john 44 has obviously been in a deep deep Rip van Winkle sleep and hasn't noticed that he's replying to a post that's now two and a half years old.

way to go john. Smart move there.

looks like john44 is not a frequent poster. right now his post #43 is from December 2006. So this thread is one of the top 50 most-recently-posted-to threads that he has contributed to. My top 50 goes back two months.

I think, as my good deed for the day, I might put john44's completely useless response to his own, ancient post back up on top of the list.

Obviously he's still smarting about those seven dastardly cab drivers in February 2006.

So bravo john44! You have won Dogster's Really Strange Post Of The Day Award. There is a prize but you'll have to come back in here in another two and a half years to find out what it is.

Taxi problems are easy to avoid. I too had the meter problem in BKK. The solution is just to walk into the nearest large hotel, walk out of the lobby and get the doorman to hail a cab. My experience is that all hotel personnel take steps to insure that the meter is on and that the driver knows where you want to go.

Dear. All, if you have any problem, with taxi-meter /drivers in Bangkok, pls. call,to complaints tel;1584 the land transport, or to me ,085-4888-041, thanks, julie

So why is it that some bounder doesn't remove Julietaxi's blatantly self-serving advertising? Some of the so-called monitors/administrators on this boartd can't see past their self-interested noses. I lived in Bangko for well over a year- In my experience, 9 out of 10 taxi drivers are dishonest thieves. I was once threatened with a nightstick (a billy club) outside a 5 star hotel because I refused to pay a 300 baht fare for a ride I did almost daily for under 6o baht. I suppose some writer will suggest I did something wrong to agitate the driver- nope. Just a cussed, dishonest chap who didn't like being called out. The smiling, rather passive demeanor promoted by the press and tourist agencies belies the fact that a violent disposition lies just beneath the grins.

I wonder if there's ay logic or pattern as to when people are scammed by taxi drivers. In quite a few visits over the last several years, I've almost never had a problem with the driver turning on the meter, often before I need to ask, but sometimes after I ask.

Maybe it's the location of the taxi, and whether it's waiting in cue or flagged down on the street, whether the passenger seems to be an "obvious" tourist or not.

I'm just wondering theoretically why some people have had such awful problems and others have had none. Any thoughts?

John, I agree there are many factors why one person gets scammed and another does not. Some of the factors are likely characteristics of the traveler, some are characteristics of the taxi driver. I think there are some taxi drivers who just can't resist trying to get a bit more money out of the customer.

I remember a taxi driver in Washington DC who asked me how often I came to DC, and even after I told him I was there at least once a month, he wanted twice the usual fare from National Airport. Obviously, he didn't get it.

I do think that people who seem not to know where they are going, who seem more uncertain are more likely to get scammed.

In my experience, taxis waiting in a line at a hotel (the ones called by the doorman) turn on their meters immediately without being asked. The taxis waiting near a hotel, not in the line and not summoned by the doorman, are most likely to want to negotiate a price and to take you to jewelry stores or tailors.

Taxis hailed on the street are "potluck." But I find if I start to get out if the driver doesn't turn on the meter as soon as I ask is an effective way of getting the meter turned on - I rarely have to use it, and I can only remember once when the driver did not turn it on and I left and hailed another taxi.

Of course, tuk tuks always negotiate prices and are more expensive than taxis. They are also the vehicles most like to want to take you pace you don't want to go.

I'd just like to wish this post a [slightly belated] happy fifth birthday.