Encounter with Song Thaew Driver

As mentioned previously, I had my first Song Thaew trip to Doi Suthep.

Doi Suthep is one of the must-go destinations. So I went to take a look.

Before hailing one, I always reminded myself about what I read – not to negotiate the price but just tell the destination.

I hopped onto one. At that time, only one lady passenger was at the front seat. I was the only one at the back. Not long after, she got off. Then I moved myself to the front seat, due to the wish to take photos (better view from that side).

The Song Thaew driver.

The driver was an old man, with pretty friendly smile. He asked me some questions, though the communication was not really smooth. I admired his ability to speak a little bit of English. Being in Chiang Mai, the 2nd largest city of Thailand and a heaven for travellers, he did take initiative to improve himself. Good!

After some conversations, he asked me, how would I go down later. I said I’d take another Song Thaew. He then offered to also send me down at the price of 100B for a return trip. I asked if he’s staying on hill and was going home for lunch (I assume he would just like to have another “confirmed” business on the way down, so his car wouldn’t be empty).

This is Feng's book, but become temporarily mine, since she's flying to NZ today, and will be there for at least 6 months.

I doubted he didn’t 100% understand my question, however he nodded. Without double-confirming if he really got what I mean, I then agreed with the offer. I checked the price from the Lonely Planet Travel Guide before departing. It says it should cost around 40B to go up, and 30B to come down. Assuming the information was few years ago, 100B is reasonable nowadays.

On the way, there were people hailing the Song Thaew, but no one hopped on. I thought perhaps their destinations did not match with mine.

Hire a motorcycle to go around is pretty common in Chiang Mai. This guy was going up to Doi Suthep too.

The driver had been quite friendly to me. Seeing I was holding a DSLR, he’d stop at some lookout points with nice views, for me to snap some photos. He actually didn’t know how to say that in English, but just conveyed the message via gesture (pressing shutter using finger).

A bird eye's view of the beautiful Chiang Mai city.

He suggested my visit time at Doi Suthep to be 1 hour, and fixed a time when should we meet again. I requested for longer (I didn’t like to rush), which is 1.5 hour, and he agreed. I didn’t request for too long, thinking that if he could go down to city earlier, he could earn more money, instead of spending all his time to wait for me.

He also asked me to take a picture of his Song Thaew for easier identification later (they were a lot around the area). We agreed to meet again at 2:30pm, which was the “2 o’clock 30 minutes” he meant.

This car plate number scared me for quite some time afterwards!!!

I was already making a charter but the silly me was not aware of that. I still stupidly thought that I was making a good deed to an old man, coz I really didn’t need anyone to wait for me.

As promised, I went down by his Song Thaew again back to the city. I was kinda curious why he didn’t try to get more people into his car, but that question faded away quickly.

Before hopping down, I paid him 100B, as both agreed. He then told me, it should be 500B, not 100B!! I didn’t expect that at all, hence was quite amazed with what I heard. I started to defend myself and said, you told me 100B just now, how come now you increase it to 500B?

He insisted that he told me 500B. But honestly, I heard 100B. Was there any communication error in between?

For myself, since I heard 100B and agreed with 100B, it’s impossible I’d pay anymore than that. Moreover, I didn’t have much small notes with me that time. I only had 1000B note, which was reserved for accommodation payment (wanted to pay that morning but the boss was not around).

He offered himself to take photos for me. I only had the courage to pass him my compact camera.

Since he’s an old man, I didn’t want to argue much and claimed he’s dishonest etc. I tried to solve it in an amicable way, by showing him the almost empty cash bag after paying (my 1000B note was put separately). I even gave him all the coins I had in the bag, and said, that’s all what I got. He suggested driving me back to where I stayed to get money.

Do you think I’m that dumb till bringing him back to where I stayed? Sure no.

Out of no way, I opened the door, got down and fled! There was a market nearby. So it was pretty easy for me to disappear myself into the crowd. Though it didn’t seem to be easy for him to park his car, get down and chase me, the possibility still existed.

I never imagine I would need to "flee into market"! Seems like only the bad guys need to do so!

Before getting myself to a “safe” place, I was actually quite worried that he’d chase after me, or asked the people around to stop me. Very luckily, that didn’t happen. I was really quite scared that time.

Finally, with not much money left, I had to walk all the way back to Kanyala Guesthouse from the market. I was always taking note of the passing-by Song Thaews on the road. I was afraid to get caught by the old man, somewhere, sometime. I was still not sure if I was conned, or it was due to misunderstanding resulted from communication problem.

When I checked with others later, I realized that I had paid the old driver less than the market price (150B). I suddenly feel sorry to the old Song Thaew driver.

However, what can I do to compensate?

Lesson Learned: Those who are nice to you, must come with a reason. Judge before you draw any conclusion. (reluctant to say so, but sometimes it's so true)

Read the original write-up here.
See the Tomlamyai and Warorot markets that "saved" me.