Tuk-tuks, Bangkok

I find negotiating a tuk-tuk fare a grat nuisance. They hang around key tourist places and tell you to get from a to b for a veeeery high fare, and things turn sour if you negotiate down. If you are not aware, they will also take you to a shopping centre for a "free stop" inbetween A and B. Unless you know the itinerary and approx price, travel with Thais or have a very wild sense of good fun, don't choose tuk-tuks. Safetywise they are also a dangerous option.

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These are all individually designed and painted little open air “people movers”…some say they’re dangerous which they probably are but each one is a little different from the other and I kind of liked the tacky colors and dingle balls and neon that most were decorated with.

I used these little oil guzzlers more than a few times getting around in certain areas of Bangkok…and for the most part I thought it was kind of fun, for sure…a little noisy…and a little smelly but there was almost a feeling of a ride at the carnival whenever I used them. I like the feel of wind blowing on my face and through the little hair that I have left.
The fumes from the engines were sometimes a little much but it was a cheap way of getting around and it was a challenge to obtain a price that I thought was fair for transport.

PRICES for transport with these things are NEGOTIABLE.

BUYER BEWARE…these guys, Tuk Tuk drivers will TRY to squeeze you for more than what the ride is worth. So for sure..PLAY with them and enjoy the little battle of wills…more than once I let the guy drive away, unsatisfied with the price he wanted to charge.. soon enough there was another coming down the road looking for a way to make a buck.
There are a billion of these around Bangkok so don’t worry about letting them go on if he won’t meet your price.

Never trust tuk-tuk drivers who approach you and offer you advise.

Standard practice is to offer you valid advise at the offset and then tells you the place you currently is visiting is going to be close for the day or is close for prayers, etc. Don't believe them.

Next, they will offer to take you to adjacent tourist spots that are still open, at a price of course.

They will think nothing of disrupting your travel plans.

I found this out the hard way when one of them approached us while we were approaching (walking) Wat Pho and he claims that the temple will close at 3:30pm everyday (time was then 3:00pm). We ingored his approach and continued to make our way to the entrance and ticket counter, preferring to take our chance.

Upon reaching the ticket counter, we asked the ticket sales personnel what time the temple will close and was told 9:00pm daily.

If we had believed the tuk-tuk driver, we would have our travel plan disrupted and, probably, never get to visit Wat Pho and ended up visiting other minor tourist spots or shops selling tourist goods.

Another instance was the day before, after alighting from a taxi at the wrong entrance, we were approached by the tuk-tuk drivers who uses the same tactics.

We were told the Grand Palace / Wat Phraew was closed in the morning for prayer and would only open in the afternoon. He offered to take us to visit other tourist spots and perhaps take us back to the Grand Palace after 1:00pm. That disrupted our plan and we decided against it and took another cab to go shopping instead.

To make matters worse, we wanted to try one of the tuk-tuk ride and was armed to the teeth on the location, maps, routes and is very certain how to get there. The tuk-tuk driver agrees to bring us there at an agreed price. He drove pass the obvious signboard and even pointed out it to be a fake and drove us to another location where he claims to be the authentic place. We ended walking backwards for 10 minutes (with the help of on-hand gps map) to the correct restaurant location.

The restaurant he had driven us to was a pathetic place and the actual site location is as shown in the picture below. The Seafood Market & Restaurant (though expensive) was a plesant place and good ambience and we all enjoy our meals there.

For those who paid more then THB20 for tuk-tuk rides, hope you will realise that the fares are way too high.

Tuk tuks are absolutely everywhere in Bangkok. They are cheap, efficient, if a little small and dirty; made out of a motorbike, seats and a roof welded together.
50 baht should be enough for most local trips.

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Since you're in Thailand, you might as well try a ride on the Tuk Tuk, just for the experience.

We took a Tuk Tuk on the 1st night from Silom back to the hotel. The 1st Tuk Tuk driver wanted 200Bht which we knew were way too expensive. We tried bargaining for 100Bht, but he was unwilling. Just as we were leaving, another younger Tuk Tuk driver came to us and accepted the offer of 100Bht.

It's my first & last ride on the tuk tuk during my trip. It's really a thrilling ride with the little tuk tuk weaving in & out of traffic. Sometimes, you find that you're just inches away from the bus next to you. And with the constant traffic jam, you can imagine the air quality.

For the rest of our stay, we travelled using the meter taxis. The trips never costs more than 100Bht & we don't have to bargain. Even if there's a jam, you're still in the comfort of an air-conditioned taxi.

We took a ferry to the grand Palace in Bangkok only to find the Temple was closed for another 4 hours we got hasseled all the way to the entrance and finaly this "pimp" said we could get a tuk tuk tour for 30 bahts to a different temple and the come back to the palace.It started off fine..the driver took us to the largest reclining Buddah and then we told him to take us back to the Palace but no..He drove us to a Travel Agency and said you make tour to Chaing Mai..we told him NO we are leaving for HGK tommorow..he then took us to a linen store..we declined to go in..at this point I offered him 60 baht if he would take us to the nearest sky train station (as at this point we were too hot)He then nodded but drove us to another Tailor and pleaded with us to go in for 5 minutes..I was really mad at this point but we did anyway and then I insisted He take us back to the Palace..instead he drove us to a different Pier where I explained to a local what we wanted and finally he returned us to the Palace..I love Thai people but felt tottaly ripped off I will never do the Tuk Tuk thing.If anyone official is reading this the Permit number was 2552.

With tuk-tuks, the main problem is that they often take you to all kinds of shops where they get a percentage on the sales or coupons to buy fuel.
Once one of them only charged us 10 THB to take us to 2 temples. Before and while driving, we very clearly pointed out to him several times that we weren't interested in any kind of shop. When we left the first temple ... we looked for him ... but he was gone !! He just took off and "assigned" someone else to take us to the next temple. We hadn't even paid him yet, as we were to go to another temple.
The other guy insisted to take us to the second temple for the 10 THB we agreed upon with the first one. But he would probably dropped us off at some kind of shop also. Therefore we walked a bit and stopped a taxi-meter to take us further to our next destination.
Since then we avoided to use tuk-tuks in Bangkok.

I thought they were great! Drivers will often take you to the wrong hotel/bar etc as they are given petrol coupons as incentives to deliver tourists with ready cash to various places, make sure you agree exactly where you are going before you set off and don't be swayed by the driver.