Friday, February 27, 2009

Tuk Tuking

Thailand has a unique mode of transportation called Tuk Tuks. What are tuk tuks? They basically are three wheeled covered scooters, seats 4 including the driver.There is no meter and we negotiated the rate before we got in. Since tuk tuks have no doors and we were exposed to the notorious Bangkok traffic; it got very noisy and the exhaust from the traffic made us nauseous at times, so we traveled with scarves to wrap ourselves up.Tuk tuks and taxis operated on a very strange commission system that we couldn’t figure out, some will try to take you to a tailor shop, to get clothes mades or jewelry store because they got commissions or gas vouchers from the shops. We were informed by a friendly local that the green and yellow tuk tuks are government tuk tuks who will take you to local sites for as little as 30 Baht which is less than a dollar. These tuk tuks also work on a commission system and will take you to government sponsored jewelry and tailor stores. We found a nice tuk tuk driver who took us all over the city for over 5 hours and we could pay whatever we wanted.Tuk tuks are a unique experience in Thailand, but one our lungs could only endure a little at a time.If only we could stick one in a crate and ship it home, we’ll be eyeing Craig’s list when we get home.

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