Bangkok THE STORY OF THE FREAKING SUIT...almost done...
Youris and I looked at each other.
We had been taken.
Big time.
Tuk tuks were everywhere. They all approached us and slowed down with the expectation of an extra CASH from the foreigners.
We let them pass. We were fed up with the sleazy tuk tuk drivers and their shifty ways. But there were no cabs in sight.
Eventually, we relented and hopped into a tuk tuk.
"Where to?", he said like a New York cabbie. An extremely TAN New York cabbie.
The sun was moving toward the horizon and everything looked beautiful, exotic and full of life, but I didn't care about that at the moment. I was angry with myself, and at Bangkok: the scam center of the universe. But of course I had no right to evily personify Bangkok. I had to realize somewhere in my pea-sized brain that when people do STUPID things with their money (anywhere in the world), they LOSE their money. It's that simple. Nothing to do with the Thai people.
They just happen to be skillful at separating fools from their money because they are charming, smile a lot, and they sense opportunity like a hungry fox. The Thais just seem so innocent. It's written on their face, seemingly.
The smog from the street cars blew into the tuk tuk while we raced toward the Hotel Atlanta clear on the other side of town.
"The Hotel Atlanta," I ordered.
"The what?," said the cabbie.
"Sukomvhit Soi 2," I said, giving him the street address. I was getting better.
"Oh. OK. I know," he said grinning.
"Thanks."
We made it thru spaces that shouldn't have accomodated even a little tuk tuk. We whipped around corners. We bullied cars 10 times our size filled with Thai youngsters. Yoris watched the passing crowds on the sidewalks, his eyes and mind were somewhere else. He looked even more pissed than me. What the hell am I going to do without credit cards??, he was thinking to himself.
My credit card dilemna wasn't as bad because I had never planned on using my credit card anyway. I had been, (and would continue), to pay for everything with cash, because I was wary of using my credit card in Thailand, and for good reason.
It took us 40 minutes to get back to the hotel, and it was getting dark. It was still hot as hell. As soon as we got out of the Tuk tuk and paid the man the humidity came down over our shoulders and back like a fireman's blanket.
We entered the hotel, and the temperature lowered by about 7 degrees to a nice-and-comfortable 85 Farenheit, which helped.
We saw my friend at the front desk, and he smiled at us--probably in anticipation of hearing whatever we had gotten ourselves into. These guys have seen it a MILLION times. They know some shit's gonna go down. And they know, with certaintly, that it is going to be hillarious. These guys must have GREAT dinner time confabs with the family. Thais are very much family people. Family is, by far, the most important thing.
I approaced the desk. He was still smiling.
"Well," he said, "how did it go today, guys?"
Youris was not saying anything. He somehow knew I was going to give a good synopsis of the situation without blowing my stack.
"We got into a little trouble," I admitted.
"Oh really?", he tried to look surprised.
"Yeah we ran into a scam at the tailor's".
"Yep. That's a common one. How much?" he almost winced as he said it--preparing himself to hear a figure that was roughly 4 months of income for him.
"500 each." I spluttered.
"Oh wow. Oh wow. OK." he said, "That's actually not TOO bad. I've heard much worse. What place was it called?"
"Voglee Tailors about 40 minutes away near the train station."
"I haven't heard of them. Did you get a good suit out of it, at least?"
"They are going to ship it to us at home."
"WHAT?!," he exclaimed. This last part was too much for him. "You payed 500 dollars american for suits that are going to be SHIPPED?!! I don't enjoy telling you this, but you may never see those suits."
"We know it.", I said.
Youris piped up: "Should we cancel our credit cards right now?" I wondered what time it was back in California. I hadn't thought about California all day. Bangkok was my world now. Humans can adapt to just about any environment and make it their own. It happens very quickly. I had already trained myself not to sit with my legs crossed (which I oftentimes do) so as to not point my foot, inadvertantly, at a Thai person. This is a very rude thing to do. They do NOT like feet over there.
"I would advise it.", he said solemnly. "One thing you guys should know. It is possible, in some cases, to go back to the store and renegotiate a price. It is somewhat rare, but I have heard of times when it worked."
"Why would they give us money back for no reason?", I asked incredulous at his suggestion.
"I don't know. I just know that sometimes they do. But as you probably already know. The concept of the refund is not a Thai concept. Don't get your hopes up."
"Let's try it!" said Youris, finally getting some color back in his face.
"Are you kidding? We'll burn through a whole day doing that! And for what?"
"Still, we have to try.", he said ernestly.
"Well, first things first. We're getting on that phone and cancelling these cards!"
We both went to telephones on either side of the lobby, and called our respective 24 hour banking "customer shmervice" numbers.
Needless to say, no REALLY-needless to say, BofA was not what you would call helpful...I even LIED to them and told them that the salesperson CHANGED THE FINAL sale price AFTER I signed it (how could I even know a thing like that?) and they said "if you signed the credit card slip, you are responsible for the bill. There is nothing we can do."
Great.
We had been taken.
Big time.
Tuk tuks were everywhere. They all approached us and slowed down with the expectation of an extra CASH from the foreigners.
We let them pass. We were fed up with the sleazy tuk tuk drivers and their shifty ways. But there were no cabs in sight.
Eventually, we relented and hopped into a tuk tuk.
"Where to?", he said like a New York cabbie. An extremely TAN New York cabbie.
The sun was moving toward the horizon and everything looked beautiful, exotic and full of life, but I didn't care about that at the moment. I was angry with myself, and at Bangkok: the scam center of the universe. But of course I had no right to evily personify Bangkok. I had to realize somewhere in my pea-sized brain that when people do STUPID things with their money (anywhere in the world), they LOSE their money. It's that simple. Nothing to do with the Thai people.
They just happen to be skillful at separating fools from their money because they are charming, smile a lot, and they sense opportunity like a hungry fox. The Thais just seem so innocent. It's written on their face, seemingly.
The smog from the street cars blew into the tuk tuk while we raced toward the Hotel Atlanta clear on the other side of town.
"The Hotel Atlanta," I ordered.
"The what?," said the cabbie.
"Sukomvhit Soi 2," I said, giving him the street address. I was getting better.
"Oh. OK. I know," he said grinning.
"Thanks."
We made it thru spaces that shouldn't have accomodated even a little tuk tuk. We whipped around corners. We bullied cars 10 times our size filled with Thai youngsters. Yoris watched the passing crowds on the sidewalks, his eyes and mind were somewhere else. He looked even more pissed than me. What the hell am I going to do without credit cards??, he was thinking to himself.
My credit card dilemna wasn't as bad because I had never planned on using my credit card anyway. I had been, (and would continue), to pay for everything with cash, because I was wary of using my credit card in Thailand, and for good reason.
It took us 40 minutes to get back to the hotel, and it was getting dark. It was still hot as hell. As soon as we got out of the Tuk tuk and paid the man the humidity came down over our shoulders and back like a fireman's blanket.
We entered the hotel, and the temperature lowered by about 7 degrees to a nice-and-comfortable 85 Farenheit, which helped.
We saw my friend at the front desk, and he smiled at us--probably in anticipation of hearing whatever we had gotten ourselves into. These guys have seen it a MILLION times. They know some shit's gonna go down. And they know, with certaintly, that it is going to be hillarious. These guys must have GREAT dinner time confabs with the family. Thais are very much family people. Family is, by far, the most important thing.
I approaced the desk. He was still smiling.
"Well," he said, "how did it go today, guys?"
Youris was not saying anything. He somehow knew I was going to give a good synopsis of the situation without blowing my stack.
"We got into a little trouble," I admitted.
"Oh really?", he tried to look surprised.
"Yeah we ran into a scam at the tailor's".
"Yep. That's a common one. How much?" he almost winced as he said it--preparing himself to hear a figure that was roughly 4 months of income for him.
"500 each." I spluttered.
"Oh wow. Oh wow. OK." he said, "That's actually not TOO bad. I've heard much worse. What place was it called?"
"Voglee Tailors about 40 minutes away near the train station."
"I haven't heard of them. Did you get a good suit out of it, at least?"
"They are going to ship it to us at home."
"WHAT?!," he exclaimed. This last part was too much for him. "You payed 500 dollars american for suits that are going to be SHIPPED?!! I don't enjoy telling you this, but you may never see those suits."
"We know it.", I said.
Youris piped up: "Should we cancel our credit cards right now?" I wondered what time it was back in California. I hadn't thought about California all day. Bangkok was my world now. Humans can adapt to just about any environment and make it their own. It happens very quickly. I had already trained myself not to sit with my legs crossed (which I oftentimes do) so as to not point my foot, inadvertantly, at a Thai person. This is a very rude thing to do. They do NOT like feet over there.
"I would advise it.", he said solemnly. "One thing you guys should know. It is possible, in some cases, to go back to the store and renegotiate a price. It is somewhat rare, but I have heard of times when it worked."
"Why would they give us money back for no reason?", I asked incredulous at his suggestion.
"I don't know. I just know that sometimes they do. But as you probably already know. The concept of the refund is not a Thai concept. Don't get your hopes up."
"Let's try it!" said Youris, finally getting some color back in his face.
"Are you kidding? We'll burn through a whole day doing that! And for what?"
"Still, we have to try.", he said ernestly.
"Well, first things first. We're getting on that phone and cancelling these cards!"
We both went to telephones on either side of the lobby, and called our respective 24 hour banking "customer shmervice" numbers.
Needless to say, no REALLY-needless to say, BofA was not what you would call helpful...I even LIED to them and told them that the salesperson CHANGED THE FINAL sale price AFTER I signed it (how could I even know a thing like that?) and they said "if you signed the credit card slip, you are responsible for the bill. There is nothing we can do."
Great.