I woke up this morning in a defiant mood: no more being taken advantage of. I had to be a lot more skeptical of the folks we encountered.
Had another good breakfast and we walked out to the cab stand. There was a new driver there and we had to negotiate a new fare. He wanted THB 200 for the ride to the Royal Palace, but we held out for the 150 price.
We got there early and were near the head of the line when the palace opened at 8:30. We rushed in, trying to get some overall establishing shots before the place was overrun with visitors. I got five or six good angles of the Grand (Royal) Palace's Upper Terrace before the crowds arrived; I then concentrated on shooting details of the building's exterior. Bangkok's skies remind me a lot of the American northwest, always active with fantastic cloud formations. The coloration of the palace's decorations seems to be in a complementary palette, giving the overall visuals a unifying harmony.
When the crowds started to gather around the buildings, I noticed a large group of Indian military officers and their families. They all looked extremely smart, the men in their dress whites and the ladies in their wonderfully colorful saris. I got a nice composition of an officer taking a picture of his wife and her sister. I offered to take a group shot of the three of them. They accepted, and I used their camera to take the shot and then used my own to grab a high-resolution image. They looked fantastic against the building's golden textures, especially the officer in his gleaming white turban and uniform. They gave me their email address and I promised to send along some jpegs.
The Royal Palace is also the destination of a lot of students. Long serpentine lines of school kids ambled through the palace's open areas, the kids breaking formation every now and then to pull out their cell phones and shoot high-tech memories or images of self-promotion on the internet. A lot of them expressed an interest in having their picture taken with me. Sort of like the ladies of the Spanish court who used to have their portraits painted with monkeys so that the viewer would have something to contrast their beauty with. And, since I am the "World's Tenth Most Ugly Man," I'm sure these young people were thinking along the same lines.
Everyone was friendly and having a good time, including the ladies doing some of the palace renovation. We got into a discussion about my mustache, and they kept giggling away as I kept shooting. When we got to the south side of the compound, we witnessed the changing of the guard, near the chamber where the King's coronation ceremony takes place. I found this room to be finely decorated, really intriguing, and even more so because you aren't allowed to take photographs.
Ann and I found some shade and took a rest, then made our way out of the palace.
Outside, Ann thought it was a good idea to visit Chinatown. According to the guidebooks, it was supposed to be picturesque. We hailed a cab and negotiated a fee. The driver dropped us off in what he called the center of the "China district." The place was visually interesting but not spectacular. We got out and started shooting, but the place was so packed there was no viewing space, and the road was even more crowded. You couldn't step out and get a better vantage point. I got one nice shot of a lady who seemed to be the advice-giver for the block. People would come up, pay homage, and then say something (I would guess they were asking a question).
We walked into an area that seemed to be an off-duty bus depot. The coloration of the resting buses against the patina of the surrounding buildings inspired me to keep on shooting. As I was working, I noticed that one of the river ferries was docking right behind us. We were hot and sweaty (or at least I was), and a cruise on the river was a cooling prospect.
Ann spoke with the ticket seller. The deal was that you could buy a day pass for THB 150 and ride the ferries up and down the Chao Phraya all day. They'd run out of passes here, but we could board the next boat and purchase one from the conductor/ticket taker. We looked at each other and decided what the heck. The boat pulled up, and we boarded along with 20 or 30 others. Luck was with us and we found seats along the side of the boat, which allowed us to shoot uninterrupted as we cruised.
After the boat's second stop, the conductor finally got around to us and we told her we wanted to buy day passes. A little annoyed, she took our THB 300 and said she'd be back. At the next docking, we saw her get off the boat and walk over to the ticket window. When the boat pulled out, she appeared and handed us the passes and the tour booklet.
Travel Tip: The tour booklet is really informative. It's a fast way to get your sea legs and to enhance your understanding of how to navigate here in Bangkok.
At the end of the day, we got off the ferry at Sathorn Pier (Central Pier), walked over to the Skytrain station, and climbed up the stairs to the platform. We were trying to understand what to do. A man in a uniform came up and asked where we wanted to go, and then he gave us the lay of the land.
The windows with clerks in them are there just to get change from. Then you have to take the coins over to one of the machines on the wall and insert them until you have as many ride zones as you need, and then click the OK button, and then it spits out a ticket. From there, ticket in hand, you climb another set of stairs to the train platform and wait. The Skytrain is a good system but needs to be expanded to accommodate the crush of people who use the line daily.
We made our change at Siam (Central) Station and then headed east to Nana Station. After disembarking, we stopped by the market, then made the long walk from Sukhumvit Road up to the Aspen Suites. I stopped at the cab stand and arranged for a trip to the floating market tomorrow. We settled on a price and a departure time of 7:30.
Back in the room, we went about our daily camera-cleaning, review of the day's take, and washing-up for dinner. After our spaghetti and chocolate ice cream, we retired to our respective beds to get some rest. 6:00 comes early for me.
