China Town/India Town (Nov 28)

Went and explored India town and Chinatown with Mei. India town = endless rows of places to buy wedding favors, wedding photos, wedding dresses, fabric for making wedding dresses, wedding photo boutiques, wedding scrap book shops – if you need to throw an Indian wedding in Bangkok you’ll be set; provided you’re not terribly claustrophobic in navigating the sidewalk. We also stopped in at a great little Indian restaurant. I left next to nothing uneaten; I was apparently quite hungry by the time we got there. I hadn’t eaten much the previous two days, had been feeling ill those two days, that probably had a lot to do with it. I was a geek and took a photo of the sign (complete with the address), so I’ll be able to go back.
Chinatown was neat, but not quite what I was expecting. It didn’t help matters that a whole bunch of it was closed on this particular Sunday, which I guess is not normally the case. Guess I’m a little spoiled having just been to China a few months back. If I needed any sort of Chinese herb I could buy it, and in bulk if I want, here. We tried to check out a Chinese temple of some sort, but some jerks were blocking the way inside with their tuk-tuk for seemingly no apparent reason, as in absolutely could not squeeze our way around. I’m growing less and less fond of tuk-tuks by the day, especially the constant “where you go?” cat call. Away from you overcharging scheming jerk. I usually respond with silence as opposed to the thoughts going through my mind.
Other observations: monk impersonators troll Khao Sarn Road, at hours of the day that monks do not normally make rounds for alms, and prey on foreigners that don’t know this. Monks generally go for alms in the morning, are not pushy, and generally prefer food, etc. instead of money. So Mr. I’m asking for alms in the middle of the late afternoon, I’ve got a bowl for money, and I won’t take it out of your face until you throw two baht in even after you’ve motioned you have empty pockets, and then I’ll have a little hissy fit about it being only two baht – yeah that behavior isn’t very monk like, unfortunately the give away hissy fit occurred after giving the money, fortunately it was only two baht. Next time he’s not even getting 2 baht now that I realize the scam. Jerk. Apparently even Thai people are sometimes duped by monk impersonators that go around asking for alms (though these scam artists do it at the correct time of day to dupe Thais) but aren’t actually following the true Buddhist way or monk lifestyle, they just want handouts.