"A city of contrast" a Bangkok Travel Page by clueless83

Bangkok, to say the least, was an experience. My first taste of Asia, my first taste of Thai culture. Bangkok, while popular with many people all over the globe, was not necessarily for me, although I am glad I went. The people are hospitable, the temples are amazing, the air is stifling and the streets are dirty. One minute you could be walking along a cracked pavement between run-down, old buildings and dirty, noisy road traffic... the next minute you could be looking up in awe at a beautifully decorated temple surrounded by perfectly trimmed trees and hedges and neatly cut grass.

While I savour the experience Bangkok gave me in my short stay, I won't be hurrying back there, although I would love to one day see what the rest of Thailand has to offer as I have heard that it is beautiful...

I had read about various scams that happen in Bangkok, such as how the Grand Palace is closed for "Lucky Buddha Day" etc etc. What I didn't read about was being taken to somewhere called the Lucky Buddha Temple.

Our tuktuk driver took us to this temple situated in what looked like a car park. When we got inside there was a lone Thai man in there who told us that it was only open to tourists one day a year. I didn't think anything of this until I got home and couldn't find the Lucky Buddha Temple on Virtual Tourist. If anyone happens to be reading this and can identify this building I would be grateful to know what it is.

While we were taking photographs in this temple the man produced a ring from his pocket. When he found out we were flying on to Sydney he told us that if we were to go to such and such jewellery shop we could buy cheap there and sell big in Sydney (luckily I knew about this scam). In hindsight I am now wondering if that man was trying to tell us that by visiting this "Lucky Buddha Temple" it would make us lucky (and wealthy). I wasn't suspicious at the time because nobody asked us for any money so I am a little confused as to whether this Lucky Buddha Temple was all part of a gem scam or whether it was genuine after all.