By the time I am writing this entry, I will have taken my dinner and enjoying some drinks in my room. As i am running so i take only soft drink instead of beer. The morning started with breakfast at the hotel restaurant. Nothing to shout at as I have eggs with ham, bacon and some toast.
As I am still not too familiar with the area, i decided to take a taxi to Royal Thai Army club where I was to collect my marathon items. They start run from 35 Baht and using the meter. I wish KL also have such cabs instead of trying to bargain through. I was lucky i took the cab as it is further than i thought. The journey cost me 50 Baht. The collection was not unlikely SG or MY but when compared, it does not show justice for such a important event in sporting. I count only one booth open (New Balance) and the collection was quiet. As I am a foreign runner, I had my tag/bib seperated prepared. The girl at the counter ask me to go and collect my marathon items but the lady there say i have to show the voucher. Its to say I have paid for the event but as I did it online, no such voucher can be found for me. I have to go back to where I collect my tag/bib from and ask them for help. They are helpful enough to collect the items for me and I left.
I took a cab from the club to Wat Pho where I intend to go to Wat Arun. Wat Pho is close to Grand palace and the traffice again was the killer. There are so many tourist buses at Wat Pho but the worse are at the grand palace. But as the Marathon starting point is near there, i have the chance to see the setup. The start/end point is opp the Ministry of Defence. The journey cost me another 70 Baht and the driver cannot speak english. I was able to go there as the guard at the Army club helped me.
I intend to take the boat to Wat Arun as i will be able to see more from there. (Grand palace also is too ex for me at 100 Baht per entry) I took the special transfer boat from Tha Tian to Wat Arun which is just across the river. Cost me 3 Baht. The view from Wat Arun is very nice indeed but the steps are very steep. Luckily I am wearing my shoes instead. There is a strict dress code when visiting the places of worship especially to the temple. Entry to the temple is another 50 Baht but its money well spend.
On the return to Tha Tian (another 3 Baht), I decided to take the journey to Central pier where I can take the skytrain to Siam. Siam is the interchange to go to Phaya Thai. I will need to be on my way to the airport and i am taking today to try out the route. There is no paper note to put in only coins allowed and i have to change at the information counter. The journey is very fast and the PA is in both thai and English so I can hear. There was a cinema at Siam paragon but there are no good shows so i decided to cut short my journey to siam and come back to the hotel after taking my lunch at KFC. The return journey is more fun as I take from one end to the other for this boat trip. It only takes 30 Baht regardless where i want to go. The pier i going is called Phra Althit and its very near to Khao San Road.
All in all, today trip was very fruitful and I looking forward tomorrow where I will move around Khao San area and spend more time resting for the big day on Sunday morning. I cannot imagine running at 2am.
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