Day 25 - Bangkok - 24th December 2008

Got out at 8.15 for the final day of my trip. Decided to keep it easy today and took the skytrain to the last stop Saphan Taksan on the Chao Praya River. Then paid 150 baht for an all day tourist pass on the Chao Phraya Express Tourist Boat. This is actually expensive by Thai prices but for $7.50 I thought it was the easiest way today. This boat just stops at 9 stops which are close to the main tourist sites. I had already seen the 3 main sites yesterday but stopped at the 8th stop to then cross the river to visit Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn) then when I returned to continue the journey I met some Aussies from Newcastle and accidentally got the boat with them going in the return direction, so got off on the next stop and visited the local market before returning back to wharf, only to see the tourist boat bypass the stop. A local told me they don't always stop here so that was quite annoying as the brochure said it was a scheduled stop. Ended up catching another boat and decided to visit Khao San Road on the last stop. This road is an old road with some original wooden shophouses but is now a busy tourist street with cheap guesthouses and street stalls selling the usual pirate copies of clothing DVDs,souvenirs etc. Then time to go so had time for a quick lunch at a street stall before boarding the boat back to the skytrain station. When I arrived I realised I may not have enough money for the taxi ride to the aitport so after re-packing found an ATM and took a bit extra out. When I got in the taxi I noticed he didn't have the meter on so I told him to put the meter on and he gave me a story that he was going on the expressway and it would cost 600 baht. I told him it should only be about 200 to 250 and then he said 400 baht to which I then said to stop and I would get off. He then put the meter on and it ended up costing 210 baht plus the toll fees of 70 baht. I think the driver was feeling a bit guilty after I caught him out so he drove extra quick and got me to the airport in just 30 minutes after telling me it would take about 50 minutes.  So you do have to be on the alert if you don't want to get ripped off but the Thai government is trying to stop all this and actually have a tourist police number if you run into any trouble.   

Timing was good this time with 2 hours before take-off and check-in was easy, no queues and it turned out the plane was only aboiut 25% full so most people had at least 3 seats to themselves. Watched "Get Smart" and tried to get some sleep at 8.30pm (11.30pm Sydney time) as the plane was landing at 2.30am (6.30am Sydney time). Food was pretty good as well on the flight and landed on time Christmas Day. Declared a fw items which were no problem and re-united with Daisy who was there to pick me up. So ends this epic journey of endurance and discovery.