Open letter to a tuk-tuk driver
Dear tuk-tuk driver, who almost hit me this morning,
How are you today? I am writing you this letter, although I realize that you will not remember the incident. You must have missed my contorted face and my manic screams when you drove up. I don't blame you, I understand that it's hard to see what's going on around you when you're perfecting the role of an asshole.
Before I talk about you, let me introduce myself. I'm just an average Thai, who does all kinds of weird things like brushing my teeth before going to bed, I eat the prescribed three to five servings of vegetables every day and sometimes I even eat fruit! Yes, I am one of them, almost a threat to society as you apparently see it.
In keeping with my silly ideas, I also always choose to use a pedestrian crossing when I want to get from one side of a street to the other. I know, most of the pedestrian crossings in Bangkok are for decoration only, so I take extra precautions. Instead of just crossing the street, I wait until the traffic light is red. I then look to the left, to the right, up, down, repeat this procedure, say a quick prayer and sprint to the other side.
That's when I met you!
I remember exactly how it happened, I stepped from the sidewalk onto the street with a warm breeze from the air pollution over my head. All the cars had stopped at the red light and were waiting for the timer to reach zero and the light to turn green. Numerous motorcycles also waited for that moment and although many motorcycle riders played with their throttles and threatened to drive with a lot of noise, they still stopped.
I commend the behavior of your fellow tuk-tuk drivers, most of whom had turned off their engines during that wait. What a wonderful way to show their eco-friendly nature and set an example for all those other air-polluting vehicles.
It is truly a magical sight. A rare orchestra of brightly colored vehicles, showing all understanding for the color red and together with running engines, that sounds like music, underline social order and compliance with the law.
But like a false trombone, kicking in too early with a shrill sound, you come out of nowhere. With rage in your heart and an anger running through your veins, you've decided to turn your tuk-tuk into a killing machine. You see the people on the zebra crossing, you see the red light and decide to increase your speed a bit.
I could smell your bad breath when you passed by and my hair was blowing all over the place from the wind you caused. I was lucky that my legs are quite long, so I got far enough just in time to avoid you passing behind me. Then I could not have written this letter.
If you had stopped in time instead of accelerating on your way to your destination (probably on your way to hell, because that's where you belong), I would have thanked you for understanding that life can be very fragile are. I would have told you that I exercise a lot, eat healthy, and try to make good choices in my life so that I can live as long as my body and organs can last. I would have kindly added that I cannot control all external factors for a long life, but that it would be very unfortunate if some lunatic killed me in a crosswalk.
I can't wait to one day tell my grandchildren the story of that brave tuk-tuk driver I knew in the distant past, who drove through a red light without caring about the world around him. He may have been on his way to his own house, which was ablaze, to save his children, though it is more likely that he would soon pick up a pack of unsuspecting tourists and swindle them in his usual way.
In any case, you will be remembered as a national hero, but I ask that you make some adjustments to your driving habits so that I can live long enough to see my future grandchildren.
With sincere anger and fantasies about how soon you'll slam your tuk-tuk into a wall, I salute you,
Sumati Sivasiamphaig
Adapted from a story in the Guru supplement of the Bangkok Post
Dear Khan Sumati,
Although I completely agree with you about the dangerous tuk-tuk driver, I still wonder, as a right-minded Thai, who undoubtedly follow Buddhism as a religion, why you are so concerned. After all, if you have played a lot of tambo in your life, you must still be convinced that you may return to this earth as a better being in a next life.
As the average Thai behaves in traffic, I still hold that opinion, and even today, when I have to travel from Thayang to BKK in a minivan, I hope again that the driver is not only thinking about next life but also to its passengers.
Yes….. you have tuktuk pilots and tuktuk pilots. Some under the influence of the local mafia, others clearly not. If you go to the well-known tourist spots, you will encounter the often less honest pilots (who therefore do not have time to stop at the zebra for a Thai). It is theft. I don't see any Thai sitting in such a cart.
In bkk it is 100 to 200 baht with the komoi tuktuk, while the same ride can be enjoyed in a taxi for 40 baht.
Take the tuktuk once in non-touristy places, there a trip is just 30 baht or perhaps 20 baht. Once moved by tuk-tuk for a few hours. Price 60 bath. I treated the old boss to lunch.
success
At the shopping malls you sometimes see 10 tuk-tuks waiting to bring people home with a lot of groceries. These are mainly Thai who use it.
I wanted to buy a tree last week, but the seller had no delivery, so a tuktuk is handy, but after waiting 10 minutes for one to come by, I gave up.
I also recently bought a door and I had to have it delivered by tuktuk, the driver had a huge radio in that thing and you could hear it very loudly. I thought it was funny. 200 baht for a ride that would have cost 70 by taxi.
As long as they are more expensive than a taxi, I boycott the tuktuks. Then I prefer air conditioning and a safer car around me. Those taxis are always being repainted so that they look newer. Some thai are waiting for a new taxi and don't want to sit in such an old barrel, that's why.
Yet the driving style of tuk-tuks is not too bad compared to the taxi-vans and regular taxis. The motorcycle taxi makes it completely colorful, so I've never taken it, so I'll walk.
Well Well in Udonthani you don't have a tuk tuk for 20 or 30 bath. at least 100 baht and in the evenings up to 300 baht even more expensive than BKK
I never paid more than 40 bath in Udonthani. They ask for 100 bath at the end bus stops, but if you walk 100 meters further you go for that 40 bath. But agree on the price for your ride. For 2 people you pay 50 or 60 bath.
If you are asked for 100 bath then keep walking. The next one beckons you and understands the problem and you pay that 40 bath. For that 300 I would call a taxi in Udon.
Just lost my surprise. Come to Udon Thani every week, almost every ride costs me 50 baht, sometimes there are four of us. Never paid 100 or certainly not 300. Even the Tuk Tuk at 1 a.m. at the entertainment centers no longer ask.
I was still in Udon at Christmas, used the tuk-tuk a number of times during the night hours, and also paid no more than 50 Baht. If you read the other comments above, you are really doing something wrong….
Perhaps an idea for your own topic: How much does (for Thai and/or farang) roughly cost a tuktuk and/or bath bus in a number of popular places (Krungthep, Pattaya, …).
I also noticed that after a short walk you often pay less than from the beginning of a street. It's been a while since I was in Pattaya, but if me and my girlfriend drove to the other side of the boulevard (Walking Street) near the Holiday Inn hotel, it costs 2×20=40 bath (??). If you got on about 100 meters later and got off just before the end of the street, you paid half. But what are now reasonable prices is sometimes difficult to keep track of if you are not (very) known somewhere, so such an overview for various popular places and distances would be useful. I think that with deep digging you can also find something on this blog, but still.