Heads up in Thailand

I go to Thailand once or twice a year. At present, I’m coordinating a tsunami relief project in Phi Phi and Phuket.
In March ’06, two Thai friends and I had dinner at a popular Phuket city seafood restaurant, Ta Yay. Our dinner (stir-fried morning glory, shrimp soup, chicken and vegetables in oyster sauce, rice, four juice drinks and one coconut) was delicious, but the bill caught us by surprise: 1,222 baht (about $29). We asked for a recalculation and the bill came back at 485 baht (about $11.50). The manager apologized.

We had ordered off the Thai menu, but the bill had been based on the “farang” menu. A word to the wise — check your bill carefully.

Begging is illegal, but common, in Thailand. Beggars will be found at their regular posts, during their regular assigned times, throughout Bangkok.

In Bangkok in December ’05, I happened to watch an armless man work his station across from a large shopping complex. He smiled effusively, bent over from his sitting position to hold a styrofoam cup in his teeth.

As I watched from a stalled taxi, this man picked the cup up with his teeth, stood up and walked behind a nearby partition. He then removed his arms from his shirt, took money out of the cup, put the money in his pants, put the cup back in his mouth, tucked his arms back inside his shirt and returned to his station on the sidewalk.

People stepping out of 4- and 5-star hotels and hailing a taxi often (i.e., almost always) will be told the taxi meter is broken. The cab driver then will offer a ride to the passenger’s destination at a special price.

Actually, the meter is not broken (if it were, the taxi would not be on the street), and the “special price” will be considerably more than a meter reading would have been.

Passengers should either insist that the meter be turned on or get out and hail another taxi. This scam can be avoided if one walks a half block or so away from the hotel entrance and waves down a taxi from that point.

DUNCAN MacSWAIN
San Rafael, CA