They seem innocent enough; they drive really nice cars, but be assured that they are out to take your money. Usually they seem to be very friendly and most speak pretty good English. Your best chance of running into one is in the areas where you find western tourist as these are their only prey. Some people might even argue that they are modern day Robin Hoods, which is very close to a true statement; they are indeed taxi driving robbing hoods.

Anyone that has been to Thailand will tell you 2 things to watch out for the cute “Tuk Tuks” that for the most part have screwed themselves out of a decent living from the tourist by their antics of taking you to every jeweler and tailor that they are even remotely related to

The 2nd thing they will tell you with the taxis always use the meter. I love to share the story where Joe New Guy (not his real name to protect the gullible) and I were heading to Pattaya and a taxi pulled up and offered to take us for only 350 baht. I said no we want the meter and Joe New-Guy said, that sounds like a deal let’s take it, I said no we want the meter or I am catching the next cab by myself. So based on my persuasive logic we went using the meter, well the fare was 150, so Joe being a good sport picked up the whole fare as a way of thanking me to enlightening him to the realities of Bangkok taxis.

So back to the robbing hoods they lurk near the western hotels and they refuse to take anything that is under 400 baht and they will not use the meter. The other place that you run into them is in the airport at the arrivals gate they will offer you a limo and then you will negotiate down from a BMW to a Camry and you will pay usually 5 times more than if you went to the taxi stand.

If you look in the front of the cab on the passenger side there is a sign that they are required by law to have, if you don’t see it don’t take the cab. If the driver insists on a flat rate say no, get out of the car, and leave the doors open and walk away, which makes the driver lose face as all the Thai’s know that he just did something slippery enough for you to make him knowingly lose face. Maybe we will all get lucky and a cop will see it and see what the problem was and he will take some the money back in the form of a stiff penalty.

Fred Tittle has lived and worked in holiday vacation resorts his entire life, from Lake Geneva’s Playboy Club, as a rock jock for KSPN FM in Aspen Colorado, he became a PADI Pro Scuba Diver in Hawaii, diving on Maui, Kauai, Kona on the big island, and Waikiki on Oahu. He now owns EcoSea Dive in Sihanoukville Cambodia where he teaches SSI and PADI scuba diving courses and runs liveaboards in the gulf of Thailand and Asia adventure tours, http://www.ecosea.com/eco/HTM/Bangkok%20Hotels%20&%20Travel.htm

Fred’s new project http://www.CheapCharliesHotels.com where he reviews cheap hotels, budget guesthouses, discount accommodations and cheap international flights, but is really an excuse to go scuba diving on vacation more, Fred is in Phnom Penh Cambodia thinking about where to travel to next.