Actors "600 baht" walk in Chiang Mai ends in whitewash for red taxi mafia

 

 

The "rot daeng" mafia in Chiang Mai have been exonerated after a famous Thai actor admitted a "misunderstanding".

 

Guy Ratchanon posted a video-ed walk last week on social media after he said he was quoted 600 baht for a one kilometer ride he refused to take. 

 

The rot daeng (red song thaew) drivers in the city were furious that their service had been disparaged on social media. 

 

Governor Suphachai Iamsuwan called the actor to Chiang Mai and yesterday - with his girlfriend by his side - they had two meetings in two locations lasting 3 hours. 

 

Reporters were banned. 

 

It took this long to decide that Guy had misunderstood the driver. He said he wanted to go to Doi Suthep Road to do some shopping and the driver thought he wanted to go to the temple of Doi Suthep that is much further. 

 

It has now all ended in wais and smiles. 

 

Source: Daily News

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2018-12-28

And the beat goes on.

The fact that they do not understand each other is not a news, but I still tend to believe that it was a scam.

OH BS!

10 minutes ago, GuestForLife said:

The fact that they do not understand each other is not a news, but I still tend to believe that it was a scam.

It sounds quite plausible to me .

The guy asked to go to Doi Suthep road and the driver thought he wanted to go to Doi Suthep Temple , which is indeed 35 kilometers away , up a hill and 600 Baht is the normal price 

Good old 'misunderstandings' strike again. 3 hours to establish that or 3 hours of brow beating?

Misunderstanding my a**e.

I do feel that its wrong to call them a "mafia"

"Mafia" means a crime family and these guys work driving cars

Misunderstanding What a load of BS.

He was told to say that, as his comments were not good for the image of Chiang Mai.

The governor ordered him to say it was a misunderstanding, or else off you go for attitude adjustment. 

8 minutes ago, colinneil said:

Misunderstanding What a load of BS.

He was told to say that, as his comments were not good for the image of Chiang Mai.

The governor ordered him to say it was a misunderstanding, or else off you go for attitude adjustment. 

I'm not so sure about this. A rot daeng asking 600baht for a 1 km drive is unheard of, but I can agree that the comments were not good for the "image of Chiang Mai".

It sounds quite plausible to me .
The guy asked to go to Doi Suthep road and the driver thought he wanted to go to Doi Suthep Temple , which is indeed 35 kilometers away , up a hill and 600 Baht is the normal price 

Where was his starting point for the trip?

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5 minutes ago, roo860 said:

Where was his starting point for the trip?

 

1 kilometer away from Doi Suthep road , 33 kilometers away from Doi Suthep temple

28 minutes ago, colinneil said:

Misunderstanding What a load of BS.

He was told to say that, as his comments were not good for the image of Chiang Mai.

The governor ordered him to say it was a misunderstanding, or else off you go for attitude adjustment. 

You are stating that as if you know that to be factual .

Was you at the meeting ?

Do you have any evidence to back-up your allegation or did you just make that up ?

Don't forget that many of the drivers do not speak Bangkok Thai so well, it is not impossible therefore that there was a misunderstanding.

Watches all round then???? 

1 kilometer away from Doi Suthep road , 33 kilometers away from Doi Suthep temple

I'm struggling with this distance, I'm very close to Ibis hotel at the Phucome intersection with the canal rd, I've cycled to the temple and it's about 9km.

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So what's the reason behind banning all the media from the meeting, no prizes in guessing why, silly me. 

I knew the actor's story was nonsense.

Wonder why those meetings took so long tho? Seems like 5 minutes could have sorted it out.

1 hour ago, sanemax said:

I do feel that its wrong to call them a "mafia"

"Mafia" means a crime family and these guys work driving cars

It's absurd to call them that, but drama reigns supreme here ????

 

Most of them are very nice people, and quite a few women in CM also, behind the wheel or assisting from the passenger seat.

26 minutes ago, roo860 said:

I'm struggling with this distance, I'm very close to Ibis hotel at the Phucome intersection with the canal rd, I've cycled to the temple and it's about 9km.

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Doi suthep is 15 kilometers from CM , 30 kilometers round trip 

1 hour ago, sanemax said:

You are stating that as if you know that to be factual .

Was you at the meeting ?

Do you have any evidence to back-up your allegation or did you just make that up ?

Bit of a silly comment, as even the media were banned.????

11 minutes ago, YogaVeg said:

It's absurd to call them that, but drama reigns supreme here ????

 

Most of them are very nice people, and quite a few women in CM also, behind the wheel or assisting from the passenger seat.

Most of them are very nice people.  I have been using these busses for 12 years.  Mostly no problem.  However, there are some bad ones out there, and they can be scary if you get on the wrong side of them.  I had a few bad experiences on them.... and many times ripped off on the price (but not more than 100 baht... so no big deal.  However when I am forced to pay 100 baht when the price should be 30 then that is just annoying.

 

Worst experience I had was when they guy thought I had been eating food in the back and throwing rubbish all over the place.  This was from some other passenger before me.  He was in a rage, was very frightening and made me pick up all the rubbish and put it in my back pack.  Made me get off the bus far from my destination (and no refund of my money I paid him in advance.  He was so freaking out it was useless to even argue with him.. and I was afraid he was about to go and get some metal bar to attack me!

 

 

Has the Governor nothing better to do,like sorting out

more serious problems in Chiang Mai,waste of 3 hours

of his time,which could have been handled by a minion.

regards worgeodie

So you are telling me two native Thai speakers cannot distinguish between road ' Thanon" and mountain "Phu kaow' absolute nonsense.

1 hour ago, jak2002003 said:

Most of them are very nice people.  I have been using these busses for 12 years.  Mostly no problem.  However, there are some bad ones out there, and they can be scary if you get on the wrong side of them.  I had a few bad experiences on them.... and many times ripped off on the price (but not more than 100 baht... so no big deal.  However when I am forced to pay 100 baht when the price should be 30 then that is just annoying.

 

Worst experience I had was when they guy thought I had been eating food in the back and throwing rubbish all over the place.  This was from some other passenger before me.  He was in a rage, was very frightening and made me pick up all the rubbish and put it in my back pack.  Made me get off the bus far from my destination (and no refund of my money I paid him in advance.  He was so freaking out it was useless to even argue with him.. and I was afraid he was about to go and get some metal bar to attack me!

 

 

kind of moron you follow around till you get a chance to sugar top his gas tank..

3 hours ago, sanemax said:

I do feel that its wrong to call them a "mafia"

"Mafia" means a crime family and these guys work driving cars

 

You sound like their consigliere lol

Doi suthep is 15 kilometers from CM , 30 kilometers round trip 

So the driver thought he asked for a round trip to Doi Suthep temple? Was a bit confused as you said the temple was over 30kms away, which it isn't.

 

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4 hours ago, GuestForLife said:

The fact that they do not understand each other is not a news, but I still tend to believe that it was a scam.

What was the scam?

11 minutes ago, roo860 said:

So the driver thought he asked for a round trip to Doi Suthep temple? Was a bit confused as you said the temple was over 30kms away, which it isn't.

 

OK , I made a mistake with the distance , but the actual distance is irrelevant because the going rate for a trip from the city to Doi Suthep is indeed 600 Baht , red cars usually take passengers to the Temple and back again , making the round trip 30 kilometers

51 minutes ago, marko kok prong said:

So you are telling me two native Thai speakers cannot distinguish between road ' Thanon" and mountain "Phu kaow' absolute nonsense.

I think that the confusion was over Doi Suthep and whether he meant the Temple or the road .

   They were beside the road , one was inside a car and the other on a pavement and with lots of traffic going by , they could well have been a misunderstanding