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My girlfriend and I felt pretty taken after paying a fortune rather bland lobster but it's only after reading this site that we realize that we avoided much worse (great site, BTW). What blew us away was the layered complexity of the scam and how many people were involved.
We were approached as we got off of the Banglamphu boat by a guy saying he's an English teacher just down the street and that it was the king's birthday - and consequently, everything is on special. We were told that the tuk tuk drivers are getting a coupon from the government for promoting cultural tours so we were only to pay the tuk tuk driver 10 baht - and he even told us how to say "too expensive" should some scammer try and take us for 20 or 30 baht. Then after explaining the tour, which ingeniously involves the tourist bureau and some genuine cultural locales, his tuk tuk driver friend pulls up and takes us on said cheap tour which, significantly, ends with the "Golden Palace Travel Bureau" (this is all drawn on our map).
The first two stops were temples and a golden buddha and so we feel guilty while at these spots keeping our too-nice tuk tuk driver waiting patiently (he's really nice, but not fake).
But here is the clincher: at the temple, which is only open for one day, we're told about the deals at a factory that sells cashmere by yet another well-spoken Thai who just happens to be praying at the temple we're taken to. This factory just happens to be on our cultural tour. IMPOSSIBLE PRICES ON CASHMERE. He prays in front of us and he's apparently with his family at the temple, which is also only open for this one special day. It was election day (Dec 23, 2007) so we were probably willing to believe it because of that. It was actually a special day.
So we get to the factory and it isn't some shoddy throw up that looks like a scam and they are actively selling it as cashmere so it seems real enough. We don't bite but only because I don't need a suit and move on to the next stop on the tour - the travel bureau, a very official looking building, where we bought a ticket to Hua Hin (we're waiting to see whether our private car will show up in the morning).
This is the real thing that breaks down all walls and prepares us for where we really get taken: a restaurant, suggested in passing. We show up and order a pretty big lobster, a little confused by the "service charges not included" next to the price per gram in baht. At the end of the meal, replete with a rather average vegetable dish, some rice, one beer and our bland beast of a lobster, we're met with a 9000 baht bill "all the way from Phuket". We were not impressed and felt completely taken. It was awful and made even worse by the countless "beware of wily strangers" signs we've read over the past two days. Anyway, it all sounds rather transparent but you have to understand that we were well warned of the scams and our defenses were high going into this so the many twists combined with our guilt for the tuk tuk driver who waits patiently and the travel bureau helped break down these well-built defenses.
I hope they all believe in karma.
Here's hoping our ride to Hua Hin shows up tomorrow.
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