Took the airport taxi. Big sign board saying passenger need to pay the toll and surcharge of 50Baht. After 2 min leaving the airport ground, driver said 450Baht and I pay toll! What!!!??? I said firmly but politely "Isn't it Metered?" and pointed my finger at it. He reluctantly switched it on and mumbled in Thai (i need to learn some Thai bad words...). Being a Sunday afternoon, there wasn't much traffic and I enjoyed the scenery of high rise condominium, showrooms of Ferrari, temples as well as shop lots with infrastructure cabling dangling everywhere. It was a serene drive and the weather this time round was gloomy being of raining season. Reached my hotel and the meter showed 250Baht. Pointed to the meter and said "250Baht only, but I give you tips of extra 100Baht". Throughout my stay I met many taxi drivers who try to charge 3-4 times higher than normal meter rate. But I also encounter some honest drivers whom I would give them 20-50Baht of tips. 1 taxi driver even showed his frustration by overtaking dangerously and accelerated unnecessary (similar to a roller coaster ride) when he didn't get what he wanted from me, sorry dude no tips from me! Always, Always, Always ask before boarding "Do you use meter?". If you know your price then bargain especially during peak hours or when taxi is scarce. Remember traffic jam can be 3 hours from airport to city center.
Of course there are many more things I enjoyed in Bangkok which overweight the above by tenfold. More to come in my next post....
my experience is not to talk too much to the taxi driver but I get bored and start to talk, me stupid!
ReplyDeleteTaxi driver asked a series of questions and I answered accordingly. I wanted to stop at the entrance of sampeng market. To my dismay he chose to drop me at the restricted area and did not pay me the exact balance. He chased me out of taxi saying police coming.