During our first visit to BKK we were told many times to go to government run sales because the jewelry would be guarenteed. When we first heard about these places, we just ignored the suggestions as they were coming from tuk-tuk drivers or someone who seemed likely to benefit financially from our purchases. But then we met local Thais who no longer lived in BKK and told us that they shop at these sales and buy jewelry to resell when they return home. They said that they can pay for their travel expenses by doing this. One now lives in Australia and the other in Canada. They had no reason to send us there - the one name I remember was the Blue Dragon and another was something like Pyramanee, I think. They said these places were only open to non-wholesale buyers that weekend because it was the King's birthday. We went to one and only bought a few little things as stocking stuffers. Is anyone familiar with these places and was it legit?

This is a well-known scam. It's described in almost every guidebook.

The usual hook is that these are government-run or government sponsored sales (no such thing); they are available for only a limited time (nope); other travelers and even Thai ex-pats (who you just happen to meet) make enough money buying and re-selling this jewelry to finance their travels.

It doesn't mean that the jewelry you bought is fake. But it does mean that you paid more for it than you needed to, and often, large gems in these sales are mis-represented.

Nenver, never, never go to a jewelry store recommended by a tuk tuk driver.

I'll go one step further and say never, never, never go a Tuk Tuk driver for anything period!

I'm with you, Bill, but for some reason, some people don't feel they've been to Bangkok unless they've ridden in a tuk-tuk!

Yes you are right some like to be "taken for a ride"!!!!!!

you mist ride in a tuk tuk but once is enough....CM is a good place to do that imo

Bob is right. If you must take a tuk tuk driver do it outside of Bangkok. Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai is a much better experience.

In planning my first trip to Thailand, riding in a tuk-tuk is one of the things I really want to experience!

I don't expect it to be comfortable or the cheapest way to get around, and I know not to let the driver take us anywhere other than our destination, but I wouldn't miss doing it at least once, simply because it's something unique to the place, and to me, that's what makes trips memorable.

You "veterans" have "been there and done that," but for a first-time visitor I wouldn't discourage trying it.

I also like trying weird local foods that you can't get at home- much to my husbands dismay, sometimes! (fried insects, maybe?), not because I'll like them, but because it's interesting.

Marcy, I don't know that I'd call anything about riding in a tuk-tuk in Bangkok interesting. Asphixiating, perhaps, but not interesting.

If you want to ride in a tuk tuk, do so anywhere but in Bangkok!

Marcy, go for it. We had fun riding around in a tuk-tuk but I did wear a mask for much of the ride. We had a local guy that we trusted set us up with a driver who drove us all over the city to quite a number of different places. We were with him for almost six hours with most of that time being spent by him waiting for us at the various sites. If we drove past something that looked interesting to us we just asked him to stop. He agreed to 40 baht for as long as we wanted before we got in his tuk-tuk. We figured that amount would most likely change by the time we were fininshed and we were prepared for that. After the first hour with him we knew that we would willingly give him more than $1. At the end of our time together he reminded us that the fee was 40 baht and didn't even hint that he wanted anything more. He did ask if we would go to one of the stores so he could get his petrol coupon. We went, spent about 5 minutes in the air conditioning, bought nothing and left and he was still quite pleasant when we returned. We covered a lot of ground that we could not reach by sky train or boat and it was cheaper than a taxi and it was fun. So, once again I say go for it and have fun!

Maybe we'll try it in Chiang Rai. I didn't know for sure whether they had them there, until I read this thread.