Scamming on the meter has little to do with lying.

Amsterdam taxis scam more than the average thai taxi. As soon as they realize you aren't from Amsterdam they'll drive you around. Even Dutchies.

But Thais blatantly lie about anything. They'll never admit the ****ing truth. It's tilting at points. Saving face my ass.

No, Thailand is worse. The smiling for once. Charming yes, but also dishonest to the western mind. The fake politeness and then the backtalking. Chinese are not like that generally. Neither are people from Malaysia, Singapore and the Philipines. It is mostly a Thai, Lao, Cambodja thing.

Though face is big in all of Asia, the problem is face in Thailand often goes along with low iq and poor education.

WTF they biggest bunch of fake politeness in the world. The only thing they do better than being fake polite is beg.

How anyone could think they are not fake polite blows my mind.

I dont think Thais are fake polite maybe they bow and say khaa and smile when they are not sure what to do in a certain social situations but fake polite? not overly in any way shape or form imo, many more moody, mardy people here compared to fake smiles and BS in the flips, man its not even close.

This. I never understood why they call it land of the smiles in the first place.

Maybe back in the days it was different or the name was coined by brits who never saw someone smile back home, but I never get fake politeness and I'm used to awful service attitudes everywhere aside from overpriced hi-so places.

I still prefer to live here than back in the UK however the Thailand of today is not what it was only a few years ago.

really? you really think that taxis charging 200baht to tourists will deter them from coming back to thailand? euros traveling across the world won't come back because of unknowingly overpaying 3 euros on a taxi fare? lol

Perhaps not in that example, but 1000 baht taxis in Phuket certainly deter tourists from staying at any of the beaches that aren't Patong.

had a taxi almost let me off in middle of highway a couple weeks ago when I got upset that he took the most ridiculous long way to go somewhere. its one thing to take a slightly longer way, I would be fine with that. But when he goes in the totally wrong direction I can't help but say something. In general most taxi drivers are good guys, but wow are the scummy ones really ****ing scumbags

as I've said many times, phuket sucks everyone should just avoid it anyways

one positive is that acer9 doesn't live there

Poker player got drugged and robbed by taxi driver in bkk last night.

Cabbie offered him a sealed water when leaving club and he woke up on the road 1 hr later.

Maybe he'll come and tell more. Dunno if he wants to be outed etc.

Posting this cause of previous taxi discussion so you guys be careful out there.

drugged by ladyboy;

tell insurance company a taxi driver drugged you with what appeared to be an opened bottle of water.

Just been sent a link to my internet options, I can make most of it out in Thai but I'm unsure on the last column.

Download/Upload/Price/Unknown?

Would someone mind filling me in?

http://trueonline.truecorp.co.th/new...try/2338?ln=th

How did he know it was 1h later? He got his phone stolen I assume?

Maybe he owns a watch?

Never take candy from a taxi driver or other consumables or go to their house to get a massage from their 'sister' never ends well.

Any idea if i can buy only service for Fitness Center in http://www.rqclub.com/ and how much does it cost monthly.

Or maybe u know some better gyms in Thong Lor/Ekkamai area

Speak some words Thai, and start conversation with Thai, and you never get scammed because then you are not looking «newbie tourist» anymore.

Its not only in Thay - everywhere in the world (beside english countries).

Thailand is still ridiculously friendly and polite. There are few places in the world that I found more overtly friendlier. I usually travel around by motorcycle and sweat my ass off. Thailand wins hands down on the number of times people came to me to give me free water or free drink or offered to share food or give me a chair to sit on when they saw me sit on the ground somewhere, etc. I've had people literally ride with me on the motorcycle to show/point me directions to a nearby rural place and they would just walk back. And in some villages, people gave me a place to sleep and food to drink for free. Countless stories of people being pretty damn welcoming.

Obviously a smile is not always a smile, and you have to read between the lines instead of pressing people for direct answers, and some people may not be that genuine in their help (and you can analyze each story to end), but overall, I understand why they call it the Land of Smiles. I'm not that observant, but that is something that really stands out to me.

But you're not going to find much of this in Bangkok, and most definitely not in tourist areas. Especially in places like Phuket/Pattaya, all the scum of Thailand go there to make money. Some pretty shady people behind the scenes, and often, in front of the scenes as well. And everyone you encounter is in the business of extracting as much money as possible from tourists who have no idea what the local prices are. It's not just normal attitudes. It's bad attitudes all around.

And yes, the country is going downhill in this respect. It's one of the most touristy countries in the world and it shows these days. Even small cities have guesthouses and backpackers busing their way from city to city. So more and more Thai people are turning to whoring for the tourist dollar and become pretty jaded.

This is why I suggested in this thread a neighborhood like Bang Kapi as a more interesting and fun place to live. It's still convenient in every respect and you get far fewer bad attitudes/scams/problems. It's not going to be as friendly as rural Thaiald, but it's definately a step up from the tourist ghettos.

I have a bunch of stuff that I want to move in the Sukh area. Table, office chair, some kitchen stuff and a bunch of boxes. More than you can fit in a big taxi but not more than it would fit on one of those pickups. What is the best way to find someone to do the job? Had a look at craigslist and thaivisa but couldn't really find anything. Seem overkill to involve a removalist. My thai is none existent so a bit hard to grab a random dude with a pickup and try and explain to him what i want.
Any ideas?

maybe if you werent such a sex pervert and went somewhere other than angeles and the touristy parts of manila you would have found the true kindness of "flips"

on the other hand in my time in thailand (ignore for a minute that i was only in pattaya) i found thai's to be extremely rude

You can be born in Thailand, you still aren't getting a discount from the taxi man in Phuket.

me and some 2p2ers in bkk used a thai guy with a small pickup before for 500b, speaks english. udom - 0899863745. or often reception at your condo will know a guy

Fluent Thai would not of helped a white guy in that taxi. For example I get scammed in London and Im from England. Just comes down to using a bit of common sense like not flashing around expensive phones and wads of cash and not taking things from strangers.