This was our last day. The first thing we did was to inform the reception at the hotel that we will extend our stay ‘til 6pm, for which we were supposed to pay TB300. But the lady at the front desk explained to us that we need not pay for our extension because we were booked till the following day. Why in the world didn’t we even remember that? Well, at least we would get back the TB300 key deposit. 
Unlike in Wat Arun, visitors should pay TB50 to enter the temple. There’s a pigeonhole outside of the temple where visitors leave their footwear. I was overwhelmed by the Reclining Buddha’s colossal size, good thing it has a smiling face.
After going around the statue, we started our chastising 30 minute walk under the sun’s blistering heat toward China town, where Wat Suthat and Wat Saket are located. We didn’t go inside Wat Suthat anymore because the main attraction that we planned to see was the Giant Swing at the front. Well, you would not really see a swing, just a tall red arch, so there was really nothing remarkable about it. I thought of it as just a piece of artwork, showcasing an enormous replica of a swing, but according to records the “…swing was used in a ceremony to give thanks for a good rice harvest. Young men would ride the swing high in the air, suspended 80 feet from the ground when in full swing, and try to grab a bag of silver coins with their teeth. Some fairly severe injuries and a few deaths led to the dangerous swing ceremony's discontinuation after 1932…” (http://www.bangkok.com/). Spine-chilling, huh?
15 minutes later, we found ourselves climbing the 318 steps to the cupola, and it felt like we were penetrating the sun. If not for the bottles of water that we were bringing, I might have fainted midway. Fortunately for us, grey clouds covered the sun so we were able to take a picture of the Golden Mount without hurting our eyes with the sun’s rays. We weren’t able to take a picture of the “front” of the dome as courtesy to the worshipers; besides, our bare heels were literally burning from the floor’s heat.
It was a relief going back down, but still, it was a long walk to the gate. Luckily, we were able to get a cab in a jiffy to return to Khao San. I was already snappy that I didn’t notice Ronald McDonald in wai stance (Thai greeting demonstrating a slight bow, with the palms pressed together in a prayer-like fashion) when I pointed to my husband the very first McDonald’s fast food resto that I saw in the city. We ended up eating at Burger King near Khao San, and it was not the usual happy whopper jr.-onion-ring pig-out for my husband because I was so cranky that I accidentally messed up his onion rings.
We were supposed to shop for pasalubong but I decided to throw myself into the shower and take a break from heat and exhaustion. So my nomadic husband treaded alone for almost an hour, only to come back with 2 packs of spicy tamarind (TB50/kilo) from the market surrounding Tha Tien station. When he returned, I was back to my usual self (less bitchy temperament), and after a few minutes of rest, he went out again with me to buy a cheap jacket or shawl for use inside the plane. Before we left Manila, I asked him if we should bring jackets but he reacted mockingly and laughed at the idea of bringing a jacket in one of the hottest cities on earth. I ended up having the last laugh because he was so uncomfortable with the cold temperature inside the plane and was one of the reasons why he couldn’t sleep. While looking for cheap jackets and shawls, I spotted one store that sold Thai delicacies, candies and other foodstuff, that my husband regretted not checking out this market first and instead walked several kilometres to buy tamarind. However, the prices of goods in that store are not cheap so there was really nothing to be disappointed about, except for buying only 2 kilos of delicious tamarind, which we finished in 3 days back home. We almost gave up looking for an inexpensive jacket or shawl because we couldn’t find any ‘til I spotted one stall selling different colors of shawl. I would say it was the most successful haggle that I did in my whole life because the man originally priced one at an outrageous TB300. I couldn’t convince him to bring down the price to TB100 til he was threatened that we would leave. Still, even if he sold it to us at TB100, I only bought one. After all, we only needed one and secondly, we can buy shawl of the same material and quality for only PhP80 in the Philippines. On the way home, we encountered another crooked vendor, along Soi Rambuttri, when one lady foreigner was tricked into buying one sundress costing TB1000! Then I heard the lady negotiated for a price of TB700. She didn’t know that 50 steps away, another stall is selling the same dress for only TB160.
An hour later, we checked out from Sawasdee and hailed a cab to go to the airport. It was really early to go to the airport but we were scared to be trapped in the horrible traffic so we left at 6pm. Had we known that taking the tollway will bring us to the airport in 45 minutes, we could have changed our itinerary – temple visit on the first day and chatuchak on the last day. Sigh. It seemed that Filipinos are known to give tips because when my husband handed TB280 as payment to the driver and left around TB15 as tip, the driver asked if we were Filipinos. We said yes and he gestured politely to thank us. How I wished Filipino taxi drivers would be as thankful as Thais, instead of whining when you don’t give them generous tips.
Our flight was 12:15am and we arrived in the airport at 7pm. What a bad decision it really was to let go of weekend shopping grrr. We couldn’t even check in our stuff because it seemed too early for Cebu Pacific to open its counter. We dined at the basement level of the airport, and the food that I ordered was exceedingly spicy that it gave me gas pains right after. Around 9pm, the Cebu Pacific counter opened and we were able to check-in our stuff, together with the luggage of two Filipinas who seemed to have all the money in the world and shopped as if there was no tomorrow but dreaded to pay for excess baggage. After we passed through immigration, there was still almost 2 hours to kill. We idled the hours away by strolling along the promenade lined up with high-end stores (while secretly expelling gases into the air. lol) We spent time though, looking for chocolates to finish up our remaining TB500. We couldn’t miss my husband’s favorite brand so we got one box of assorted Ferrero chocolates. While I was in bliss just thinking about the Ferrero Rondnoir, which I knew I would finish alone because hubby hates dark chocolates, I got disappointed when we couldn’t find another chocolate that we can buy for our remaining TB100++. Almost all duty free stores sold chocolates for a minimum of TB200. While we were almost at the end of the shopping center, we saw items costing less than TB100, like the tom yum paste for only TB80. After I paid for it, I checked out the other goods and lo and behold, there were chocolates packed in smaller quantities, amounting only to TB150. By then we only had around TB50 left and my husband was grumbling over the undiscovered inexpensive M&Ms.
We spent another hour waiting to board and when we did, my husband pointed to me the cute little fellow who made lots of noises four days ago, and now back in the plane with us grrr. To make it worse, the flight was delayed because of some procedure that should have been done hours earlier. Thank god the little boy wasn’t that noisy during the whole flight but I couldn’t sleep at all because of my worsening gas pain. I was so uncomfortable and lethargic as well, so I couldn’t wait for the plane to land. We arrived in Manila at 4am, hurried to take a metered taxi for a ride home, and was thankful to be sleeping again on a softer bed with nothing to hear but the sound of aged air-condition and my husband’s snore.
