2005.10.18
In October 2005, I went to Bangkok, Thailand on a business trip for an Asia-Pacific regional meeting. Since I arrived a day early, I had a small chance to look around some local sights.
Before leaving, I searched online for information about famous attractions, routes, transportation, local customs...and so on.
On Backpackers.com.tw, I saw plenty of backpackers praising Thai people as gentle and polite, warm and hospitable, living at a relaxed pace, with low prices...and so forth.
I thought this trip should be easy and pleasant~~
After arriving in Thailand, wow...I discovered that Bangkok's airport actually had a railway straight into the city center...more advanced than Taiwan...
But the train looked just like one of our ordinary local trains...and the service was not exactly frequent. The next train would not arrive for another hour @.@'"
After all, I had only one afternoon to make a quick round of Thailand's sights...so a taxi still seemed faster...
The previous few times I went to Hong Kong for meetings, I stayed at the JW Marriott. This time the meeting was even grander, held at Bangkok Marriott Resort & Spa
Bangkok Marriott Resort & Spa sat on the left bank of the Chao Phraya River. As the taxi crossed through the busy city and over the river...the surroundings became more and more remote...
The scenery around us changed from high-rises to low houses, and I started feeling a little uneasy...luckily, before long, the hotel's luxurious gate appeared.
From a distance I saw guards holding "guns" (yes...rifles), stopping the car to inspect it...opening the trunk, crouching down to look under the chassis...
The mood I had just managed to calm down...started getting nervous again ~.~
Later I found out that every car entering the hotel went through the same security check...it made public safety there feel not so great...and honestly a little exaggerated...
After checking in and resting for a bit, I went to the hotel's private riverside pier and took the shuttle boat to the nearest metro station across the river: S6-Saphan Taksin.
Here we go~
The two sides of the Chao Phraya River, from the hotel to the city, were in sharp contrast...
After getting off the shuttle boat, I skipped the metro and took a river bus directly toward the first stop: the Grand Palace.
After getting off the boat, the real scary part of the journey began...
The road toward the Grand Palace was packed with people...shops and street stalls lined both sides, full-on tropical flavor...
Walking alone on the road, someone suddenly approached me with a friendly smile and started chatting...
After a bit of conversation, he asked, "Are you going to the Temple of the Emerald Buddha inside the Grand Palace? What bad luck, today is Buddha's Birthday and the palace is closed to visitors...
I can take you to some famous nearby temples that are still open today..."
I thought, "Sure, what are the odds? Today just happens to be Buddha's Birthday? (He said Buddha's Birthday, so I figured that meant the Buddha's birthday...right~~)"
My defense level immediately rose to yellow alert...and sure enough, when we reached a small alley, he turned into it and strongly invited me to follow him...
Since I am still here writing this blog post today...obviously...I did not follow him. That was bad guy number one in Bangkok, Thailand.
After finally reaching the side gate of the Grand Palace, the police at the entrance also told me that today was Buddha's Birthday, and the palace was only open until three. But I would need to walk about fifteen minutes to enter from the main gate...
With only half an hour left, I had no choice but to give up on visiting the Temple of the Emerald Buddha...(later I guessed that maybe, to make explanations easier for tourists, they just called every god's or Buddha's birthday "Buddha's Birthday"...)
Then that police officer kindly told me that if I wanted to visit temples, there were three places I could go: 1.XXX 2.OOO 3.###...
What? You can't tell what that means?? Well...that's because I couldn't understand what he was saying either @.@'"
Finally, he simply waved down a passing tuk-tuk for me and helped negotiate a good price to have the driver take me to those three places...
Hmm...this Thai police officer was a genuinely good person...
At last we arrived at the first attraction...it really was quite distinctive~~
This temple sat on high ground in the area, overlooking Bangkok city...
When I walked back to the parking lot, the tuk-tuk was indeed still waiting there...seeing me return, the driver said he needed to use the restroom and asked me to wait a moment...
The person he had been chatting with came over and started talking to me: "Where are you from? Oh~~Taiwan~~li-ho...li-ho...I have been to Taiwan too!$#$!&#$..."
"Did you know Thailand's sapphires are world-famous? If you buy them here, you can even get a tax refund. Buying a few inexpensive ones as gifts is pretty good~~"
"There is an exhibition at Bangkok's World Trade Center these few days (I had glimpsed something about that on the hotel news...), and our company has a booth there. Take this business card and you can get a discount~"
Just as he reached this point, the tuk-tuk driver came back. On the road, he asked what I had talked about with that person: "Oh~sapphires. The World Trade Center is very close to here...we will pass it on the way to the next stop. Do you want to swing by and take a look? As long as you hand that business card to the vendor, I can get a five-gallon gasoline reward..."
I was still hesitating, but I could not withstand his pleading...and I thought the exhibition at the World Trade Center should not be a scam, so taking a look would not hurt...
In the end, the tuk-tuk took me who knows where, then he told me that inside the dark glass door ahead...the place that looked like an erotic massage parlor...was that person's company branch, and buying directly at the shop would be cheaper...
What a joke...there was no way I believed I could walk into that place and still walk out upright...no matter what he said, I refused to go along.
Seeing that the plan had failed, the driver angrily kept going. Not long after, at the entrance to a temple around a corner, he told me we had arrived...
I went in and saw everyone inside chanting. What was there to tour?? I turned around and came out, and that tuk-tuk had actually stood me up *.*
Back then...there was no Papago or Google Maps to use...so I could only start walking forward first.
Suddenly I saw a large road called Khao San Road...ha...Khao San Road...I knew that one ^.^ Fortunately, I had done my homework before going abroad. Once I knew it was Khao San Road, I had at least some idea of the nearby surroundings~~
Honestly...I still could not understand why backpackers all gathered there...it looked dirty and chaotic...
But whatever. By the time I had walked there, I was tired and had no mood to keep exploring...so I went to a tuk-tuk parked by the road and asked how much it would cost to get to the nearest river bus pier.
(There is a going rate for tuk-tuks, roughly calculated by distance...I had checked online before, so I had a rough idea in mind.)
After haggling with this driver for a while, although the agreed price was a bit high, I thought forget it, spending a little extra to go back and rest earlier was fine...
In the end, he actually led me across the street, quoted a price to another tuk-tuk driver, and subcontracted me out >.< Ugh...I almost coughed up blood...
In one short afternoon, I ran into one small-time bad guy, one very good person, two major bad guys, and one crooked merchant @.@'"
Afterword:
This happened in 2005. The strange thing is, back then I did not see much negative commentary about Thailand online...now, casually searching Google for "Thailand tuk-tuk" or "Thailand sapphire" turns up piles of travel stories from people who were scammed...
The only thing to remember is: when you are away from home, do not get greedy for cheap deals; when something seems suspicious, run~~
Sharing this scary adventure here for everyone's reference~~
Complete photo album
Previewing up to 8 album photos. Open the gallery to browse all photos.
