Disguised As A Tourist

[sutnyod]

Hi,

here just some observations I had when I decided to take friends of mine places. Tourist places, like the Grand Palace and Wat Pho and Sanam Luang. I have to say that the last time I did tourism in Bangkok was like ten years ago or even longer. Somehow I had imagined things have not changed. They have:

People were VERY rude. There were the touts on Sanam Luang who put bags with corn in our hands (all of my friends are excellent Thai speakers and said they don't want to feed the doves) AND then demanded to be paid for the corn. (No, we did not pay) There were sellers of all kinds of things who were a real pest. We were in constant danger to have our eyes poked out by cheap fans and postcards. Every other step we took we were approached by jewelery experts, tuc-tuc specialists, travel agency best-offer offerers, and wannabe translators. It was worse than main Angkor! Personnel at the gates was unfriendly and grumpy.

When I did my last tourism exploration here people were friendly, unobtrusive, helpful and not aggressive. I am very sorry that Thailand must, to the normal tourists who have very little occasion to meet other Thais than those in the business, appear like any other country or worse. There is definitely the need to improve things.

Sadly

s.

[backflip]

Welcome to the big city.

[sutnyod]

Welcome to the big city.

Hm. Problem is: I almost belong to the furniture here, go waaaayyyyyyyyy back. It's just that my daily life and then this tourism stint do not seem to fit together. Like I was on a completely different planet. I have found quite a lot of consistency in the Thai society (talking to taxi drivers, cleaners; to bio-engineers or farmers, NGO staff, private sector etc.) but THIS did just not fit in.

[lazeeboy]

Welcome to the big city.

Hm. Problem is: I almost belong to the furniture here, go waaaayyyyyyyyy back. It's just that my daily life and then this tourism stint do not seem to fit together. Like I was on a completely different planet. I have found quite a lot of consistency in the Thai society (talking to taxi drivers, cleaners; to bio-engineers or farmers, NGO staff, private sector etc.) but THIS did just not fit in.

its the same in any big city ,if you look like a tourist you will be pestered.

[londonthai]

people say that poverty is rising - hence the effect. Deseerate people trying to meet their ends

[wileycoyote]

The best ruse ,I ever saw was in Jaipur.

As the tourists got off the bus,one vagrant would throw mud or spit on people's shoes....just as the tourist remonstrated and tried to chase after the boy,another boy would come and offer to clean the torists shoes.

In those days ,a Safari suit was the epitome of fasion and one handle-bar moustached old codger had his shoes cleaned 3 times in the same morning !

Wiley Coyote

[Goshawk]

As the tourists got off the bus,one vagrant would throw mud or spit on people's shoes....just as the tourist remonstrated and tried to chase after the boy,another boy would come and offer to clean the torists shoes.

Excellent..!! a couple of entrepreneur's

hope the 'spitter' got a bigger cut of the scam...

[PhilHarries]

Welcome to the big city.

Hm. Problem is: I almost belong to the furniture here, go waaaayyyyyyyyy back. It's just that my daily life and then this tourism stint do not seem to fit together. Like I was on a completely different planet. I have found quite a lot of consistency in the Thai society (talking to taxi drivers, cleaners; to bio-engineers or farmers, NGO staff, private sector etc.) but THIS did just not fit in.

its the same in any big city ,if you look like a tourist you will be pestered.

True story.

Back in the mid nineties I arrived back in Bangkok from a business trip to Korea. It was late afternoon and those days the trip down to Pattaya was a four hour minimum hel_l ride so I decided to overnight in Bangkok and do the trip early morning.

So I checked in at the hotel, the Nana , and grabbed my camera to go out and have a scratch around. I thought I'd play the dumb tourist and see what scams I'd experience. I ended up walking round the ground floor of NEP staring around me wide eyed and grinning at all the girls. I eventually parked up at a beer bar and sat down.

"What you want some dink?" the girl asked.

"Could I have a bottle of beer" I replied in the best English accent I could muster.

"What beer you want?"

"What beers do you have."

"Singha, Amarit, Klosatter." No Heineken, Chang, Leo those days.

"Is Singha a Thai beer."

"Yes."

"OK I'll have one bottle of Singha."

I got the beer and when she returned with my bin she said "How long you work Thailand?"

Never underestimate these people.

[Monkey Fish]

here just some observations I had when I decided to take friends of mine places. Tourist places, like the Grand Palace and Wat Pho and Sanam Luang.

To some degree you describe the contempt that tourists are held in pretty much everywhere Lonely Planet has gone. But I couldn't agree more that the gem scam people around the Grand Palace are too much. The same guys are by the same gates with the same tuk-tuks every day. A couple days ago I was walking by the NE gate across from Sanam Luang (in work clothes, not typical tourist attire) and the guy there jumped in front of me and told me I needed to buy a ticket "over there", pointing at the park...

It's inconceivable to me that the money that's being made with this scam is balanced by the harm done to Thailand's reputation. It just doesn't make economic sense. . . unless the guys that profit from it are actually so obtuse that they can't find a way to use their power to profit from legitimate business activities.

[cobra]

Same, same, all over, the bane of tourism,

James Bond Island, if you buy from one vendor you must buy something from all the vendors,

... why you not buy from me ... they'll follow you back to the boat and pester until you yield, even getting in front of your camera so you can't get any decent shots of anything, if you want to come away with anything decent photographically you'll be leaving with a bag of cheap necklaces,

Floating Market, the memorabilia plate gang will take your picture unsolicited and affix it to those little tea cup saucers then request you pay for it even though you didn't ask for it,

We all know there's no relief on any commercial beach, that's why I love Koh Chang, (Klong Prao beach), quiet stretches of picture perfect beach, whoops, I've already said too much, forget about Chang, filthy with hawkers ...

[Tony Clifton]

It's been going on for so long, the local boys in brown are obviously getting kickbacks.

[clubsiam]

Same, same, all over, the bane of tourism,

James Bond Island, if you buy from one vendor you must buy something from all the vendors,

... why you not buy from me ... they'll follow you back to the boat and pester until you yield, even getting in front of your camera so you can't get any decent shots of anything, if you want to come away with anything decent photographically you'll be leaving with a bag of cheap necklaces,

Floating Market, the memorabilia plate gang will take your picture unsolicited and affix it to those little tea cup saucers then request you pay for it even though you didn't ask for it,

We all know there's no relief on any commercial beach, that's why I love Koh Chang, (Klong Prao beach), quiet stretches of picture perfect beach, whoops, I've already said too much, forget about Chang, filthy with hawkers ...

Total disrespect for the foreign visitors. Wasn't like that years ago.

The hawkers on Patong Beach Phukett are ruthless.

I was suntanning and trying to sleep and they would come up and wake me every 5 minutes to buy some of their crap.

They would grab my arm or shake me to wake me up!

Do you think they would do that to some Thai guy?

[sutnyod]

Total disrespect for the foreign visitors. Wasn't like that years ago.

My impression, too.

.. and wake me every 5 minutes to buy some of their crap.

They would grab my arm or shake me to wake me up!

Do you think they would do that to some Thai guy?

I think the scammers just play with people's greed. You can say "NO". However, you are helpless in the face of people waking you or placing things in your hands (well, maybe one could drop them). Does the law of self-defence apply here????

I read your other thread about the scammers and find the idea of taking people's pictures a good idea. Or maybe I will just print out some I found here on the forum on a BIG sheet and demonstratively carry them to Erawan shrine. Wonder what will happen...

[PadThaiGuy]

Total disrespect for the foreign visitors. Wasn't like that years ago.

My impression, too.

.. and wake me every 5 minutes to buy some of their crap.

They would grab my arm or shake me to wake me up!

Do you think they would do that to some Thai guy?

I think the scammers just play with people's greed. You can say "NO". However, you are helpless in the face of people waking you or placing things in your hands (well, maybe one could drop them). Does the law of self-defence apply here????

I read your other thread about the scammers and find the idea of taking people's pictures a good idea. Or maybe I will just print out some I found here on the forum on a BIG sheet and demonstratively carry them to Erawan shrine. Wonder what will happen...

I would be carefull as some of those scammers are probably cops.

They certainly have some protection since they work so openly.

[Richie1971]

The best ruse ,I ever saw was in Jaipur.

As the tourists got off the bus,one vagrant would throw mud or spit on people's shoes....just as the tourist remonstrated and tried to chase after the boy,another boy would come and offer to clean the torists shoes.

In those days ,a Safari suit was the epitome of fasion and one handle-bar moustached old codger had his shoes cleaned 3 times in the same morning !

Wiley Coyote

Hhahahahahahaha, i've also

[Richie1971]

The best ruse ,I ever saw was in Jaipur.

As the tourists got off the bus,one vagrant would throw mud or spit on people's shoes....just as the tourist remonstrated and tried to chase after the boy,another boy would come and offer to clean the torists shoes.

In those days ,a Safari suit was the epitome of fasion and one handle-bar moustached old codger had his shoes cleaned 3 times in the same morning !

Wiley Coyote

Hahahahahahaha, i've also had that experience in many places in India, once bitten twice, shy a good kick up the ass does the trick - asking or selling is one thing, scamming is another.

[tgeezer]

I read some of the reports and It occurs to me that some of these people are criminals and I wonder what they would get up to if this harmless practise was stamped-on or even publicised so much as to make it difficult for them to operate. Is it in fact against the law to try to sell something, to be pushy, to sell things for more than they are worth? It is only a question of where you draw the line surely, no one minds paying over the odds for branded goods, Rolex, Cartier, Channel, Lacoste, Picasso, who says what a gem is 'worth' to a waterless man in a desert a Rolex is worth a bottle of water. Buy what you like and can afford, when you wear a gem no-one is going to believe it is real if you don't look real and the converse is true. If you want to be a business-man know what you are buying and where you can sell, these guys didn't get the goods free.

[logpoacher]

I agree about the weird disparity between the Thailand I live in and the one the tourists see - I can go from one month to the next without being hassled by tuk-tuk drivers, befriended by helpful middle-aged couples whose brothers own gem stores, etc., and then when friends come to see us and we go to any of the tourist spots, there they all are.

My own favourite, accosted by tuk-tuk driver whilst I was walking from Hualamphong tube station to Yaowarat Road:

T-t D: (Brrm, brrm) Hey you, where you go?

Me: Phom pai Thanon Yaowarat (my thought being that this will give him a clue that I'm not a tourist)

T-t D: (Brrm, brrm) Yaowarat Road closed today!

Me: Aray, na? Raan tuk raan bit wan nii? Jing rue?

T-t D: (Brrm, brrm) Yaowarat Road closed today!

Me: Mai chuea

and so on.

[sutnyod]

T-t D: (Brrm, brrm) Yaowarat Road closed today!

Maybe the airport is closed today, too?

[clubsiam]

I was sitting roadside, enjoying a plate of fried rice and a "student" sat at my table. I told him I was going to take a boat on the river.

"River closed" he says... King on the river today........ I show you around, OK?

All these smiling , devious people are giving me the creeps.

[bangkapiboy]

Unfortunately I don't think anyone at the TAT cares... It's really unfortunate that these low life creeps can continue this out in the open all the time. It's not up to the flower vendors or shops to do anything. It's the authorities who should clamp down.

[Tinkelbell]

I agree about the weird disparity between the Thailand I live in and the one the tourists see - I can go from one month to the next without being hassled by tuk-tuk drivers, befriended by helpful middle-aged couples whose brothers own gem stores, etc., and then when friends come to see us and we go to any of the tourist spots, there they all are.

My own favourite, accosted by tuk-tuk driver whilst I was walking from Hualamphong tube station to Yaowarat Road:

T-t D: (Brrm, brrm) Hey you, where you go?

Me: Phom pai Thanon Yaowarat (my thought being that this will give him a clue that I'm not a tourist)

T-t D: (Brrm, brrm) Yaowarat Road closed today!

Me: Aray, na? Raan tuk raan bit wan nii? Jing rue?

T-t D: (Brrm, brrm) Yaowarat Road closed today!

Me: Mai chuea

and so on.

Talking Thai to these touts doesn't help much, as you already found out. They care only to make money out of anyone if they suspect that person has some dough. As it happened to me more than few times. I was with the group tour from the West coast US, touring TL. When ever our motorcoach stoped, these touts would circle around us like glue. I did my best by trying to explain in (perfect native Thai) to them that we are not interested in anything that they're offering us. Funny, once I head this tout said to the others " Hey, she speaks Thai better than all of you " ( Khun-nai-poot-pasaThai-dee-gua-puak-meung). With my Thai talk and our firm saying 'No', they still hanged around, they know the tourists have money to spend if they stay persistant enough they might make a kill on the sale deal.

This is common scene when you travel out side first world countries.

[007]

From a perspective of a tourist Thailand has changed dramatically over the past ten years!

Bangkok is still filthy in many places, and most of the people poor. But what has changed is people's attitudes! Sellers, hotel staff, and tuk-tuk drivers are plain RUDE, and taxi drivers having no clue of where the place is you want to go to, thereby giving you a tour and wasting your time and money...

Back in 1997 when I first came to Thailand I loved the smiles and the friendliness of the locals; I was always out and about, hardly in my hotel room, always eating Thai food...

Now in 2007 I mostly try to avoid contact to Thais, stay a lot in my room watching TV, and eat almost exclusively western food.

Just look at the faces of Westerners who come here for the first time, and who have been here for a few days in the so-called 'Land of Smiles'. Many of them get disillusioned with the place and the people quickly these days...

Edited December 21, 2007 by 7

[alexth]

Meeting tourists sux, they use a lot of their posterior while giving you their impressions about Thailand. I kind of avoid tourist areas and disguising myself into one...not my cup of tea

[PadThaiGuy]

From a perspective of a tourist Thailand has changed dramatically over the past ten years!

Bangkok is still filthy in many places, and most of the people poor. But what has changed is people's attitudes! Sellers, hotel staff, and tuk-tuk drivers are plain RUDE, and taxi drivers having no clue of where the place is you want to go to, thereby giving you a tour and wasting your time and money...

Back in 1997 when I first came to Thailand I loved the smiles and the friendliness of the locals; I was always out and about, hardly in my hotel room, always eating Thai food...

Now in 2007 I mostly try to avoid contact to Thais, stay a lot in my room watching TV, and eat almost exclusively western food.

Just look at the faces of Westerners who come here for the first time, and who have been here for a few days in the so-called 'Land of Smiles'. Many of them get disillusioned with the place and the people quickly these days...

The scamming of tourists is unrelenting these days. A novice tourist probably gets approached 40 times a day.

It's ruining the tourist industry.

By the way...What happened to that link to the photos of the Con Artists at Erawan Shrine?

[bulmercke]

From a perspective of a tourist Thailand has changed dramatically over the past ten years!

Bangkok is still filthy in many places, and most of the people poor. But what has changed is people's attitudes! Sellers, hotel staff, and tuk-tuk drivers are plain RUDE, and taxi drivers having no clue of where the place is you want to go to, thereby giving you a tour and wasting your time and money...

Back in 1997 when I first came to Thailand I loved the smiles and the friendliness of the locals; I was always out and about, hardly in my hotel room, always eating Thai food...

Now in 2007 I mostly try to avoid contact to Thais, stay a lot in my room watching TV, and eat almost exclusively western food.

Just look at the faces of Westerners who come here for the first time, and who have been here for a few days in the so-called 'Land of Smiles'. Many of them get disillusioned with the place and the people quickly these days...

The scamming of tourists is unrelenting these days. A novice tourist probably gets approached 40 times a day.

It's ruining the tourist industry.

]By the way...What happened to that link to the photos of the Con Artists at Erawan Shrine?

Yeah...... I remember seeing that but I can't find it now.

Edited December 24, 2007 by bulmercke

[Bagwan]

Given the accusations made against the former Director of TAT why should anybody be surprised? Seems the entire Tourist Police force is in an inactive post.

[Macx]

Lumphini Muay Thai Stadium's Foreigner Price: 1,500-2,000 bhat

They wouldn't sell me a ticket for the middle tier seats for Thai price. And they were very nasty about it. There was only about 45 minutes of fight left for the night too. I just smiled, said thank you, and walked away.

A nice cold pint in an AC cooled pub with satellite sport TV for 1/10th of price is so much better.

Needless to say, I'll never go there again. Nor will I ever recommend Lumphini Stadium to any friends, family, or strangers ever again.

In fact, I used to urge friends to visit and would love to take them to all the sights. Not anymore. Actually, I find myself spending less and less time in LOS.

[PadThaiGuy]

From a perspective of a tourist Thailand has changed dramatically over the past ten years!

Bangkok is still filthy in many places, and most of the people poor. But what has changed is people's attitudes! Sellers, hotel staff, and tuk-tuk drivers are plain RUDE, and taxi drivers having no clue of where the place is you want to go to, thereby giving you a tour and wasting your time and money...

Back in 1997 when I first came to Thailand I loved the smiles and the friendliness of the locals; I was always out and about, hardly in my hotel room, always eating Thai food...

Now in 2007 I mostly try to avoid contact to Thais, stay a lot in my room watching TV, and eat almost exclusively western food.

Just look at the faces of Westerners who come here for the first time, and who have been here for a few days in the so-called 'Land of Smiles'. Many of them get disillusioned with the place and the people quickly these days...

The scamming of tourists is unrelenting these days. A novice tourist probably gets approached 40 times a day.

It's ruining the tourist industry.

]By the way...What happened to that link to the photos of the Con Artists at Erawan Shrine?

Yeah...... I remember seeing that but I can't find it now.

I googled 'Erawan Shrine Con Artists' and found the shots.

BOY! More than 20 full time scammers working the crowd at that shrine.

Most of them look like cops.

Amazing Thailand.

[PadThaiGuy]

Lumphini Muay Thai Stadium's Foreigner Price: 1,500-2,000 bhat

They wouldn't sell me a ticket for the middle tier seats for Thai price. And they were very nasty about it. There was only about 45 minutes of fight left for the night too. I just smiled, said thank you, and walked away.

A nice cold pint in an AC cooled pub with satellite sport TV for 1/10th of price is so much better.

Needless to say, I'll never go there again. Nor will I ever recommend Lumphini Stadium to any friends, family, or strangers ever again.

In fact, I used to urge friends to visit and would love to take them to all the sights. Not anymore. Actually, I find myself spending less and less time in LOS.

YES, The Lumpine Boxing scam is alive and well.

I used to rave to my friends and family to come visit Thailand. Not any more.

The last time my sister was here she was scammed as soon as I was not nearby to protect her from all the tourist cheats.

They are EVERYWHERE! They are DEVIOUS, RUDE, DISRESPTFULL and AGGRESSIVE these days.

I feel Thailand is getting very dangerous.

Edited December 25, 2007 by PadThaiGuy