Travellog: Thailand: Bangkok and Koh Samed

Friday, July 25 2003

We didn't do much on Friday, since we only had the morning left. Halfway through breakfast I realised I'd left my postcards in the hotel room and went back up to get them. Later we went out on the streets again (stepping in puddles is SO much nicer when you're wearing sneakers instead of sandals). The post office is an awfully small thing, nestled behind the bank in a side street. It had glass doors the colour of coffee, so at first I didn't realise it was the post office, or that it was open at all. It was tiny. You stepped in, and the counter was right in front of you. We bought stamps and stuck them on and handed them back to the man at the counter - and that was it!

On our way to Isetan, a shopping centre, we saw a street hawker selling what seemed (to me) to be five-inch long umbrellas. They were small, long bags tied at the top. We tried asking the man what they were, but he didn't know English so he did a bit of miming. Finally:

My Aunt: "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, they're those things you put in closets to keep insects away!!"
The rest of us: "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."
The seller: (imitating us) "Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."

We all laughed, and bought a couple of them. All street sellers should be like this guy. Happy people buy more, anyway.

When we finally got to Isetan (I having stepped in more puddles on the way) we found that it was closed, and wouldn't open until 10 am. It was 9:55. I have never waited for a shopping centre to open before - but I can say that I have, now! I felt rather silly wandering around in the courtyard waiting for it to open. Kat bought a lot of candles, I bought a stuffed froggy. There was a sign saying travellers could get their VAT back - so we got a form, and tried to collect 2000 Baht (the minimum). It was hard! Everything was on sale. Finally we bought a Thai Samosa to bring the total over 2000 Baht.

...then we were told that we had to have at least 5000 Baht to claim anything at the airport - 2000 Baht was just Isetan's minimum, not the government's. Ugh.

That was the last thing we did before going to the airport. We went in a hotel limousine, which took the highway this time - we were amazed how fast it was possible to get to the airport! When we arrived we were needlessly stuck in traffic for an hour and a half, whereas the trip back only took about twenty minutes!

We shopped around at the airport and had KFC (I had two mashed potatoes - I didn't trust my throat with anything else), then got on the plane. It was largely uneventful. We didn't even have turbulence. We did have a bit of a bumpy landing, but even that was expected.

And that was it. That was the end of my Thailand trip. I miss Koh Samed.

Here's a picture of some of the things I bought: click

Quite a lot isn't it? Here's a price breakdown.

Frogs:
Stuffed frog, 176 Baht/HK$35.
Frog on lilypad incense holder, 180 Baht/HK$36.
Sand-filled froggy (looks better in real life!), 65 Baht/HK$13.

Turtles:
2 turtle magnets, 25 and 20 Baht respectively/HK$5 and HK$4.
Ceramic turtle container (his shell comes off), 116 Baht/HK$23.
2 turtle keychains, 50 Baht/HK$10 each.
Sand-filled turtles, 65 Baht/HK$13 each.

***

And that's the end of my travellog as well! I hope you enjoyed your 'virtual trip' - any comments or questions can be directed to me:

And before I end, I'd like to remind you that almost all photos featured in this travellog were downsized, uncropped from the original 2272x1704 (4 megapixel) size. So if you'd like a larger wallpaper version of any image just ask! I did rotate some of the beach ones to correct for the slanting horizon, and the animal ones especially were cropped, but in most cases I'd be happy to send you a larger version.

Sawatdee!

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