Cab drivers will try to hustle the tourists. When they see blonde hair and blue eyes they see $$. They try to make sure you pay more than you should for a taxi because they think you can afford it. The worst experience was on our way back to the airport at the end of the trip. The hotel called us a cab and explained to the driver where we were going and told us what we should pay for the ride. Once we were out of the doorman's sight, the cab driver turned off the meter and said "Don Muong, 400 baht." Because we had taken a cab with the meter on from the same airport to the hotel we knew it should only be 250 baht so we kept asking him to turn the meter on (keep in mind that language is quite a barrier) and he reluctantly agreed. He then drove like a maniac all the way to the airport. I caught him doing 140 km/h in an 80 km/h zone, swerving in and out of other cars. I admit, I feared for my life a few times during the ride but we made it safely to the airport. As the driver was dropping us off he told Derek that if we had just paid the 400 baht he wouldn't have driven like that. Lesson learned, taxi driver. It was not worth risking our lives for what amounts to $4USD. It just bothered us that they treat the tourists that way.
Despite this experience we would definitely return to Bangkok. There is a lot we didn't get the chance to see or do and could easily justify another trip. For now, we will look forward to our next trip, Bali for Christmas!
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