on our first bkk trip a few years ago we learned the hard way like the person above...the tuk tuk driver called us mumma and papa (we are in our 50's)..we decided to play his game....one shopping experience, one tourist site, one shopping experience, one tourist site, etc.....at the end of over 4 hours we were finished and asked him to take us to the river for a boat...he did...when we got out he wanted dollars....we refused, gave him his 50 or whatever B that he had asked for ...he started yelling (how unasian???)so did i and told him we did exactly what we had agreed on...we turned and walked away....we should have gotten a police man!!!<BR><BR>now we have a signal to each other...when we see a tout approaching we say to one another: &quot;do you have your cell phone&quot; and we keep walking....if they insist in talking, we keep walking and answer a few questions with vague answers and they get the question...

KathyNZ, yes, I had a similar experience in Bangkok with a taxi. When I handed the driver the business card of my hotel (with the address written on it in Thai), he wouldn't move. He said, &quot;you, get out&quot;. I said, &quot;No, please take me to the Royal Hotel. <BR><BR>He then drove ahead a bit, and pulled over to pick up two other people. They were Thai, and spoke English. I asked them what was going on, they said it was in the middle of rush hour and the driver wouldn't make much money sitting in traffic since my destination was so far.<BR><BR>I had waited for a bit to get the cab, so I refused to get out. I guess the heat got to me and I was frustrated. I'm not normally so stubborn! He finally drove ahead quite a ways, then got out to use a pay phone! <BR><BR>I saw up ahead another taxi was becoming available. I tossed some baht on the drivers seat, jumped out, and quickly snagged the other taxi.<BR><BR>That driver was absolutely charming and delightful. I hired him to meet me at my hotel at a specific time for a few other trips. He was always there and drove me everywhere I needed to be.<BR><BR>Other than one rickshaw ride in India, I've really had no problems with local transport in all my trips to Asia. <BR><BR>Oh, I take that back. There was this one time in Vietnam...........

Dolcevita, your story reminded me of a time when I was a wimpy little 18-year-old and a New York cabbie made me get out of his taxi. (It was rush hour, cross town traffic, he claimed his engine was overheating, yadda yadda yadda.) It would NOT happen that way today!