - I was begging to learn - anyway I got to bed too late of course and under the influence which was not the plan with the early start - I was looking forward to our trip and showing Heather a different side to Thailand

in grand palace

and again

another

like I said a great place

on the longtail