Travelling is not always fun and exciting. Sometimes stuff happens abroad, and you just have to deal with it. In this post, I am sharing how we got scammed by a tuk-tuk driver in Bangkok, and what to look out for.
PS: Are you planning a romantic getaway to Bangkok with your loved one? Check out these unforgettable things to do in Bangkok, especially for couples.
"The Grand Palace is closed today..."
Maybe it was the combination of a jetlag and a hangover, but on our first day in Bangkok, we already fell for a typical tuk-tuk driver scam. When we asked him to drive us to the Grand Palace, he told us that it was closed because of a special grieving ceremony for the King. We knew the King had recently passed away at the time of our visit, so we believed him.
Only later we found out that the Grand Palace was actually open to visitors that day. No matter how convincing the reason seems, never believe a tuk-tuk driver that the Grand Palace is closed that day. Make sure to check the official opening times instead.
Earning trust by being friendly
Instead of the Grand Palace, he offered to drive us to some other places in Bangkok. Only two of those places were actually on our to-do list, but we decided to go for it as he seemed friendly. Once inside his tuk-tuk, we realised he could just drive us wherever he wanted to – and so he did! Even when we told him to skip a place as we were not interested, he would go there anyway. What a waste of time!
Chao Praya River "floating market"
As a first stop, he promised to take us to a floating market, which was on our to-do list. He drove us to a boat tour over the Chao Praya river. Being in the fresh air helped cure our hangover, but the headache quickly returned when we found out about how much we were overcharged. Although the boat ride was enjoyable, Bangkok has more impressive floating markets for a better price.
Tailor-made suits
Our last stop before heading back to the centre of Bangkok was a tailor-made suit store. Obviously not a stop of our choice. The driver explained he would get gas money by making this store a part of his tour. He wouldn’t drive us back unless we had spent some time in this store. Totally unfair as we already paid him to drive us around, and when we negotiated the price, he didn’t mention any of this. Needless to say, we didn’t buy anything in this store.
Lessons learned
The rest of our time in Thailand, we still took the tuk-tuk as a convenient mode of transport. We did learn the following lessons from our first experience, though:
- Stick to your own itinerary when taking a tuk-tuk.
- Walk away when a tuk-tuk driver is trying to change your itinerary during the negotiation process – no matter how convincing his reasons seem.
- Sometimes walking away makes the driver change his mind.
- If not, there are so many other tuk-tuk drivers around. Not all of them are scammers, so you will definitely find one who is happy to help.