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Beat the House
Written by JTG   
Wednesday, 09 January 2008

In BBK this spring to see my dentist (Dental Hospital 4 star place) I was at the weekend market and was stopped by a guy who asked where I was from etc. His sister was going to be going to Seattle. Mom is worried. Would I come to house and visit and talk about Seattle. I was on no schedule. Didn't have anything of great value with me and a vivid curiosity. We get in a cab and drive off into a neighborhood of quite nice houses. I keep getting out my Nancy map and asking him to tell me where we are but no luck.

Pull up in front of a nice house and go inside. I'm struck right away that there is nothing on the walls! Having been in a Thai home this tells me right away something is no right. I am told "we just painted"

The deal ends up sitting around a card table and being told how we can take the house on a cruise ship (ever see a cruise ship in BBK?) after awhile I tell them this is not for me. Thanks for the drink. Take me back to the weekend market. They call a cab and back I go with the fisherman who caught me. I walk away as he keeps asking for money to buy blood for his mom who is in the hospital.

Nothing bad just a story.

All who suggest you don't listen to anyone who comes up to you and speaks good English and suggest you go look for jewels and clothes at their special place. Unless you have lots of time and don't mind getting driven around the back roads downtown.

Ask the cab to use the meter. I don't think I have only had to do this once.

One time I got in a cab at the hotel and wanted to visit a custom guitar shop. Had an address and phone number. Cab driver couldn't find it and boy did he try. We stopped and asked all over when we thought we were close. I even called back to the hotel and had them call the place and check number. Nothing worked but I had a very nice couple hours seeing parts of Bangkok I would not normally get to. Hardest part of the trip was telling the driver "Don't worry it is ok" I think he was real worried he wouldn't get paid. I think it ended up being like a 380 bt trip but well worth it.

I really enjoy my time in Thailand.

JTG

 

Comments (5)Add Comment
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written by jonathai, Sat 12 Jan 2008 09:39:53 MST
I joined my Thai friends for a meal way out on Rama III last night. My cab driver had instructions, in Thai, from the restaurant owner, whom he spoke to several times on the journey on my mobile phone. But could he find the place?? My return journey to Sukhumvit with my Thai friends cost 71Baht - and the outward journey had cost me 137Baht! Which I can offord, but that is not the point - how many farang have been given a scenic (or in this case, not so scenic!) tour of Bkk because the driver is 'lost'?
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written by Hamish, Sun 20 Jan 2008 08:46:25 MST
I know taxi drivers canbe snakes.. but sometimes the drivers will take different routes, dependingon the time of day/night, and location, due to traffic. For example, try moving around the Democracy monument / river boat entrance in the afternoon - good luck. You will find a good driver will give you the option of dropping you off before the jam and walking - saves him time from being stuck in the jam after he drops you off, and you money. Try to speak to the taxi drivera bit in thai if you can, and leave the maps in your car. Learn to say the street name in Thai properly.. e.g. Khao San,not Khao San Road please... make yourself not smell like a tourist and they wont circle you like a shark on a bleeding peice of meat in the water.
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written by Tim, Fri 25 Jan 2008 10:02:10 MST
When I was in BKK in 2003, while standing in the Asok BTS station I was approached by a man wearing a cross (nice touch) who gave an almost identical story about his sister going to college in my home state. I was a stupid patsy, as I fell into every trap he set for me. He says, "You are from states, what state?" I reply "Michigan". "Oh, my sister will go to Michigan State University". Genius! Of course, every state has a university Tim. Duh! So I agreed to meet with his sister ("Mom is very worried about her being so far from home") at the BTS station. When I arrived, he explained that his sister was back at home and we could go meet her there. Fortunately, my fiance had warned me about just such scams. So I said I did not have the time to go there, could he have his sister come to the station. He actually pretended to call her (I could see he did not really dial and I could hear no sound from the phone) and then said she had gone shopping and could not meet us now. I realized I was the target of a scam.
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written by kel, Tue 29 Apr 2008 08:36:27 MDT
When we was in Bangkok, we take the taxi mostly, it's cheap but it was kinda amusing to see us going around in circles. There was this tall building near our hotel and I could see us circling around it twice. I joked with the taxi driver by pointing at the tall building and making circling motions with my fingers. We laughed, he laughed and then he took us back to our hotel. The taxi fare was still cheap though.
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written by irene, Fri 13 Jun 2008 09:21:54 MDT
i had same experience few times, after 1 round i passed by my own hotel. Initially I also thought the cab trying to go in circles but after that, I realised the road or traffic in BKK is build in a way that sometimes they have to go 1 round in order to get to the other side of the road.

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