“Hi, where you go?”
I hate the guys I’m about to write about with a passion, so let me shout out some advice right away: If you’re in Thailand and someone - old or young, man or woman, hot or ugly - approaches you or tries to wave you over, completely ignore them and keep walking. It may seem rude, but nine times out of ten you’ve just experienced the first stage in what may prove to be an elaborate and highly organized scam. The next step is to tell you that your destination is closed, after which they will try to get you to visit a gem or suit store where you’ll be pressured into buying overpriced crap. In certain rare cases, there are exceptions; maybe it’s a student wanting to talk to a foreigner for a school project, maybe it’s just someone who’s lost. But unless you’re fairly familiar with Thailand, the chances of being able to tell the difference between a lost Japanese national and a mob-connected Thai scam artist is pretty slim.
The question I always ask of friends who seem shocked at this is: “When you’re in your home country, do you hang out on street corners striking up friendly conversations with random strangers?” No, you don’t, and neither to Thai people. Just because it’s the ‘Land of Smiles’ doesn’t mean it’s a country filled with jolly Santa-wannabes with nothing better to do than grin all the time.
You can usually see them, obviously, around tourist-heavy spots, and especially around the Ratanakosin area - the Grand Palace, Wat Pho, Khao San Road, Pat Pong, Nana and Siam Square. Most of the time they look like completely normal young guys, but sometimes they’re older guys who, for some reason, think that if they wear lots of jewelry, graduated-tint 1970’s aviator sunglasses and carry a little ‘man purse’ that they’ll look more trustworthy. Usually they just come off looking like Mr Furley.
What bugs me is that every single website, travel guide, Lonely Planet book, tourist pamphlet and promotional brochure warns travelers against this scam, but it doesn’t seem to have any effect - thousands get taken every year. What also frustrates me is that most Thais are nothing like these pricks - it’s very much a case of a few rotten apples spoiling the bunch.
Some good reading on the subject can be found here, here, here, here, here and especially over at the excellent Bangkok Scams website.
Keep your wits about you, and you should be able to avoid it no problem by simply walking right on by.
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