Thailand Scams

We've read about this a lot before our trip. Mostly concerning taxis and tuktuks. What I'm going to share is from our own experience. I'm warning you this is going to be looonggg because this is my way of ranting XD.

Taxi Scam

Our first destination was at Khao San road to exchange money then we'll head to Grand Palace.
The first taxi we hailed doesn't want to use the meter so we arranged for a fixed price. There were six of us and thinking about it now I don't know how we fit in a single car (^_^)V. We agreed to pay THB200 for all so around THB33 each. We kept telling him our destination was at Khao San Road. And he kept insisting it was closed and wanted to bring us somewhere else. So we told him to stop and we got off and hailed another taxi. This time, the taxi driver was actually nice and brought us to our destination.
The rest of the taxis don't want to use the meter. If you're not in a hurry just wait for the next taxi who will agree to use the meter.

Grand Palace Scam

We walked from Khao San Road to Grand Palace. On our way in the middle of the park, an old man with a companion greeted us and asked where we're from. So we told him we're from the Philippines.
OM: "oh! Pacquiao!"
US: "yes!" (>_<)

The park where we met OM

He told us he's with his brother who is visiting him from the province. He asked us where we're headed and we told him we're on the way to the Grand Palace.
OM: "oh no.. Grand Palace is closed. Bhuddist New Year today."
US: <disappointed>"oh okay we'll just go to Wat Pho then.."
OM: "no.. Grand Palace and other temples are closed today. Buddhist New Year today. It is only open now for Thai Locals and Buddhist Monks. Closed for tourists. It will open only at 2pm for tourist. But! You can go to chao phraya river tour instead while waiting for Grand Palace to open. You see if you ask people what's the most beautiful temple in Bangkok they say Grand Palace! No! Wat Arun Yes! If you go now you can see Wat Arun for free only today since Buddhist New Year. Then you'll see Big Buddha Buddha Buddha. Then tigers RAWR! Then Kings Museum all for free only today because buddhist new year."

The map OM drew

Yes I memorized his freakin script because I was so freakin pissed at him plus he said all that on rewind while drawing a map. That was actually just the gist of what he said. ("-_-)

His cover was that he was a teacher from a university so he knows all this and that after the trip we can tell our friends we've seen it all (Thailand Landmarks). Oh we've seen it alright! Including the scamming scumbags.

OM holding the umbrella and his Brother on the right with shades

So we asked how we're going to avail of the tour. He said we just have to ride a long tail boat which would take us to the tour. The rent of the long tail boat was THB600 each! and the rest is for free and no entrance fees today since it was buddhist new year. He told us it was just near so we started walking.. But he said we can take a tuktuk. He even gave us advice to choose the color of the tuktuk because they are government owned and is cheaper.

2 tuktuks were conveniently parked outside the park. He called them and pretended to negotiate in Thai.
He introduced us as his students and negotiated for us to pay THB10 per tuktuk. This is how we get to ride the tuktuk so you see it's not a very nice experience.

The tuktuk took us to the long tail boat and so we sailed in the river. Imagine sailing at pasig river in a long tail boat less the garbage. We passed by Wat Arun, the boat stopped for us to take pictures. Then we moved again.

There was a very small floating market but it was raining and the vendors were taking cover so we didn't stop by.

Then we passed by some temples but didn't stop. My colleague asked "Where are the tigers?" The boatman said "Later". Until the tour came to end and we didn't see anything except maybe for some really big iguanas (bayawak). ("-_-)

That's when we realized we were actually scammed. :'(

To confirm our theory we went to the Grand Palace. He said it would only open at 2pm and it was just around 12:30pm so it should still be closed.

The other gates were closed. When we found one open, there were a few people at the gate who also told us it was closed. Then he asked us if we have been to chao praya river tour. If it wasn't fishy enough, we saw the old man at the park talking to another group of unsuspecting tourist.

So we walked to find the real entrance to the Grand Palace just to see for ourselves that it was open and it was not closed at all today. XD At that point I was really seething. I wanted to report them to the police. But my colleague pointed out we were in a different country and we don't know who we should report this to. So here I am ranting in my blog just because...

Ping Pong

I was really determined to watch this so I can blog it. I thought I came prepared after reading all the scams that they could possibly pull on us. But after what happened at the Grand Palace, I chickened out. Why? Most of the scams I've read about ping pong shows is that they will offer you to watch it for THB200 but after the show you'll be shocked to see your bill in thousands of bhat. And when you don't pay.. well I don't think anything good will come of it. Being in a foreign country. We don't have Thai locals as company so we thought it was better to pass this time to avoid trouble.

I console myself by telling myself the following:
1. We got to experience riding a tuktuk for only THB10.
2. I got 2 decent shots out of it.
3. I learned my lesson and got to share it with everyone else.

Now I feel soo much better. (^_^) The floating lanterns and the elephants really helped me in moving on and letting this bad experience pass.

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Lakwatserang Bulakenya: Thailand Adventure