Tuktuk Drivers Need to Love Too

Sigh.  If English is your first language and you don't speak Thai, don't get into a tuktuk unless you fancy paying a little extra for your journey, or visiting shops you never heard of and don't particularly want to go to.  This is all I can say about tuktuks in Bangkok.  No, we didn't actually get taken to the "Thai government sponsored clothing sale" at James Fashions.  We wanted to go to Pratunum Market, and when we tried to talk the driver into avoiding the HUGE SALE at James Fashions (he showed us a well-worn brochure for this fine establishment, with pictures of men's suits adorning every page) he went into some sort of meltdown and had to pull over to look at his map.  I don't think he even knew where Pratunum Market was.  When he stopped we got out, and while we fumbled for some coins to give him he drove off to find another pigeon.  Sigh again.

Petchaburi Road, as seen from the Pratunum pedestrian crossing:

We hailed a taxi and another tuktuk driver pulled up, and offered to take us to the market for 100 baht.  I almost fell over at this point, but politely told him no, that was twice what a taxi would charge.  When the taxi that was pulling up for us stopped, we said good bye to Tuktuk Man and buzzed off to Pratunum Market in air conditioned comfort, for 60 baht - 49 baht plus 11 baht tip.  I assure you I was well-behaved and nice at all times.  Both Carla and I have ended our careers as tuktuk passengers, forever, I think.

A tuktuk as from above, complete with farang shearer:

After the market we found a taxi and asked him to take us back to Phra Sumen Road, where there was a shop I wanted to return to in order to buy some pillows for my treatment rooms.  I even showed him the location on the map (damn those tourists and their laminated street maps).  He pulled out into the traffic, and when I asked him to turn the meter on he said it was broken.  I asked him to stop the car, and as if by magic his meter started working when he pushed a few buttons.  Unrepentant, he then tried to pad the route a little, at which time we did force him to stop and we paid the 51 baht on the meter.  Had he just gone the correct way; the shortest, fastest way, he would have received a nice tip as well as the fare.  Sheer bloodymindedness ruled, I wasn't going to sit in that taxi for another second.  I'm certain that the extra charge wouldn't have broken the bank, but it has become the principle of the thing.

I am starting to learn my way around Bangkok a little, and can plainly see how easy it would be to fleece people from forn parts.  Everything looks the same same but different, as they like to say in Thailand.  It's not until you start clocking the different wats and other landmarks that you can actually tell when you're getting the extra special treatment.   I wish I could say that I'm exaggerating, but I'm not, and I know Bangkok isn't the only place in the world that it goes on - it happens in New York, Alicante, Medford, Oregon, and London as well.  It is extremely important to tell you that not all taxi drivers are like this!  I have had many taxi rides in Thailand that were strictly from A to B, with no faffing. 

My friend, the Groovy Map of Bangkok http://www.groovymap.com/main.php, has empowered me.  I know that if I stick to the map eventually I will work out where I need to be.  I might have to walk around some, but I'll bloody well get there in the end, random dog bites and all.

Maybe I'm just enduring a low transportation moment.