Thursday 13th March - Day 39

Today I'm determined to see the Grand Palace. I've been told it's a 'must see.' I get within fifty yards of the entrance and a tuk-tuk driver intercepts me. "It's closed," he says. I refrain from kicking him up his tuk-tuk. I keep walking the fifty yards up to the entrance and would you 'Adam and Eve it ?' It's open !

It takes quite a while to see all the buildings, statues and painted murals of the Grand Palace. I have never seen so much gold, gold leaf and gold paint all in one place. Devotees actually buy small pieces of gold leaf and paste them on to certain statues and then kneel and pray to the statue. I can't imagine that there's any place like it. I listen in to a few tour guides explaining things to visitors, I'm too cheap to hire my own. It seems all men in Thailand are expected to be Monks, for about three months before at a time before they are married. And they can get away with just doing a couple of weeks. Almost sounds like National Service.

I read that Thai people try not to show anger as it is a sign of losing face. They may try and diffuse a situation by laughing and smiling at a situation which westerners might find a little embarassing, like tripping over something for example. This explains why the hotel receptionist smiled when she found out how much I paid for the room, I think.

I've also noticed that the traffic is far more sedate than in India. I've hardly heard a car horn while I've been here and there aren't too many crazy drivers. They still flout some traffic rules and you get three or four people on a moped sometimes, but it's 'normal' here. It's my last day in Bangkok. I probably should have moved on earlier. Also, it's amazing how clean the streets are bearing in mind the mess tourists make, even though it's hard to find a bin when you need to throw things away - very wierd.