The Best First Day Possible

So as I was typing yesterdays post a girl walked into the internet cafe I was in, sat down and said high to me. We started up a conversation and it turns out that her name is Caroline and that she has been on the road in Australia and New Zealand for the last 5 months and that she is now doing her last month here in South East Asia. She mentioned that she was going to be heading to Vietnam and doing the same path I am, but that she is going to be making the hop to Hanoi in about 4 days from now. I suggested that she check out the travel agency that I used for my flight and we headed off to find it together because I had to pick up my tickets anyway. We found it and she got her flight for early next week.

We decided that since we were already together and it was the first full day for each of us that we would head out and see the sights around Khaosan Rd. We started walked down towards Wat Phra Kaew (the really big one) and it turned out that we were inappropriately dressed. We were lucky enough to learn this from a monk who was very keen on Tiger Woods and the Superbowl. I tired to help him understand that Tiger didn't play football, but it didn't really work. Regardless he told us two very important things. One, it was the one day a month when all the Wats around the city are free. Two, that the Armani factory outlet that is normally ONLY for Thai people was on the last day of its sale that was open to westerners. He also hooked us up with a Tuk Tuk driver and got a price that was unreal. 40 baht (1$) for the ENTIRE day. So off we went to see all of the wats that the monk said we needed to see. We went to Wat Ratchathiwat, Wat Benchamabophit, Wat Saket, and Wat Po.

The wats are amazing. They are buddhist temples/temple complexes where the artwork is amazing to say the least. There are tons of giant golden buddhas and some of the most intricate design work with mother of pearl that I have ever seen. At one of that Wats we met a Thai Tax Lawyer who worked in London and he also told about the Armani sale, so we were reaffirmed that this was legit. There was no way that he could possibly know the monk, nor could be getting any benefit from us going to the armani place.

So off we went to Voglee, the Armani factory outlet. IT was buy two suits, get one free so Caroline and I each got one and then I got a sports coat and she got another pair of slacks. My suit is off white linen! I am going to get it fitted when I get back to Bangkok in about a month. Ok, so the cost... The linen suit and the sports coat cost me $300. Wait! It also means that I now have a lifetime membership (yes I have a little gold card) and that if I ever want another Armani suit all I have to do is e-mail them, they send me a catalog, and I order one, and because they have my measurements on size they know exactly how big to make it. Every Armani suit I get from now on will only cost me $210. SWEET! I always knew that I was going to finally get a nice wardrobe, it just had to be cheap enough.

In sum, the company was outstanding, the day was a blast, and I can't remember the last time I had so much fun. I am off to Vietnam later today and am totally pumped.