Udon Thani Warnings and Dangers

When you arrive at a bus or train station in Thailand, there are always tuk tuk drivers hustling you to pick them for a ride. Most are honest and hardworking. We happened to pick a dishonest one in Udon. He first took us to the Udon Hotel instead of the Charoen Hotel (like those names sound alike?). He then tried to take us to the Charoensri Grand Royal Hotel but we were on to him by then. He charged 60 baht, so it was no big thing. However, it turned out the Charoen is just two blocks from the bus station. We could have walked there if we had known. Ah well, mai pen rai.

This is fairly mild as far as warnings go, but important if you like to move fast. The easiest way to get around Udon Thani is by taxi, and much of the time it's a small samlor as pictured here. If you haggle a low fare, drivers try to conserve fuel as much as possible by coasting along, accelerating a little and then rolling as much as possible. This happened to me a couple of times.

If it becomes too much, just slip the driver a bit extra and indicate the gas pedal. You can also emphasise before the journey that you're in a rush and the driver will not agree to a low price that is based on "coasting". Good luck!