Really?

As you will probably notice, this will not be a regular blog, not daily, weekly or monthly. It will appear whenever I feel like writing it. So be patient. It will never be of high standard, it will never win a Pullitzer, but who cares.

In Europe we know Indians from their fine restaurants where you can enjoy a nice spicy meal with an exotic name and drink watermelon punch. Here they exist too, and they are much cheaper too, which is very much appreciated. But in Thailand Indians are very well-known for something else, their tailor shops. You can't walk a mile without passing a couple of these. I don't mind, everybody needs to make a living. But what I don't like is, because there are so many, they need patronage. So they sit outside and wait until a farang walks by. This is when it starts. Let me tell you something, in case one of these tailors reads this, I am not your friend, your mate or your brother. I have one brother and he is not an Indian tailor in Bangkok. I walk past in shorts and flip-flops, showing my tattoos, why would I be interested in a tailor-made suit? And I walk past here almost every day, so by now they should know me, but no, everytime I have to endure it. "Hey my friend, I make suit for you, very good price, only today discount." Every day they say the same, so maybe if I wait long enough and add up the discounts, I get a suit for free. And maybe you are thinking now, if you don't like this, just cross the road. I wish I could do this, but it's the same scenario on the other side of the road. The best thing to do is just ignore them, not saying a word and just continue walking. Twenty Thai people walk past and one farang, they will only address the farang. The Thai people are business men wearing suits, the farang is wearing shorts and sandals and a t-shirt which says "I am a dumb tourist, please release me of my money". The same goes for tuk-tuk drivers. If you don't know what a tuk-tuk is, please google. There are hundreds of Thai people walking by and one farang, they will only address the farang. "Hello sir, where you go?" "You want taxi?" If I want a taxi, I will take a taxi, if I want a tuk-tuk, I will come to you and ask for a ride. But wait, this guy will take me to my destination for only 10 baht? That is a bargain. Eventually you will get to your destination, after having visited numerous shops which are of zero intrest to you, but the tuk-tuk driver brought you there, so he gets some money from the shop owner or gas coupons. If you do happen to take a tuk-tuk and he's bringing you straight to your destination, he will probably be charging you double or triple. There is one way around this. Get to know Thai people. Take a tuk-tuk accompanied by a Thai person and you will pay a lot less, sometimes even less than taking a taxi for the same ride. I kid you not, it has happened to me. So what we learn here is, it is ok to rid the farang of his money, but be honest to our own. After a while you get used to this and you just walk past it. You don't notice them anymore. I go where I want to go when I want to go. Therefore I love taking the underground or the skytrain, no hassles. But sometimes it happens by accident. You do some late night grocery shopping, yes that is possible here, some supermarkets are open 24 hours, you get into a taxi and you tell him you want to go home, it is midnight after all and you got four bags of groceries. The driver nods and we take off. After two minutes the obviously blind to my bags driver says "You want to go disco?" Of course, nice mister taxi driver, I want to stand in the middle of the dancefloor waving my four bags of groceries around. Some people really don't have a clue. After a small discussion that I really wanted to go home because of my obvious luggage, he told me only drops people of at the disco. So I get out and take the next taxi that comes along, luckily there are more taxis in Bangkok than sheep in New-Zealand. The next one is a very nice old man who drops me off right at my doorstep. Thank you very much.

Because of the vast area that Bangkok is, it is impossible for every taxi driver to know every nook and cranny. I really do understand this, but 80% of the time I seem to get stuck with the cabby who has been in this lovely city for three days. You open the door, tell them where you want to go, they nod, you get in, and two minutes into the ride they ask you where you want to go, they have no idea, they start calling people, you start calling people, and in the end you get there, but this is not how it is supposed to be. If you can see the driver is an old man, take that taxi. These guys have been around very long and know exactly where you want to go. If it is a young fellow, he will know all the hip and trendy dancing spots, but don't ask him to drop you off at a temple he doesn't know about. Taking a taxi here is always a gamble and an unexpected adventure. If you really want to complain about this, there is a number of the taxi company in the taxi, every driver has his license on display with his name and number, so just call them and complain. But wait, this can't be right. The guy in the picture looks 50 and the driver is only 25. That's right people, 95% of the time, the driver is not the guy in the picture, these guys change cabs like they change underwear, so there is no use in complaining, just do it the Thai way, go with the flow.

Just go with flow.