May 24th - Bangkok, Budhas and the Voglee Scam
We caught the taxi to the airport shortly after 7AM. Our flight left at 10AM, and we got there just after 8AM with plenty of time to check our bags and make our way to the departure gate. The flight took a little less than 2 hours to Bangkok, but since there was a time change of 1 hour, we actually arrived in Bangkok at around 11AM. Customs was a little scarier this time, as the customs official barely spoke a word to me, but I managed to keep my mouth shut (could someone see how Hell is doing, it being so cold and all) and eventually got through. I'd compare it to how you get treated at the US border these days.
Anyway, we quickly got our bags from the carousel and got ourselves a taxi to our hotel, the Buddy Lodge on famous Khaosan road in Bangkok.
The hotel was pretty cool and the room was big with a thai touch of authenticity. We dropped off our bags and decided to make the most of our afternoon by walking over to the Grand Palace, about a 15 minute walk from the hotel. This, as they would say, is where things got interesting.
Now, both Graham and I had read through the Lonely Planet guide, and we were aware of the possible scams that local Thai people can run. (like offering a 20 baht Tuk Tuk tour around the city that just so happens to stop off at a suit tailor along the way)
So as we were walking to the Grand Palace in our board shorts and t-shirts, a lot of unsavoury people started coming up to us and offering us Tuk Tuk's, tours etc and telling us that the Grand Palace was closed. We politely turned them down and as we got closer, less and less people started coming up to us.
It was about 2PM in the afternoon and could see the palace in the distance when a well dressed guy slowly came up to us. Now, just for the record, we were a little skeptical since the Lonely Planet says to watch out for the well dressed people, who seem friendly, cause they're just trained actors. But the guy seemed pretty genuine and we decided to talk to him. (although he did come up to us and everything he seemed awfully shy about it, which is a sign of a true local)
He told us he was a University student and that the Grand Palace was indeed open, but only until 3:30PM. Plus he said that you require long pants, and that they don't lend out sarongs or baggy pants to tourists. He suggested we come back at 8:30 the following morning when wearing long pants won't get too hot. He asked us if we had a Lonely Planet guide and pointed around to different temples on the Bangkok map that we could see this afternoon and not have to wear long pants. He pointed out the standing budha, and the sitting Budha. He also said, and this is where our lights switched on, that if we were interested in getting some nice suits (cashmere or silk) that he knew of a good tailor. (Notice how he said "if you're interested" as if he didn't really care either way?)
Although we were kind of skeptical we figured we'd write down the name anyway. Now here comes the second part of the scam. Now, to be fair, scam isn't a good word, more to the point it was a charade. Anyway, he then told us that we should only use Tuk Tuk's with white license plates, since these were government operated, while the yellow ones are privately owned and operated. He said that the white Tuk Tuk's are less corrupt and cheaper than the yellow one's.
As he said our goodbye's and good luck's, a couple of Tuk Tuk's stopped beside us, both with yellow plates. We waved them by, and then a white license plated Tuk Tuk stopped. We showed him where in our travel guide that we wanted to go and he quoted us a price, equal to what the guy told us we would have to pay. (60 Baht, or around 2 dollars)
Our first stop was the Standing Budha, which was a magnificently giant gold statue of a, you guessed it, standing Budha. We took some pictures and walked around the temple a bit before getting back on the Tuk Tuk and heading to our second stop, the Sitting Budha.
The sitting Budha wasn't as impressive as the standing Budha, but it was still rather spectacular. We took a few photos inside the temples and funnily enough, the Budhist monk sitting inside the temple was none other than the monk on the cover of the Thailand Lonely Planet guide. For those of you who have it, he's the one on the far right of the cover. We didn't feel comfortable taking his picture but it was definitely him.
Anyway, here is where the third stage of the charade begins.
As we walked back to the Tuk Tuk driver, he asked us to wait while he went to the bathroom. (In the back of our minds we're thinking "Why didn't he just go while we were in the temple?")
So shortly after he left, another well dressed Thai man walks up to his parked Mercedes (right next to us) and opens the driver's side door. He notices us sitting there, politely says hello and gets into his car. Before closing the door he leans out and asks where our Tuk-Tuk driver is. We tell him that he went to the toilet, and he kind of laughed and says something about how they have a tendency to wander off. He politely asks us what we had seen so far, and we told him.
He asks what elese we're doing and we showed him the map - which the other Thai guy wrote in and he asks us who wrote down Voglee. We tell him some other Thai student did, and he kind of nods and says that it's a good store and that his father bought suits from that very store. He then pulls out his wallet and shows us his very worn VIP Voglee card and tells us that we can get a couple of nice suits for around $500 US. He tells us to have a good trip and gets into his car. Shortly after, the Tuk Tuk driver gets in and asks us where to go next and we both point to the Voglee name in the book. (at this point they got us, and we didn't even realise it....such poor saps we are)
He nodded in agreement and we drove over to Voglee. Now to be totally honest we were still a little apprehensive, but we figured we hadn't spent any money yet so no harm done.
We got to Voglee and as we get to the front door a nice man escorts us in and takes us up to a private room where we discuss what we are looking for. (there were plenty of other people in the store, so at least we weren't the only suckers on this day)
He gets us something to drink, and to be honest was very impressive. We told him what we were looking for, had our measurements taken, looked through the catalogues to pick our styles and then we choose a couple of shirts. We also got two extra pairs of pants for the suits so that we could wear the pants by themselves and not be concerned with wear and tear. He asks us if we would like a wool coat as well, and shows us the sample. (it was really nice actually, and if they ever mail the suits and coat, I'll show you them someday)
He then quotes us a price of around $800, and to be honest, it was well within range of what we were expecting. For starters, they were going to be shipped within a month, to guarantee that they get back in time for my brother's wedding. (Graham wants to wear one of the suits for the wedding) Second, the quality of the material was pretty good (and I've tried on a lot of suits in my day). Third, I was planning on paying about $500 for two suits in Vietnam, that might take longer to get delivered, and I wouldn't be so sure of the quality.
Anyway, we went downstairs, paid the guy and he gave us the official receipt and a business card to arrange the fitting for the next day as well as giving us a VIP card, like the guy in the mercedes had.
We left the store feeling content, and not really thinking about being scammed at all.
Out Tuk Tuk driver was ready to take us back to our hotel when stage 4 of the scam started. He asked us if we had picked up our tickets to Phuket yet, and we told him we hadn't. He said there was a tourist office just down the road and we agreed to check it out.
When we got to the tourist office, we asked the guy at the desk what we were looking for, and he quoted us the exact price we were expecting. We figured it wasn't going to be as good as going by government bus, but he showed us the type of bus we would be taking, and it didn't look too bad. We paid him for a return trip (a bit of a mistake we would admit later on) and walked out of there pretty happy that we had sorted out so much in such a short period of time. On top of it all, we now had one less thing to worry about in Vietnam and we could spend more time exploring.
We got back to the hotel shortly after 4 and took a brief swim in the rooftop pool. After getting changed, we went out and experienced the nightlife of Khao San road. Had a few beers, did a little shopping and had a blast.
We met up with two Aussie guys and drank with them for a while, getting a little too drunk, and eventually getting kicked out of the bar just after closing.
Hopefully the hangover wasn't going to be too bad.
Anyway, we quickly got our bags from the carousel and got ourselves a taxi to our hotel, the Buddy Lodge on famous Khaosan road in Bangkok.
The hotel was pretty cool and the room was big with a thai touch of authenticity. We dropped off our bags and decided to make the most of our afternoon by walking over to the Grand Palace, about a 15 minute walk from the hotel. This, as they would say, is where things got interesting.
Now, both Graham and I had read through the Lonely Planet guide, and we were aware of the possible scams that local Thai people can run. (like offering a 20 baht Tuk Tuk tour around the city that just so happens to stop off at a suit tailor along the way)
So as we were walking to the Grand Palace in our board shorts and t-shirts, a lot of unsavoury people started coming up to us and offering us Tuk Tuk's, tours etc and telling us that the Grand Palace was closed. We politely turned them down and as we got closer, less and less people started coming up to us.
It was about 2PM in the afternoon and could see the palace in the distance when a well dressed guy slowly came up to us. Now, just for the record, we were a little skeptical since the Lonely Planet says to watch out for the well dressed people, who seem friendly, cause they're just trained actors. But the guy seemed pretty genuine and we decided to talk to him. (although he did come up to us and everything he seemed awfully shy about it, which is a sign of a true local)
He told us he was a University student and that the Grand Palace was indeed open, but only until 3:30PM. Plus he said that you require long pants, and that they don't lend out sarongs or baggy pants to tourists. He suggested we come back at 8:30 the following morning when wearing long pants won't get too hot. He asked us if we had a Lonely Planet guide and pointed around to different temples on the Bangkok map that we could see this afternoon and not have to wear long pants. He pointed out the standing budha, and the sitting Budha. He also said, and this is where our lights switched on, that if we were interested in getting some nice suits (cashmere or silk) that he knew of a good tailor. (Notice how he said "if you're interested" as if he didn't really care either way?)
Although we were kind of skeptical we figured we'd write down the name anyway. Now here comes the second part of the scam. Now, to be fair, scam isn't a good word, more to the point it was a charade. Anyway, he then told us that we should only use Tuk Tuk's with white license plates, since these were government operated, while the yellow ones are privately owned and operated. He said that the white Tuk Tuk's are less corrupt and cheaper than the yellow one's.
As he said our goodbye's and good luck's, a couple of Tuk Tuk's stopped beside us, both with yellow plates. We waved them by, and then a white license plated Tuk Tuk stopped. We showed him where in our travel guide that we wanted to go and he quoted us a price, equal to what the guy told us we would have to pay. (60 Baht, or around 2 dollars)
Our first stop was the Standing Budha, which was a magnificently giant gold statue of a, you guessed it, standing Budha. We took some pictures and walked around the temple a bit before getting back on the Tuk Tuk and heading to our second stop, the Sitting Budha.
The sitting Budha wasn't as impressive as the standing Budha, but it was still rather spectacular. We took a few photos inside the temples and funnily enough, the Budhist monk sitting inside the temple was none other than the monk on the cover of the Thailand Lonely Planet guide. For those of you who have it, he's the one on the far right of the cover. We didn't feel comfortable taking his picture but it was definitely him.
Anyway, here is where the third stage of the charade begins.
As we walked back to the Tuk Tuk driver, he asked us to wait while he went to the bathroom. (In the back of our minds we're thinking "Why didn't he just go while we were in the temple?")
So shortly after he left, another well dressed Thai man walks up to his parked Mercedes (right next to us) and opens the driver's side door. He notices us sitting there, politely says hello and gets into his car. Before closing the door he leans out and asks where our Tuk-Tuk driver is. We tell him that he went to the toilet, and he kind of laughed and says something about how they have a tendency to wander off. He politely asks us what we had seen so far, and we told him.
He asks what elese we're doing and we showed him the map - which the other Thai guy wrote in and he asks us who wrote down Voglee. We tell him some other Thai student did, and he kind of nods and says that it's a good store and that his father bought suits from that very store. He then pulls out his wallet and shows us his very worn VIP Voglee card and tells us that we can get a couple of nice suits for around $500 US. He tells us to have a good trip and gets into his car. Shortly after, the Tuk Tuk driver gets in and asks us where to go next and we both point to the Voglee name in the book. (at this point they got us, and we didn't even realise it....such poor saps we are)
He nodded in agreement and we drove over to Voglee. Now to be totally honest we were still a little apprehensive, but we figured we hadn't spent any money yet so no harm done.
We got to Voglee and as we get to the front door a nice man escorts us in and takes us up to a private room where we discuss what we are looking for. (there were plenty of other people in the store, so at least we weren't the only suckers on this day)
He gets us something to drink, and to be honest was very impressive. We told him what we were looking for, had our measurements taken, looked through the catalogues to pick our styles and then we choose a couple of shirts. We also got two extra pairs of pants for the suits so that we could wear the pants by themselves and not be concerned with wear and tear. He asks us if we would like a wool coat as well, and shows us the sample. (it was really nice actually, and if they ever mail the suits and coat, I'll show you them someday)
He then quotes us a price of around $800, and to be honest, it was well within range of what we were expecting. For starters, they were going to be shipped within a month, to guarantee that they get back in time for my brother's wedding. (Graham wants to wear one of the suits for the wedding) Second, the quality of the material was pretty good (and I've tried on a lot of suits in my day). Third, I was planning on paying about $500 for two suits in Vietnam, that might take longer to get delivered, and I wouldn't be so sure of the quality.
Anyway, we went downstairs, paid the guy and he gave us the official receipt and a business card to arrange the fitting for the next day as well as giving us a VIP card, like the guy in the mercedes had.
We left the store feeling content, and not really thinking about being scammed at all.
Out Tuk Tuk driver was ready to take us back to our hotel when stage 4 of the scam started. He asked us if we had picked up our tickets to Phuket yet, and we told him we hadn't. He said there was a tourist office just down the road and we agreed to check it out.
When we got to the tourist office, we asked the guy at the desk what we were looking for, and he quoted us the exact price we were expecting. We figured it wasn't going to be as good as going by government bus, but he showed us the type of bus we would be taking, and it didn't look too bad. We paid him for a return trip (a bit of a mistake we would admit later on) and walked out of there pretty happy that we had sorted out so much in such a short period of time. On top of it all, we now had one less thing to worry about in Vietnam and we could spend more time exploring.
We got back to the hotel shortly after 4 and took a brief swim in the rooftop pool. After getting changed, we went out and experienced the nightlife of Khao San road. Had a few beers, did a little shopping and had a blast.
We met up with two Aussie guys and drank with them for a while, getting a little too drunk, and eventually getting kicked out of the bar just after closing.
Hopefully the hangover wasn't going to be too bad.
posted by David Roberts at 2:27 PM
7 Comments:
Hi,
I'm from holland and went to thailand to. I recognize the story you told about the Voglee, with the student and everything.
My question to you is: did you get you're suite??
greetings,
marco panterpretu@hotmail.com
Hi.....I'm from the UK and I recognise the voglee scam. We met a student near the palace who wrote down where to visit which included a tailor (voglee) who surprise, surprise were having a sale. He then arranged a cheap tuk tuk to take us around all the sights. The driver stopped to go to the toilet and someone from a nearby car started talking to us and also recommened voglee (so we thought we'd had 2 independant recommendations). Have to say though that we got a good price for a couple of suits and everything arrived back home ok and it was good quality. And the ride around all the other places the student had recommended was excellent. Have to agree that its more of a charade than a scam and we enjoyed the experience and wasnt ripped off too much!!.....Bangkok is fantastic!!
Cheers
Paul
http://www.myspace.com/zoostationspace
Your story sounds exactly like mines did. I could have never seen a scam coming from a mile away on that one. I was with my buddy too. They do have a great network on this scam. a student meets you, draws on your map of good luck buddha's, 40Baht for a 2 hour ride, white license plate, government, tuk-tuk driver going to the restroom, man walking next to us in his car, everything!!! hahahha, needless to say, i felt like i could have gotten a better deal, but my friend that was with me said he thought it was a great deal. before going to Thailand, i wanted to get a suit and was expecting the price i paid there. oh well, it is cheaper there than here in the US
How ironic- I experienced the same story you did, but everything turned out legit. Although, the odd thing was that the next day, when I needed to get back to try on my suits, none of the Tuk Tuks wanted to take me all the way out there, or they wanted double the price from the day before, saying that the day before was Buddha's birthday, which is why the tour/ ride was so cheap.
Voglee did as promised & delivered my suits to my hotel later that day (all the way in Sukhumvit), which was like "planes, trains, & automobiles" for me to get there!!
Anyhow, my suits were excellent- half as much cost as here in the US, and tailor made to my specs. I guess I REALLY lucked out!!
The ironic thing- I'm a very young woman, and I was traveling by myself. Wouldn't you imagine that (between me & all you men) I would have been the one scammed, not you???
Interesting!!
How I wish we had read your blog BEFORE we went rather than after. Sigh. I year later and they are still running the Voglee scam ... we can personally attest to it. At least we did get the clothes though. My husbands actually were ok -- but the ladies' stuff was really not worth it.
I have been to Voglee as well, but still had the time in Bangkok to actually collect my suits. 3 suits for 600 USD (in 2003).
They are still the best suits I have, and I was actually searching the internet to see if I could order some extra (via the special card they gave). After reading the above, I have decided not to try it.
haha tack one more up for the Voglee Scam... this time the closed excuse was due to Monks praying because the queen:s sister had died. After we caught on to the charade and hadn:t bought anything- our Tuk Tuk driver decided to negotiate with us and let us in on a few of them. We went along to one or two to help the guy out as long as he dropped us off at the hotel at the end-- haha of course don:t negotiate with a scammer-- he left us at one of the destinations. oh well at least we didn:t have to pay!
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