Doh! Fooled by the Oldest Trick in the [Guide]Book
Trip Start
Jan 01, 2007
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Trip End
Ongoing
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Bangkok,
Thailand
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Our first morning in Bangkok. In Asia, for that matter. We woke up around 9am and made our way to the hotel cafe for breakfast. A yummy breakie of chocolate croissant, fresh fruit, and espresso. Frank went for the eggs, bacon, and toast with espresso. All for less than $5 USD. I LOVE THAILAND. So much for my hopes of shedding a few pounds in Asia...
We set out from the hotel in search of the famous Chattatuk (spelling?) market -- a HUGE outdoor market in the north of town. Crossing the street to catch the bus, we met a friendly local Thai woman who spoke perfect English. She welcomed us to Thailand with the usual friendly Thai smile, and asked how we liked her country. She then gave us a few tips on where to go and where to visit. How friendly of her! She then asked if we had a map (we did) and proceeded to highlight on the map some Must-See's, including various Buddhist temples.
She then told us that today (and ONLY TODAY) is a special promotion by the Thai Government's tourism board. A dozen buddhist temples throughout the city are offering FREE admission (normally over 100 Baht per person). Really!!!! And Tuk-tuk rides are only 20 Baht (about 50 cents US) per person -- anywhere in the city, for as long as we want. Really!!!! The Thai government is giving the Tuk-tuk drivers coupons for gasoline in exchange for their discounted service. What a great deal!!! She then offers to flag down a tuk-tuk and instruct the driver where to take us to visit some of these temples.
We jump into the Tuk-Tuk (which is a 3-wheeled motorcycle with a carraige behind it) and thank her repeatedly for her kindness.
The Lucky Buddha
We just love Thailand! The people are so friendly!We pull up to the first temple, called "The Lucky Buddha" (or so they told us at least....) and the tuk-tuk waits for us while we remove our shoes and step inside. We are approached by a nicely dressed Thai man who, again, welcomes us to his country in perfect English. He asks about us, where we are from, how long we are staying, etc. Then he suggest a few places for us to visit in his wonderful city. But -- he adds, most of these buddhist temples are closed right now! That's right. They are closed for prayer for the next couple hours. He suggests that while we wait for the temples to open, that we visit a "famous" silk store and a tourist information center (supposedly run by the Thai goverment...a lie). We pull out our map, and he too marks it with some Must-Sees. This time, though, he adds in the"famous" silk store -- that is having a promotion right now. Only Today! Special price only today! He says we must see it! Wow, these Thai people are soo friendly!
We get back into the Tuk-tuk who proceeds to take us to the "famous" silk store. We are a bit skeptical, but go anyways -- what do we have to lose? Immediately, we can tell this store is a tourist trap. A pushy salesperson approaches us and tells us all about their tailors and fantastic silks. Frank asks if they can make a wedding dress & tuxedo? :-) Then we tell him that we will be away from Bangkok for a couple weeks but will visit him on our return.
The Lucky Buddha - close up
The pushy salesman gets really grumpy as we walk out the door.Next the tuk-tuk driver takes us to the "offical" Thai tourist information office. Supposedly run by the Thai government. As soon as we set foot in, we can tell this is actually a travel agency, with no relation to the government. The pushy salespeople take us to a desk and start showing us brochures. Knowing this is a scam by now, we decide to have a little fun with them so we tell the agent a dozen places and countries we want to visit. He puts together a 3-week itinerary together that will ONLY cost $8000 US. What a deal!!! And, if we give him our passports, he'll process our Visas -- even for China!!! Wow!!! Having more fun with it, we tell him we are very interested but - Opps! - we forgot our passports -- that we will run to the hotel to get them and return immediately. His smile turns upside down and he grumpily asks for a deposit. Hah! Yeah right! We tell him we don't have any money or credit cards on us, and will return soon. Then we run out the door fast!
Returning to the tuk-tuk, we tell the driver to take us right back to the hotel. We are tired, hot, sticky, hungry, and beat.
It was quite frustrating that we let ourselves be had by a city full of scam artists. In the coming days, we will be approached by at least 2 dozen more of these scam artists. Pedestrians, tuk-tuk drivers, and store owners are all in cahoots for this scam. Which, as it turned out, was well-documented in our guidebook - we forgot to read that chapter! We would also meet other travelers during the next few days who were taken by the scam as well.
At least we didn't get suckered into opening our wallets and actually buying something. The only things we lost were our time and egos. (And here we thought we were experienced travellers!)
After grabbing some yummy suimmer rolls from a street vendor (20 baht, about 50 cents US), we retreated to the hotel for a quick afternoon nap. Except... what was supposed to be a 1 hour power nap turned into a 12 hour deep sleep! We both slept until 4 am! Oops.
More to come!
Cheers,
Kay
