Shanghaied Twice and Lost in Bangkok Once

Saturday morning we headed out around 9am after eating our free "American breakfast" (eggs, toast, bacon, bad juice). Bangkok reminds me of Manila in many ways. It has big buildings in some areas but they are spread out throughout the city too. The transportation system is a little bit better as the roads aren't as clogged, but the air is still nasty dirty and it is hot out, peaking around 100F degrees with some humidity. Our hotel is really quite good, with great internet, daily room cleaning, a descent sized room and a good location between downtown and the historical areas. We got a taxi to the Grand Palace but learned when we stepped out that supposedly it was closed until 2pm for some Buddhist ceremony. I say supposed because we learned throughout the day that Thai businessmen and drivers can be a little sketchy. A "nice" guy hooked us up with a dirt cheap taxi that was a 3-wheeler with a a back seat that the three of us squished into to go visit the giant golden buddha and the Golden Monument, which provides a nice hill to get a panoramic view of Bangkok. Both of the stops were enjoyable although walking on the marble floors that were in the sun without shoes was very uncomfortable. We would dart out to take pictures in the right spots and then go back to hugging the six inches of shade on the edges. When we got done visiting the Golden Monument we walked outside to find our taxi driver gone as he had already taken us to the shops he needed to to get his gasoline vouchers, some program to get tourists to buy local goods. We grabbed another free taxi and he proceeded to take us to the same stores again and left while we were inside. These cabbies we totally just grabbing us for the free gas, never intending to return us to the Grand Palace. Finally we grabbed a real, metered taxi and made our way back to the Grand Palace. We did the full tour and saw all the cool buildings, statues, etc. The colors were awesome, bright and regal looking. Thailand's temples and cultural sights are much more vibrant and exciting than HK's or Japan's. The Grand Palace was really nice. Some of the buildings go back hundreds of years and all looked amazing. I took over 80 pictures on the day so I have plenty to show for anyone interested when I get home. Also, we had to put on pants for the Grand Palace as they don't allow shorts, which made it a little warmer but not near as bad as Mackenzie's wool-feeling skirt.

Around 3pm we got done touring the Grand Palace. Mackenzie and Fernando seemed near death of dehydration and exhaustion so we caught a cab home, ate a late lunch, and relaxed for a few hours. We went back out in the evening for dinner (another trip to the designer mall foodcourt) and to see Pirates of the Carribean 3. I ate some sticky rice and grilled pork that came with this amazing sauce. It wasn't full-blown local food, but close enough for me and tasty really good. The movie was entertaining, but long and rediculous at the end. Our taxi drive home was a complete disaster as our driver got lost twice and didn't really have a clue what he was doing. I gave him our hotel's business card with map and the big cross-streets a couple blocks away and he still had to stop 3 times to ask people outside for help. I knew where we were and where we were heading better than he did as I had my Bangkok map out and have gotten familiar with a few places/landmarks. Now I just need to assert myself and point/grunt for our drivers to go certain directions. The drive home took 20+ minutes more than it should have and cost an extra buck (rediculous how cheap taxis are here, and A/Ced too, we love them).
This morning we left 50 minutes early for Church to try to avoid our previous problems. I had spent almost an hour yesterday trying to find a local church on the internet and mumbling/grumbling/pointing with our hotel staff over maps of Bangkok. They couldn't really read English addresses and I had no idea about Thai. And the addresses were small streets so nobody really know the exact location, just general areas. Between scouring the internet (found a Thailand mission alumnus website's blog that gave some help) and using Google maps, I found the exact neighborhood and gave us a good idea of where to go today. Our taxi took about 15 minutes to get us to the neighborhood and then we wandered on foot for another 15 minutes and surprisingly found the place. I was very excited/relieved to see the familiar spire and Church marquee. Luckily, it worked out for us that we attended the Bangkok English Ward and it is a real ward. They have over 200 a week in attendance and families from all over the world. All of the graduating seniors spoke today which was good but also very entertaining. They have some good kids who were pretty funny. I'm sure most will be headed for BYU in the fall and the usual Utah thing. When the Youth Choir sang I counted 32 kids which blew my mind. I don't think my home ward has that many and this is in Bangkok.

After relaxing and catching up on the world and my blog, we will be heading out this afternoon to visit some more sights, eat some food, and do the usual tourist stuff.