Welcome to Bangkok, aka how to get mugged off

Nicola and I, giant standing Buddha

Anyone else seeing a tin can on wheels?

This was the closest we got to the Palace, it was the greatest back entrance to a palace I've ever seen

Lisa and Nic 'enjoying' their Tuk Tuk ride

Arriving in Bangkok was a bit of a culture shock I won’t lie. I guess I was a bit ignorant but when we arrived I was surprised to find the country was extremely developed in some places and, thank god, they had been graced with the presence of McDonalds, KFC, Burger King and even Tesco for some reason! Although all was not as it seemed and the differences seemed to show! We got to Siam Beverly (or siam bewery if you are thai) and were greeted by many bows and random Thai greetings which could have been telling us ‘welcome, we are going to try to rip you off as much as we can!’. We were harassed straight away by Mr Bellboy 2007 who, in quest for a tip, didn’t get the hint that we were Brits and therefore don’t do it, and proceeded to turn the hair dryer off and on and show us the wonderful features of a cardboard sign in our room advertising laundry and Thai massage. We fobbed him off with a whopping 60 Baht (about a quid, yes, we were robbed). I guess we can’t complain given that we are only paying £7 each per night in a pretty nice hotel.On our first day in Bangkok we decided to go to the Grand Palace, one of the main features in Thailand for their much loved King! On the way there they were all trying it on with us, trying to rip us off for taxis but we thought we were sly by taking their fancy subway, which costs about 50p a ride. When we got off we were met by some Thai chick talking about going on a tour, so we followed her to her office and booked a trip with ‘Simon’ aka ‘Nok’. Then things took a turn for the worse… he wondered if we were interested in seeing some dress shops, for a made to measure outfit that they make for you. No doubt the owner was his brother’s wife’s sister’s Dad, but we went in regardless. After that we were told that we couldn’t even get into the palace because our clothes weren’t suitable, so we were offered a ‘tuk tuk’ (a tin can on wheels driven by a sly looking Thai with a fancy haircut, you know what I mean) to take you round the city to all the attractions including a giant standing Buddha for 30 baht (about 1p or something stupid). 1p wouldn’t even allow you to sit in a black cab in the UK so we jumped at the chance! In between each attraction we get taken to a dress shop, oh and then to a jewellery shop, a pattern is forming! It turns out the tuk tuk drivers get commission in the form of fuel so tonnes of unwitting tourists get thrown into these dress shops against their will. End of the day… 2 dress shops, 1 jewellery shop, no Palace, and 3 very annoyed girls!