Deep Sighs of Contentment

Oh, what joy we have found in Trat, Thailand. Though certainly a town with a strong element of foreign tourism, Trat is peaceful. Trat is slower. Trat is warm. In Trat, our hand-washed clothing dries in a matter of hours, thanks to the strong sunshine. The heat that seeps through the cracks in the horizontal wooden siding of our lovely guesthouse brings with it scents of incense and laughter and green.

Yesterday afternoon I heard an approaching sound, melodious and rumbling:

"Oh! Here comes the ice cream truck. Wait, it's a dried squid-on-a-stick truck."

Hello Thailand. Yes, I think I like you. Quite a lot.

The smog-filled and dense urban-scapes of China seem so far away. Even the harried tuk-tuk's of Bangkok seem a distant memory. But not so far away that I can't tell you about our experience.......

Have you been to Bangkok? If so, you have most likely been part of the "tuk tuk scam." We didn't understand until we saw an article posted in our hotel, explaining the complexity of this scam. All of a sudden, I was reading a synopsis of a huge chunk of our time in Bangkok, but luckily without the unhappy ending that so many tourists seem to find.

The basic concept is that a foreigner is approached by an extremely friendly person on the street, usually fairly well dressed, and who speaks English. "Where are you from" and "How long have you been here," are the first questions. This 'helpful person' takes the time to show you on your map the best temples and tourist sites and tells you that the tuk-tuk (auto-rickshaw) is a great bargain for tourists on that particular day, for various reasons. In our case, it was "Buddha's birthday." Can you believe our luck? Arriving in Bangkok on Buddha's birthday? We were delighted to hear the big news. The 'new friend' secures you a tuk-tuk, haggling the price on your behalf. You feel grateful and hop into the tuk-tuk, excited to see the beautiful sites of Bangkok.

Next thing you know, you are ushered into a custom suit shop, or a jewelry store, or a handicraft bazaar, or a fine restaurant. Usually these shops are "government endorsed and controlled." Lies!! Many foreign visitors are pressured into purchasing low-quality, high-priced items, and don't figure out their error until arriving home with their low-grade Thai ruby ring.

Not necessarily dangerous (though the scam perpetuates negative experiences for travelers), but so incredibly annoying, especially as we ended up spending our first afternoon in a darn tuk-tuk, being shuttled from one store to another. We didn't want to seem rude, we wanted the driver to get his 'gas coupons,' and we tried again and again to explain our backpacking situation to the shop owners who were offering 'big sales.'

On the positive side, we did get to buzz around Bangkok in a tuk-tuk, enjoying the sights and smells, though our time visiting places of cultural or historical interest were highly abbreviated. But it never feels good to be scammed.

Check shutterfly soon for updated photos.

xoxo