... Upon arrival I grabbed my carry on and was third off the plane. Long walk to baggage collection and eventually it came off in 53rd position. Yes I was bored by this stage. As I go through the terminal I am accosted by the taxi and limousine touts and ask the prices. With ridiculous quotes of 1000+ Baht I laugh and walk away. One of them asks me what I think it should be and I suggest 500 Baht. After seeing the hotel location card she offers 600 Baht including tolls and I agree knowing the traffic will be horrendous on a Friday night.
We go to the kerb and the luggage is loaded into the boot. I get into the front seat (I am rather cough about wearing a seat belt, it is ingrained in us as Australians) and then someone jumps into the back seat. I immediately ask the driver about this and he says he is another driver going to the company cars. By now we are just out of the airport and I hope I am going to make it to the hotel alive. However a couple of kilometres down the road the car stops, the man in the backseat jumps out and we move on. I see a row of cars parked beside the road on the other side and he heads over there.
A couple more kilometres down the road he pulls over in a very busy area gets out and speaks to someone and then says he is not going any further and that I have to get out and in to the taxi that is waiting there. The drivers speak and not seeing any other option and it is getting dark, I get my luggage and enter the taxi. He puts on his meter, asks where I am going and again I show my hotel card.
He heads off and then pulls over to the side of the freeway and asks to see the card again and wants a phone number. I point it out to him and he dials a number, listens for a couple of seconds then passes the phone to me, it is saying the number does not exist.
I have another number on my reservation and give that number to him and again it does not exist. He then dials the fax number and I hear the fax tones on the phone. By now I am getting really worried. As we approach the tollway he tells me I have to pay it or we would get caught in the traffic jam and that would increase the fare. 25 Baht to keep moving in what seems to be the right direction doesn’t seem too much to pay. He tried to keep the change and I had to really insist on getting the 75 Baht back.
As we keep going and caught in another traffic jam he gets me to talk on the taxi radio and tell them where I am going. Then he tells me to talk to someone on the mobile phone and tell them where I am going. Eventually I see an area I know and realise we are nearly there.
We get to the hotel and the meter is showing 233 Baht, as my luggage is carried into the hotel I hand him 240 Baht. Then the screaming starts. I am ushered into the hotel by the staff and asked what happened. I tell them about the limousine company abandoning me in the middle of nowhere and paying the toll etc. As the driver continues to carry on I ask for the Tourist police to be called and for them to assist.
The manager comes out and asks what happened, the driver tells his story in Thai (which I don’t understand) and then me. I explain that with the meter on and being required to pay the toll under threat of a higher fare I understood that I was paying the price on the meter. My contract was with the limousine company which literally dumped me in the middle of nowhere.
I again ask for the Tourist police to be called so that the mater can be resolved. The manager explains to the driver what I had been through and what I wanted. After a little more discussion between the manager and the driver (away from myself) the manager suggests that if I pay 100 Baht to the driver the matter will be resolved. I decide it is a cheap price to pay to finish the matter and finally have dinner. I pass the money to the manager who I see passing it to the driver.
I have been hassled and people have attempted to scam me here in Thailand (BKK especially) but this was the first time I was really scared for my safety. Still I guess it could happen anywhere. ....
