harlow ppl
back from bangkok.
phew, it was hot there!
anyway, just to share 2 experiences. hope ppl here will be more aware and be careful
yup, u guessed it. It's the stoopid jewellery scam thing. It was really an eye opener for my husband, this is his very first visit to bangkok and we ran into 2 jerks on our first day of arrival!!!
after i checked into hotel with my other half, i wanted to show him the temple that was opposite out hote. This is like my 4th trip to bangkok and i have visited that temple before. so just as we stepped in, this uncle approached us and spoke in thai, i ignored and dragged my hubby in. So he started to speak english and i knew he was going to tell me abt the lucky buddha thing, that this temple is closed, blah blah blah, it's buddha day and everyone is rushing to see the lucky buddha. My husband who has never been in bangkok before was kinda surprised and quite keen to go. so i just told him that this is a jewellery scam. Whoa, that uncle was pretty shocked to see me talk like this, so he walked away quickly. this is case one at around 2plus noon.
case two at abt 5pm plus. on the very same day. we were walking along world trade center and wanna go baiyoke sky hotel. we were rather tired then but it's not a very far walk, abt 15 mins. so we decided to take a cab. We have settled the fare at 50 baht, however after the cab took off, this driver, very young chap who speak not bad english said he has some gas voucher and he can only redeem at this time. Shit, i immediately know he's gonna drive us to somewhere that sells jewellery, i couldn't believe my 'luck'!!! bad luck. twice in a row. on the same day!
so i said no very firmly and insisted that he drive me to my destination. sigh...but my husband , being the kind soul, said i shouldn't be so horrible. I was like, ???????
okie, so i kept quiet and kept my eyes on the road closely. I realised he has passed baiyoke sky hotel and i asked him where is his gas station. Then he took a turn and stopped the car. Someone opened the door and we stepped out and for my husband's curiosity sake, we went into this jewllery building, anyway, it was like less than 10 seconds that he decided to walk out. the taxi driver has just parked his car and was very unhappy to see us out so fast! we got back into his cab and this jerk drove like less than 30 steps away from the jewellery building and said baiyoek sky is in front. bull shit! so i couldn't contain my temper anymore and scolded him! He refused to drive me to baiyoke sky and insisted that i pay him now and get off his cab. He wait long long ah! I refused to pay him and threaten to call 1155. At the same time, i quickly opened the taxi door and we kinda like scrambled out in case he drove off fast with us in his cab!
okie, these are my 2 experiences that i wanna share with pple here. Pls be careful and be fierce and forceful in stating your stand! I dun mind paying more as a tourist, but i do not like the idea of being cheated greatly and taking me to some unknown places. Can u imagine if it was my very first trip and i couldn't recognise the roads? And i thanked buddha that it was not late at night, i could have gotten lost myself too.
so we walked back on foot and abt 10 mins later, we reached baiyoke sky. what a first day for my husband! luckily the buffet spread was great!