Bangkok

It’s quite obvious that the elephant is the national animal of Thailand. Elephants adorn the 100% Genuine Thai Silk souvenir blankets and pillows and populate every junk seller’s table with hundreds of shoddy wooden impressions. But the elephant is not the Thai parallel of the elusive-but-grand (and nearly extinct) Bald Eagle. In just four days, I saw five different elephants wandering the streets of Bangkok. They are walking tourist attractions: for 50 baht ($1.50) you can feed it peanuts and get your picture taken. I am disappointed that I never did this, but all of my elephant spottings happened during a cab ride or lunch. I’ll save the elephant picture for next time and make do until then with my new elephant blanket.

Celebrity elephants are perhaps the most exotic tourist trap on the streets of Bangkok, but they are certainly not the most noticeable. The tourism industry in Thailand seems like a frantic competition to rip off every farang who ventures across the border. You and I are at a disadvantage: everyone lies flat out to our face, every price is negotiable (but the seller will deny it), and English is a second language of convenience – but we still play the game, because there are still good deals to be had.

I learned all of this right away. At the taxi stand of the Bangkok International Airport, an English speaker writes the destination of the traveler in Thai, then hands it to the taxi driver. The driver is then supposed to be metered, with a 50 baht fee for the translation service. My cab ride ended up being a flat rate of 500 baht: three migrating Oregonians were no match for a fast-talking Thai. Our mistake was to enter the cab before agreeing on a price – we lost bargaining power when we couldn’t walk away. Later in a metered taxi we learned that the hour ride from the airport should cost 250-300 baht. So while we were taken, it was only for $7 – and we still only spent $15 for an hour in a cab! This was the solace we continually turned to during our spending: getting fleeced by better bargainers is only expensive by Thai standards – it’s all a good deal for an American doing Christmas shopping.


Pad Thai in Thailand, across the street from the Grand Palace. It wasn't as good as the Pad Thai in Eugene, to be honest.


You can't tell, but I'm in Bangkok

Sorry these pictures aren't very good. I'm having trouble uploading them. More will come...