Tuk-tuk Stand Off In Karon

[Valentine]

Kata to Patong in 2001; 400 baht, perhaps your driver was the last of the dying breed of benevolent Tuk-Tuk drivers !!

I remember a cost of 10 baht from Bangla to my hotel with no money & the driver coming to collect it the next day. Now that is going back a long time, 1990/91. I still see this guy on occasion & still working Patong.

[neverdie]

Funny thing about it is 'they' arnt even real tuk tuks, real tuk tuks have 3 wheels, these oxygen theives have 4 wheels. Real tuk tus Thai call tuk tuks ตุ๊กๆ and they call the four wheel 'rod-kra-pong' (meaning canned car) รถกระป๋อง.

I am sure these so called tuk tuk fools will lose this one & that would be good to see, but be careful when dealing with them 1 on 1, they fight dirty and I also initally found out the hard way with one of these theiving grubs......having said that, hes now a toothless tiger .

I can't understand anyone sympathising with these thugs.

[katabeachbum]

Funny thing about it is 'they' arnt even real tuk tuks, real tuk tuks have 3 wheels, these oxygen theives have 4 wheels. Real tuk tus Thai call tuk tuks ตุ๊กๆ and they call the four wheel 'rod-kra-pong' (meaning canned car) รถกระป๋อง.

I am sure these so called tuk tuk fools will lose this one & that would be good to see, but be careful when dealing with them 1 on 1, they fight dirty and I also initally found out the hard way with one of these theiving grubs......having said that, hes now a toothless tiger .

I can't understand anyone sympathising with these thugs.

In Phuket the daihatsu pickups are called tuktuks, probably has never been proper 3 wheel 2 strokes here.

Some places, like Hua Hin, they have started calling Suzukis pickup tuktuk too

[cotambear]

I would also challenge the view that the tuk tuk monopoly `aids locals`. Firstly locals have no cheap transport options. Secondly those who benefit are only the drivers, their bosses, the police and other (rich) `influential people`, and possibly patong whisky. Thirdly many tourists resent being gouged and wont revisit, with their spends. Fourth, once the word gets round, tourists are put off coming in the first place. Five, a high proportion of tourist money spent on tuk tuks means less to spend in local businesses.

[cotambear]

Shoot the real bad guy's!

Or boycott and ignore 'em...

If anyones thinking of `going postal` this is a sure way of becoming a posthumous hero.

[ScubaBuddha]

Tonight, while attempting to cross Beach road at Bangla with a group of co-workers, and as a bunch of tourists attempted to cross from the other side, a tuk tuk, (on of the infinite moving line of empty tuk tuk's which continually clog the entire one way loop in Patong) very slowly forced his way through all of us pedestirans as we were trying to cross the road in the crosswalk. He had barely enough room to get through, and several people reacted verbally to his making us all stop suddenly on our tippy toes when we realized he was coming though regardless of who was in the crosswalk. I knocked his side mirror in as hard as I could with my elbow. You could see in his eyes he was wasted.

I also noticed, as is often the case, a policeman doing his best to keep the the east side of the beach road north of Bangla clear of illegally parked tuk tuks, which always line curb there, parked illegally . The BIB blew his whistle and motioned for the tuk tuks to move on, which they did, for a total of about 3 meters before stopping again. Nice that the police at least challenge the mafia's on this one issue, as they have no real power over them.