Tag: tuktuk

Safety & Travel Tips In Thailand

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thailand tips


Everybody learns better from their own experiences… trial and error. But, to those who don’t have the same ‘it will never happen to me’ attitude as I do, and for a smoother and more enjoyable trip to Thailand, here is a guide for some lessons I learned the hard way, take heed…

 

Avoid getting mugged and ripped off in Thailand:

  • If it is your first time to Thailand and you’re feeling a little clueless as to how much to pay when shopping, check out our Buying Guide before heading out. Most stalls will expect you to haggle in Thailand and this is not easy when you have no idea how much something is worth in the first place.
  • Check your change. This applies especially for 500 notes, which look very similar to 50s. I bought 70 bahts worth of doughnuts at Mister Doughnuts, thinking it was a large chain I figured it might be a good idea to break up my 1000 note in my pocket. The cashier handed me my change, I glanced at it quickly to make sure it was right but then the next day when I checked my pocket, it turned out to be a 50, not a 500. D’oh!
  • Avoid pushy tuk tuk drivers. When a tuk tuk driver approaches you in Bangkok, and mentions it being some kind of special day – Holy day, Happy buddha day, National tourism day, whatever – or insists wherever you happen to be going is closed… don’t buy it. He will most likely just take you to a suit shop or gem shop as he get’s paid commission for taking you there. Unless you actually want to buy a suit, it’s not the most pleasant experience as you will more often than not be chased out by the offended shop owners.
  • It is a common occurrence, particularly in Chatuchak Market, to have your bag slashed with a knife and the contents stolen. If possible, keep your bag in front of you and be very aware of the people around you in busy places like this.
  • Bag snatchers generally tend to work on motorbikes and in Thailand it is perfectly acceptable for motorcyclists to drive on the sidewalk. Although most motorcyclists are perfectly honest citizens, be aware when you hear them approaching and always have your bag on the opposite side to the roadside of wherever they will be driving in order to deter them. Avoiding short strapped ladies handbags and wearing your bag across your shoulder will help enormously.
  • Bag snatchers have been known to drive by and steal bags which female tourists place beside them when they get on Tuk Tuks. Wherever you are, always keep a hold of your belongings – wrap the strap around your leg… whatever you can.

Tuk Tuk Suit Shop Scam

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In Bangkok, Tuk Tuks are an awesome novelty. Blinged up with neon lights and all sorts of dangling decorations, bouncing around the bumpy roads like cheerful and carefree Mario Karts, and a reputation for being a particularly cheap means of transportation around the city; it’s definitely a must to grab a ride in a tuk tuk in Bangkok… or is it a scam?

A few years ago, we vacationed in Bangkok for about a week. The very first day, we were approached by a very lovely and helpful stranger in the street. He explained to us that it was something like ‘Happy Buddha Day’ and then continued to make notes for us on our map as to where all the temples were located which we could visit in Bangkok for free today, and only today.

Also, he mentioned, you could grab a special blue government Bangkok tuk tuk for only 25 baht and it would takes us to all of these sights. Oh how lucky were we! Oh and double good fortune there just happened to be a blue tuk tuk pull up beside us! The tuk tuk driver took us to these Bangkok temples and he also took us to a suit shop which seemed a bit random. And it was a bit awkward considering we had absolutely no interest in buying a suit in Bangkok.

Tuk Tukking around Khaosan Road

After maybe an hour of sightseeing, we left the last temple for our Bangkok tuk tuk to take us home. We returned to where the tuk tuk had dropped us but he was nowhere to be seen. Where is he? We didn’t pay him his 25 baht! There were a couple of other tuk tuks waiting up the road, but our tuk tuk driver was nowhere to be seen. “Tuk tuk! Tuk tuk!” they all started shouting to us. We asked them if they’d seen our tuk tuk driver, to which they replied ‘he was ill! He had to go home’. So we were generally sad and concerned for our driver and that we’d had a free tuk tuk ride around Bangkok and not paid him…

Well, later throughout our holiday in Bangkok, both from observation of other tourists and through our own experience, a pattern of tuk tuk scams emerged. Everyday was ‘Happy Buddha Day’. If you were to tell an enthusiastic tuk tuk driver that you already had plans and didn’t want a ride, he would respond with “The Bangkok Grand Palace, it’s closed today, you can’t go there”, “No, that road is closed now, there is nothing there”. Sometimes a stranger would approach a tourist and talk with them while a tuk tuk would be conveniently waiting around the corner to appear in perfect timing to scam them.

We later spoke with a tuk tuk driver when we had no choice but to use him during Bangkok rush hour when all the taxis refused us a ride. We offered the tuk tuk driver 300 baht rather than the usual 25 baht, to take us to where we wanted to go – no bullshit. He refused. He explained to us that the government paid him a very generous amount of money and petrol coupons to take tourists to the suit shops in Bangkok. That was the awkward day when we had to fein interest in suits in a suit shop and  deal with a very pissed off indian for wasting his time.

So, frustratingly, despite seeing locals using tuk tuks in Bangkok all the time, it seems that if you are western, it is impossible to simply use a tuk tuk for normal transportation. Or maybe we have just been unlucky. To this very day, we still get pestered from time to time by tuk tuk men in Bangkok asking what we’re up to and then following up with ‘oh, no no it’s closed today’. Although they now also dive straight in and ask straight out if we want to go to a gay massage parlour or a ping pong show. That’s a new one. But… yeah… apparently everything in Bangkok was closed today at 3pm in the afternoon. Yep a whole chunk of Bangkok just went and closed up.

 

Seriously tuk tuk scam men… just back off…