hehe great story........and fantastic attitude to have while being scammed!!!

I never take a tuktuk in bangkok, the chao phraya boat is the best route from khaosan to the metro train and its much more fun. From there you have access to the whole city via skytrain or the commuter trains at Hua Lumphung. Travelling by roads during the day is hard work, motorbikes are fun albeit a little bit dangerous, and taxis are not willing to put their meter on during office hours. Happy travels!

lol. guess what my brother & I did today? spent 2 hours in a tuk-tuk driving around places for free (because in the end, we visted 2 tailor shops, a jewellery store, and a travel agency) ... theoretically [through petrol vouchers] making him 300 baht! eventually we got tired and said where we wanted to go, and he dropped us off in the right place! so drivers must get something for us 'farang' to visit these places.

The Tuk Tuk drivers in Bkk are fine, just negotiate a price with them if you are happy then use them if not then walk away, there is never any pressure from these guys.

Does anyone actually know the price of a Tuk Tuk ride in Bkk?

TukTuk's can be arranged if you don't mind paying the price. Just tell them you're willing to pay about 100 baht for any trip downtown and they'll gladly take you (although they'll try and up the price, so let them give you an estimate and work your way down from there). Sure it's way too much to pay for such a trip, but you can't beat the charm of being in a TukTuk, so just see it as a tourist attraction.

As for the metered taxis, the trick that me and my girlfriend quickly learned was to to walk a block or two until we were outside the main tourist trap (patpong, around mbk, grand palace etc) and hop in a taxi waiting at a traffic light/jam. Just get in and tell them where you need to go. The trick is to act like you're doing it every day, like you're an expat instead of a tourist. If they still refuse to turn on the meter, just get out of the taxi (this is the reason for getting in a taxi that's not moving, it gives you an opportunity to hop out if the driver is dishonest). Finally, some drivers may scam you by taking the 'tourist route', like that one time we took 45 minutes for a ride that should be about 20. When you're getting ripped off like that, make sure to jot down the number of the driver (his card is on the dash, the number should be four or five digits) and the number of the taxi (located conveniently to your left and right on the inside of the doors). Either complain yourself, or have the hotel clerk complain for you (there's a special number you can call).