Thailand is the most popular destination in South East Asia, no doubt about it. Countless travelers visit the country yearly, and the number of visitors to neighboring countries pale in comparison. Most backpackers in South East Asia make it their first stop, and a lot of them stay in the country indefinitely before venturing elsewhere. Arguably, you’ll see more beautiful sights in other countries in South East Asia, which makes the sheer volume of visitors to Thailand quite puzzling to some. After visiting other countries in South East Asia, i would say Thailand is significantly better when it comes to infrastructure for tourism. To me, that’s the main reason why they get the bulk of tourists, and neighboring countries should take note. It’s so easy to travel anywhere within the country, and all the famous tourist spots give tourists and travelers whatever they want. There’s little reason to look elsewhere.  Yeah some countries have better beaches, some have better hiking sites. The culture and history of other countries may be more interesting.  But how easy or how hard is it to get to those places? One beach may be better, but is it so much better that travelers wouldn’t just opt for those beaches in Thailand that are easily accessible? Most travelers would say no. Only the adventurous ones would opt for places that are off the beaten path.

So many people have blogged about the country, I felt that it would be incredibly repetitive to add my own input to the gazillion travel sites out there writing about Thailand. Bangkok is probably the city in South East Asia that receives the most visitors. To write another guide about the city would be like beating a dead horse. Public transport is widespread and very accessible, even first time travelers would find it easy going around the city on their own. If you find the trains confusing (I highly doubt it), there are so many cabs and they are very reliable. Still, for those who have never been to any city in south east Asia, Bangkok can be very overwhelming. All the big cities in Southeast Asia are similar to me. All are overly populated, lots of areas betray the lack of urban planning, and all are quite chaotic. The crowds, the noise, the chaos— everything could prove to be a little too much for someone who has never been to the region before. Most of the locals are friendly and they are willing to help any visitors. That doesn’t mean that you can trust anyone. Thailand is still a developing country, and as such a lot of locals still find it hard to  get by daily. And they see travelers as people who have a lot of money. Stereotypical, I know, but you can’t really blame them for thinking that way. Traveling is still seen as a luxury. You may be on a backpacker’s budget, but the mere fact that you could afford to travel halfway around the world speaks volumes. And since Thailand is a popular country for first time travelers, some scheming locals clearly see an opportunity for easy money. They prey on gullible travelers. Enter the scammers. There are so many of them in Bangkok, you should always watch out for them.

This is going to be embarrassing, but I fell victim to one of the most common scams. A simple google search would show many websites about it, but I guess i was overconfident and didn’t even bother to to do some research about Bangkok. I had a false sense of security because i knew there were so many tourists and travelers in the country. And I’ve been to a lot of developing countries so I felt that I’ve become wise to such scams. Normally i wouldn’t have been so naive especially if I’m traveling alone, but I was with a couple of friends. I guess that also made me let my guard down. Safety in numbers, so to speak.

So one morning, we decided to visit one of the most touristy places in Bangkok— The Grand Palace. It was pretty easy to get there from where we were staying. Just as we were approaching the entrance, some dude told us that the place is closed for 2 hours since they were doing some sort of ceremony inside. Since we didn’t bother to check the hours of operation or if there were any events scheduled that day, we totally believed him. Then he suggested that we hail a tuk tuk and ask the driver to take us elsewhere first. He was even kind enough to hail one for us! We were all like, awww, these locals are so darn nice! So the dude and the tuk tuk guy spoke in Thai, and then he told us that he told the driver to take us to some less touristy places before bringing us back to grand Palace after two hours. And we only had to pay 10 Baht each! What a sweet deal!

So off we went. The tuk tuk driver took us to one giant buddha. Definitely off the beaten path. There weren’t many people around, and those few people in the area were all locals. It really looked like we got a great deal. Then the nightmare started.

The driver took us to a tailoring shop. We told him we were not interested in buying anything, but he said we should just take a look. We said okay, we have time to spare anyway. To be fair, the coats and suits were really well made, you can even have one tailor made and they can deliver it to you after several hours. They were also unbelievably cheap— but who the heck buys a suit while backpacking in Thailand? So we went back to the tuk tuk  after a few minutes. After about 5 minutes, we stopped at another Tailor shop.

What. The. F*ck.

That was when we realized that we were being scammed. We tried to make a deal but the driver wouldn’t budge. He took us to a jewelry store after that second tailor shop. Again, i have to ask. Who the heck would buy expensive jewelry while backpacking in Thailand? We asked how much he was getting from those shop owners and offered to pay him double. He still wouldn’t budge. Later on, someone would tell us that these drivers are given gas coupons by the store owners every time they drop off someone in their store. It doesn’t matter if those people would buy anything, they would still get the coupons. If someone would buy anything, they could get a cut of the profits depending on their deal with the owners. I still don’t understand why they would prefer gas coupons and vouchers rather than cash. We were offering that tuk-tuk driver a lot and he just kept saying NO. he just drove us to the next shop. At the fifth shop we got completely fed up and just walked away. Unbelievably, he followed us and he kept asking us to ride his tuk tuk again. F*ck that. There were lots of other tuk-tuks nearby but we didn’t trust any of them so we just took a cab back to the Grand Palace. If i was looking for a suit, i would have probably bought one in those stores. With such high quality, they were a complete bargain. But with such a shady way of trying to get some sales, there’s no way I’m buying anything from those stores. I guess it works somehow, otherwise this scam wouldn’t be so prevalent. This sort of stunt could work on other travelers, but these scammers definitely won’t be making any money from me.

We did get back to the Grand Palace, and surprise, surprise! It didn’t close for 2 hours. There wasn’t any ceremony. I managed to take some pictures in spite of my foul mood, but the whole place was really crowded. You may be better off getting you temple fix elsewhere. it’s a beautiful place, but there are loads of temples in the country and they start to look similar after a while. I’m not really a fan of big cities and I especially dislike really crowded ones like Bangkok, but for first time travelers to South East Asia it’s a good first stop. If you want to party, there are lots of places to party. If you want to experience some local culture, the city offers many places to experience it. If you love to eat, maaaaaan! Thai food is amazing! If you want to see some of those ping pong shows (disgusting IMO), there are loads of them in the city as well LOL. Watch out though, it’s also a popular activity for travelers, and there are lots of people waiting to scam naive tourists. Never try to watch those shows alone, join a big group. If someone offers to take you someplace far, better to just politely say no. And take note of the drinks they offer, the prices are outrageous at some of those places. Basically,  never let your guard down and always watch out for scammers while you’re in Bangkok. They can really spoil one’s vacation, and they can leave first time travelers disillusioned with the country.