Do you trust a Thai man? 泰国游记
The Internet café is owned by Thomas a Norwegian guy in the early 30s. He is married to a Thai woman and this is his Thai biz. He spends a few months in Thailand every year and goes Norway to run another biz the rest of the year. After a bottle of Siam beer, he started to complain about the corruptions in Thailand. Thailand is one of the most corrupted countries in the world.
Thailand left with me very bad taste. Besides the dirty street, lack of concept of service, the sex industry, I was scammed three times in 6 days.
1: The most famous gem stone scam: http://www.angkor.com/2bangkok/2bangkok/Scams/Sapphire.shtml
2: A Taxi driver wanted 200 baht when the actual fare should be 79. He did not have the meter on. I knew the fare as I took the taxi there in the morning and the fare was 79 baht. “Here is 80 baht, keep the change” I left the taxi.
3: A Tuk Tuk driver wanted only 20 baht to get me from the Grand Palace to the Gold Mount and the back to my hotel in Maha Rat Rd. The normal fare should be at least 60 baht. I knew some thing is fishy here. What the heck? I will take this challenge. As soon as I am on the Tuk Tuk, the driver asked me if I can spare a few more minutes in a souvenir store close by. “No way, the gold mount closes at 4pm and I need to get there,” I sounded angry. Tuk Tuk diver insisted. “Only a few minutes.” “Sorry, I do not have a few minutes, I need to get to the Gold Mount” “May be after the Gold Mount”? He is persistent. “Maybe” I did not want him to bring me to a deserted street and beat me up by a few Thai bouncers or boxers.
I spend about 20 minutes in the Gold Mount. I got out from another door. I headed straight for a taxi. I handed over the name card of my hotel to the taxi driver. “Meter, please” I said. As my taxi zipped through the front gate, I could see my Tuk Tuk driver was still waiting at the gate. “asta la vista baby”.
