Tuk-tuks, Bangkok

1 more image

Tuk-tuks are auto rickshaws very popular in Bangkok, and you should have a go to experience a race in the city traffic. I enjoyed my ride, even if the driver did not want to give me the change for my note...
You will find tuk-tuks close to all major tourist attractions, they are quite cheap.

4 more images

I took a ride in a tuk tuk during a visit to Bangkok in September 2007.

I would recommend a tuk tuk ride as a novelty, one-off experience but would not suggest that you rely on them as your primary means of transport in the city.

You’ll have no problems finding a tuk tuk driver willing to take you on a tour of the city – the roads are full of these rather flimsy looking 3 wheel vehicles, and the drivers practically beg you to hand over your 20 Bahts for a sightseeing tour.

I was told to catch the tuk tuks with yellow number plates as they are government regulated but, given the number of lies I was told on the streets of Bangkok, this may or may not be true.

Each tuk tuk has a unique number, and number 1355 was the lucky driver who managed to lure me in to his vehicle for a death defying dash around Bangkok’s traffic clogged roads. With no seat belt and nothing to prevent me from being thrown from the vehicle in the event of a crash, I gripped onto the side rails and prayed that the driver would deliver me safely back to the Grand Palace.

I’d agreed a fee of 20 Bahts (0.30 GBP) in advance with the driver for him to take me to the giant standing Buddha at Wat Intharawihan, the Golden Mount and then back to the Grand Palace. However, Bangkok’s tuk tuk drivers are notorious for making unscheduled stops and failing to deliver passengers where they actually want to go. For more details of my own personal experience of this, see my “Warnings and Dangers” tip.

My tuk tuk ride was certainly exhilarating and offered a unique way to view the city from the road – certainly more exciting than watching the sights pass by from the window of an air conditioned taxi!

I highly recommend a tuk tuk ride…but only as a one-off experience!

1 more image

It may be insane but getting on a tuk tuk to get home late at night is sometimes the only way home in Bangkok. Just make sure you haggle, and the driver knows the way.....coz half the time they don't.

Getting one is no problem as they r everywhere!

When you're in Bangkok you must have a go in a tuk-tuk...they are great little taxis that will take you basically anywhere. You should bargain the price down though and you'll always get it cheaper.

It's a good idea to use the tuk-tuk's at night rather than during the day...that way you won't have so much traffic around you and you won't have to breathe in so much polluted air.

Tuk tuk. Ha ha ha ha. Tuk…. Tuk. The sound the two stroke engine splarts out. No muffler. All very fine and dandy if you do not have to listen to them whipping up and down your soi when you have a hangover, when you have to be up in 45 minutes, when you have no access to double glazing as you’re staying at your loverrrly missus’ uncle’s flat. (Who incidentally is also fully responsible for hangover.)

Believe me, after one minute the novelty of being inside a tuk tuk wears off. Just remember where you read it first …when you are in the 30 degree heat, 85 per cent humidity, behind a Metropolitan Transport Authority bus exhaust pipe. No air con, no windows. Going nowhere.

You may laugh. You may decry my lack of romantic nostalgia. Though I’ll have you know I too can reminisce about school dinners. Nostalgia doesn’t stop me throwing up at the smell of tomato and cheese pie.

So. Please. Just take a picture of the tuk tuks. Then tip the driver a few bob. After that catch a cab or use the skytrain.

Whilst staying in the hotel district of Bangkok, it is probably best to rely on the sky train for most of your transport, but for one half day, help out a local and hire a tuk tuk, and go to the places that are NOT on the train line. Go to the Temple of the Blue Buddha, and the Golden Mound. Ask to be let off at the riverside, and take a ferry back to the train station, and go back by train.

Expect to be taken to a jewellry shop and Leather/Suit store as undisclosed destinations. They give the driver vouchers for his petrol. Be polite, look in the store, talk for 4-5 minutes, promise to return, if you must, and then get back on board the Tuk Tuk.

Whatever you do, don't believe that any of the Jewellry is a real bargain.

Just let the driver earn his petrol vouchers, and off you go....

And back home to the hotel with the tuk tuk. It was a great experiance to travel with this driver.