Oh, hello Bangkok, didn’t see you there. I guess the massive streams of traffic was blocking you from my view.
Bangkok was like a colorful new universe to discover. With its statues, lights, markets, religion, culture it’s hard not to look up and see something new. Truthfully, even in all its glory, Bangkok is not my favorite city. Over the last few months I realized that even though at home I live in a city (Ghent, which I love), I preferred the more quiet towns, calm beaches and peaceful streets. Bangkok was at that time the opposite of what I needed. But I still made due and explored the city for a few days.
When night time rolls by, make your way through the busy streets of Khao San Road where you’ll be overwhelmed with exotic street food, loud dance music and backpackers holding buckets in their hands. Happy hour, it’s just always goddamn happy hour.
Mind you, those buckets are lethal.
LETHAL I TELL YOU. And that’s all I’ll say about that.
There are a few scams going around in Bangkok, and it’s important to be well informed. When you, the newly arrived backpacker are wandering through the maze of streets, a large paper map in your hand trying to determine how many times you can possible walk the wrong direction, take notice of your surroundings. A polite, perfectly English speaking local might come up to you to leant you a hand and tell you where to go.
Here’s a list of warning signs:
- Overly friendly locals;
- Showing the touristy places on the map where you definitely have to go;
- Telling you your destination is closed right now;
- It’s a national holiday, so Tuk Tuk driver’s gas is free today;
- Charging you 30 Baht (=/- 1 US dollar) for the whole group for one day.
This would indicate that the driver would drive you around the city the whole day and take you places you don’t want to go but can’t refuse to buy things. My friends and I were stopped on various occasions in Bangkok and we heard ALL those excuses. When we asked about it at the tourist information center, we were informed that all those things were lies.
Just politely decline, keep on walking and find your way to a tourist information center. To be best informed, read these 21 Most Common Tourist Scams.
And apart from that, ENJOY BANGKOK!
Leave a Comment