If you've never been to Thailand before, but have heard stories about how cheap it is, I'd like to try to convey something of the reality of this for you. Allow me to use two common scenarios to illustrate.
Think about the last time you caught a taxi to the airport in a major Australian city - Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane - take your pick (my apologies to our West Coast readers - I'm not being deliberately Coastist, I just have no recent experience of catching taxis in Perth).
Say you're in the Harbour City, staying with friends around the Eastern Suburbs, or Northern beaches (hi Anthony! Hi Lisa!); or you're at West End or Coorparoo in Bris Vegas (hi Nikki, howdy Burgo); or you're holidaying in charming St Kilda (no friends there yet, but I'm working on it). Now imagine you arrive at the airport, and you hand the cabbie a $50 note.
If you're in Brisbane, you may get away with it, depending on what the traffic and roadworks were like on the day. If you're in Sydney or Melbourne, you'd be lucky to get out of the cab alive.
Now take that same 30-45 minute ride in Bangkok, from Sukhumvit or Siarm. You hand the driver a 1,000 Baht note (about AU$35) and you'll get an objection just as vigorous, albeit less violent, though for the opposite reason.
He can't possibly give you change from a 1,000 for the 2-300 Baht fare (about AU$7-10). You better come up with something smaller or you'll be giving him a very large tip (snaps to Kirsty by the way, who told me to make sure I had some small change in Baht for the taxi when I arrived in Bangkok - thanks pet!).
My second scenario was lunch on Friday. Five of us from the office went to a local food market. Picture the food court in your local shopping centre on a busy Saturday, but replace all the Maccas, greasy fish and chips, and over-priced Chinese buffets with local vendors, all making fresh Thai dishes from scratch. Woks, charcoal grills, clay pots and freshly chopped fruit everywhere.
It cost the five of us $11, including drinks. Total, not each. And there was food left on the plate because we were all full.
I kind of feel sad for everyone in the Brisbane office today deciding whether to save money by getting a $7 subway special.
Kind of...
D.
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Monday, March 21, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
The good book and anarchy on the streets
He who hesitates is lost.
It says that in the "good book" somewhere - I can't remember where, but I'm sure the Lord was trying to cross a street in Bangkok when he said it.
I discovered on my way to the office this morning that even a pedestrian crossing doesn't mean that you can cross the road without dodging traffic. I say dodging, because if I'd waited for a break in the traffic to cross, I'd still be standing there.
Another saying you might apply to the roads in Bangkok is "The rules are, there are no rules!" Motorcyclists without helmets, cars turning in front of other cars when they're tired of waiting (as opposed to having right of way), motorcyclists going the wrong way down the street, motorcyclists riding on the footpath ...
But no-one seems to care. The lack of a system works, because there is no system. Everyone knows there are no rules, so everyone's happy. It's an anarchist's dream.
There are police though. They direct traffic here and there, though even they don't seem to bother when a random motorist flaunts the rules or turns when he hasn't been waved through. Though the guide books tell us that it's one thing for your locals to go whizzing around without a helmet on, or piling their family of six onto a Vespa, but if the paisty tourist tries it on, they might find themselves slapped with a fine.
And fair enough I think. You don't want every half-wit Aussie who's ever wanted to tear around the streets without a helmet on and four of his mates on the back of a Honda turning up to your country, do you? Oh - too late.
Here's my random Thai fact for today, which I learnt studying a wonderful website called www.Phuket.com: It's very offensive to show your feet - or to do anything other than walk or stand, with your feet - I already knew that. But because of this, it's drastically offensive to stomp on a 1000 Baht note that you've dropped and is flying away down the street! Why? Because like all Thai money, it has a picture of the King on it! And showing disrespect to the Thai Royal Family is a crime.
A little different from the stuff we throw around about Charles, Camilla, Fergie and the rest of them.
D.
It says that in the "good book" somewhere - I can't remember where, but I'm sure the Lord was trying to cross a street in Bangkok when he said it.
I discovered on my way to the office this morning that even a pedestrian crossing doesn't mean that you can cross the road without dodging traffic. I say dodging, because if I'd waited for a break in the traffic to cross, I'd still be standing there.
Another saying you might apply to the roads in Bangkok is "The rules are, there are no rules!" Motorcyclists without helmets, cars turning in front of other cars when they're tired of waiting (as opposed to having right of way), motorcyclists going the wrong way down the street, motorcyclists riding on the footpath ...
But no-one seems to care. The lack of a system works, because there is no system. Everyone knows there are no rules, so everyone's happy. It's an anarchist's dream.
There are police though. They direct traffic here and there, though even they don't seem to bother when a random motorist flaunts the rules or turns when he hasn't been waved through. Though the guide books tell us that it's one thing for your locals to go whizzing around without a helmet on, or piling their family of six onto a Vespa, but if the paisty tourist tries it on, they might find themselves slapped with a fine.
And fair enough I think. You don't want every half-wit Aussie who's ever wanted to tear around the streets without a helmet on and four of his mates on the back of a Honda turning up to your country, do you? Oh - too late.
Here's my random Thai fact for today, which I learnt studying a wonderful website called www.Phuket.com: It's very offensive to show your feet - or to do anything other than walk or stand, with your feet - I already knew that. But because of this, it's drastically offensive to stomp on a 1000 Baht note that you've dropped and is flying away down the street! Why? Because like all Thai money, it has a picture of the King on it! And showing disrespect to the Thai Royal Family is a crime.
A little different from the stuff we throw around about Charles, Camilla, Fergie and the rest of them.
D.
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