Bangkok Dangerous

bangkok, the capital city of thailand, boasts of its sights and sounds with over 20 million tourists each year. the city is laden with wats or temples, modern infrastructures and many others. bangkok experience is dubbed as "truly asia" in all its essence.

however, traveling around the city of bangkok proposes problems. it seems to have double standards for the locals and the tourists, which is common with the rest of the developing world. tourists are treated differently due to prejudice, necessity and the worse, out of greed.

 the blogger as a tuk-tuk driver

this separation between the tourist and the locals is on the use of public transportation like taxi and the tuk-tuk. there is so much scam that is going around. while it is so hard to communicate with the people around for they know very little english, scammers are always on the lose. in many cases, before you get inside the cab, you would always ask, "do you speak english?" if the answer is no, take another cab. it happened to us that when drivers do not speak english, communication is at its worse. drivers can tour you around, and of course, your meter rates soar high.

the house of the king of thailand inside the grand palace

also, taxi drivers during late hours would normally hire their taxis at fixed rates. waving your hand at them would mean not doing business with them. but in the event of necessities, you should negotiate with the taxi drivers that toll fees are already part of the deal. in bangkok, it is the passengers that pay whooping toll fees!

another instance is my experience with a tuk-tuk driver. being an adventurous person, i toured bangkok alone and left my friends at the hotel without knowing the danger it might bring me. i was off to the biggest, high-end mall of bangkok, the siam paragon just to have a good view and maybe a little shopping. i took the taxi and paid 50 baht. upon reaching the mall, americans are supposed to hire the taxi after i get off. i told them not to take that taxi because the driver doesn't understand english. when i left the mall, i took a tuk-tuk for taxis are nowhere to be found. the driver was speaking to me in thai and assuming that he was asking me where to drop me off, i said, "juldis hotel, pratunam. how much?" learning that i am a foreigner, he said, "500 baht!" wow! that's 750 pesos. so i said, "no! that's too much!" he said, "okay, 300 baht!" using my best carabao english, i yelled at him. "no! i took taxi! paid 50 baht! your tuk-tuk, non-aircon! many dusts! not comfortable!" he yelled back, "traffic! pay me 300 baht!" i yelled back, "no! put me down! i will tell the poo leet near the poot opeet (i will tell the police near the post office)!" upon reaching the central mall, traffic lights turned red and i jumped down from the tuk-tuk without paying the driver. he shouted, "pay me!" i shouted back, "f*ck you! f*ck you!" and ran towards the mall. thanks for the free ride, man!


i went inside the mall to give me ample time to vent out with the situation. i bumped into a guy where almost everyone's staring at him. little i did know that it was mario maurer who was doing shopping with his girlfriend. i went out of the mall and took the taxi instead.

later that night, we went to patpong, bangkok's red light district. the show's fee was 500  baht and features women doing outrageous tricks using their vaginas. there were instances when pingpong balls are inserted into the vagina, pops them out and a few meters from them, a bowl that catches the balls. some stunts include strings being pulled where flowers pop up. the worst part that came out were blades! it was an underground activity and hence, cameras are strictly covered with stickers. the last part of the show was a live sex show. being a meter away from the performers, i was wowed with their performance and maybe, just maybe...they were able to beat the positions in the book of kamasutra!

to avoid scammers, insist on the driver to turn the meters. if he says no, wave him off and take another taxi. when dealing with the tuk-tuk drivers, be firm. if you are not getting what you want, get away from the scene. take other tuk-tuks. if you waved off a lot of them, this would show that you really mean business with them. as a general rule of thumb, cut the price into half and haggle.

for many, the thai people believed that fair-skinned people have good jobs and of course, much money. if you are dark-skinned, you must be poor.

bangkok is a great city, but in many places in the world, double standards and scams are to watch for. a traveler just have to be smart and be firm so that your travel will all be worth it.