Mar 11, 2011 11:52 AM
18032 Views
The country is over rated. There might have been a time that was a nice place to visit but not now. It is waste of time and money. The country is polluted, industrial, dirthy, and people are after tricking the tourists and making extra money. I will not go there again and don't recommend to anyone to go there.
There are groups of people that are working together(but it appears not to) to trick tourists. Police is also aware of it and is working with them. They are taking the tourists to different stores by tricking them. The stores were mainly owned by Indian(fabric and sewing suits) and Chinese(jewlery). Our experience involved in waste of time and frustration but it has a very high potential of stealing tourists’ money or kidnapping tourists. The bad news is that police knows about it and works with them. They have taken us to strange places and we felt very unsafe. Here are three examples:
(1) We were standing on the side wall of Wat Arun and were looking for the main entrance. Someone asked us what we were looking for. We asked for the entrance. He said Wat Arun place is closed today due to special ceremony for Buddha's birthday(which was a lie). Same person got us a deal for tuk-tuk to take us to two historic places and one store(he was indeed working with the drivers). We ended up in six stores, tired and exhausted. Some of these stores were Indian sewing suits, some were Chinese selling jewelries. Some of the streets that the driver drove through were narrow, dark, and scary.
(2) We went to visit Jim Thompson Thai Silk in Bangkok, an old man in a traditional dress stopped us and told us not to go there; he said it is very expensive. He added there is a big local silk factory that is 10 minute walk for local people. They have very good silk and excellent prices. We went to Jim Thompson, found nothing interesting, left and the old man stopped us again and insist that we have to go to the local factory. We decided to check it out. As we are trying to cross the street, a young man joined us, pretending that he just saw us. He said he just finished work at a 5-start hotel and he is living next this silk factory. He went on and on how great that silk factory is. We tried to separate ourselves from him, but he wouldn’t leave. He took us to an Indian store who were sewing suits, there was no sign of silk. When we left we knew he was behind us. We confronted him and he ran away. The young man, the old man, and the store were all working together. We asked for a local silk factory. There was none, it was all a set up. The street looked bad and we were nervous.
(3) We eye witness these people giving gifts(such as alcohol) to the police officers who were on duty!
