A Small Victory in the Baht Wars

[zanemay]

A Saturday afternoon trip to Nong Nooch Flower Gardens near Pattaya...

The girlfriend from Bangkok has been here for five days and we have decided to make this jaunt. It is widely advertised on signs in "baht bus" taxis, but neither of us has been there and the gf asks at the reception desk. We are told that it is 2 kilometers off Sukhumvit Road, the main highway through Pattaya. We don't know how far along Sukhumvit it is.

I think, "Take a blue taxi to Sukhumvit (about a mile away) and then a white Sukhumvit taxi. Maybe I can get away with a 40 baht total fare." We catch the blue taxi and when it comes to the end of the line at Sukhumvit I pay the farang price of 10 baht each (20 baht is $.46 USD. Thai's pay 5 baht each.) The driver asks where we are going and when we tell him, he holds up two fingers - 200 baht. I shake my head. The gf, a moody little thing, looks unhappy. I say no and he says 150. I say no and the gf looks really unhappy. "Cheap Charlie," she is thinking. No problem, she has been my gf a long time and she can stuff it. I want to try to make to make it the rest of the way for 20 baht total.

I lead my ball-and-chain/dark cloud across the road and an empty white taxi pulls up. I tell her to get in but she insists on speaking with the driver. NEVER SPEAK TO THE DRIVER unless you don't mind getting ripped off. Same routine as the other guy. I say no and point to another taxi coming along since she has spoiled this one. She wants to talk again, but I won't let her and she has a little fit. "You don't know how far he go! Maybe two kilometers, maybe five! Have to speak!" "Get in," I say with a grisly stare. "I'll take care of it."

Yeah right! says the look in reply, and she sits on the opposite seat and looks away. Now, as you may know, ALL interaction with Thai's and farang are handled by gf's if they are present. Taxi drivers and restaurant staff NEVER speak to farang if there is a Thai lady along side. We know nothing, our little friends know everything.

We ride along Sukhumvit with 4 or 5 other passengers and I am relieved to eventually see a sign that indicates we are heading towards Nong Nooch. No indication of how far. After a few miles, an old lady hits the buzzer and gets out and I get out and talk to the driver. "Chawt tii soi Suan Nong Nooch, kap." (Stop at the street for Nong Nooch Park please.) I get a nod and a smile! Feeling much reassured I get back in the back. In another 5 miles we come to the entrance. I have a 20 baht bill ready because I don't want to ask how much. I hand it over to see what will happen. Admittedly we have come a long way in that taxi and I wouldn't mind paying more, but I get a big smile and they pull away. The gf had plenty of time to "get over it" in the taxi and puts her hand in mind. VICTORY!

I had also told the gf that I thought there would be transport for the 2 kilometers from the main road to the gardens and sure enough a taxi driver rushed over to us. 40 baht for the two kilometers, but there were no options. Still, the trip from Sukhumvit into the gardens cost 60 baht instead of 150 baht. I saved 90 baht and pissed off the gf in the bargain! I also established my credibility with her for all time. "Pom reu, mai?" I said. (I knew, right?) "Reu, kaaaaa," she purred.

What a lovely afternoon!

[Guest]

I think from a strictly economic point-of-view, you handled this situation well, and I congratulate you on your victory. But I wonder if you have made your girlfriend lose her precious 'face' - will she extract some kind of payback down the line?

JG

[spirit_of_town_hall]

Well done, for us westerners it can be difficult to hold out. All too often a lot of us will pay what they ask to avoid a scene!

[BelgianBoy]

And.......nice flower gardens ????

[Guest]

And what entrance price did you pay for the garden.

The thai price or the farang price or one of each ?

[zanemay]

Hello Fellows,

Here answers to some of your questions.

1) GF did not lose face. No penalty was extracted. We had a GOOD!! night!

2) Nong Nooch, as it turns out, is another second rate unsophisticated Thai "attraction" geared for Japanese tourists in convoys of buses. There were probably 50 busloads there. The quality of the gardens could have been SO much better given the climate. Parts of the area are taken up by an elephant place and a butterfly place and many restaurants. All geared for the indiscriminate. I have seen better gardens EVERYWHERE.

Mini Siam on the opposite end of town is comparable. A little bit interesting but just okay.

The only Thai "attraction" I have really enjoyed to date is Muang Boran on the outskirts of Bangkok. Old buildings have been transported or copied there and made into little villages in different settings. It is very lovely and you can rent bicycles which is a good idea because the area is so big.

3) We paid 80 baht admission per person farang or Thai.

4) We got out for the same 40 baht total for the taxi back to Sukhumvit.

[Ranger]

Regarding the Pattaya songtaews, I always pay 5B. The funny thing is, the only time I get arguements from the driver is when I have a girl with me. If I am alone or with farang friends, I just hand them the 5B per person and they drive away. Once I paid the driver 10B for me and my girl and he started screaming at her in Thai. I tried to stop her, but she went over and gave the guy an extra 5B. This almost ruined our evening as she couldn't understand why I was mad about paying 5B more because I was a Farang. I don't give a shit about 5B, but I hate getting ripped off.

Ranger

[ALHOLK]

Hi!

Range

I tend to agree with you that most drivers will accept 5 baht. I think it depends on the girl if they try to rip you off when she is with you. If you are with an experienced Pattaya girl they probably won't. I will normally just give the girl even money and let her pay.

Some simple rules:

Always wave down a moving taxi. Never take a taxi standing at the road side if you don't want to charter it.

Try to only stop taxis with ordinary Thai people in it. My theory is that the driver will lose face in front of other Thais if he tries to rip of a farang.

If the driver gets out and speaks to you don't answer, just get off and take another one.

Learn the basic taxi routes and learn how to indicate in which direction you want to go.

regards

ALHOLK

[Guest]

quote:

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Originally posted by pauldk:

And what entrance price did you pay for the garden.

The thai price or the farang price or one of each ?

---

I was last there in October and it was the same price for Farang as Thais.

What I want to know is how much did he have to fork out to get out of the place being stranded all that way from Pattaya?

[zanemay]

quote:

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Originally posted by Ranger:

...I tried to stop her, but she went over and gave the guy an extra 5B. This almost ruined our evening as she couldn't understand why I was mad about paying 5B more because I was a Farang. I don't give a shit about 5B, but I hate getting ripped off.

Ranger

---

I know this is strange coming from Mr. "Fight-for-your-baht," but I actually believe in the double price policy in some instances. The Pattaya taxi system is one place I approve of it.

Sometimes I ride a taxi for a mile or more and I am the only passenger. The driver is losing money on that trip. Or there are one or two other passengers. There are so many taxis moving along the streets there! The service is so good because of the number of taxis and I rarely have to wait more than a few seconds for a ride.

I am happy to support this service and I am happy that Thai people can ride for a rate they can afford. Basically, the Thai people in Pattaya and all performing services for us. And we have A LOT more money than they do. My GFs definitely approve of me paying 10 baht to help their "brothers."

Zane