5 Things You Should NEVER do in Bangkok
1. The Bangkok Tuk Tuk Scam That Starts with Closed Temples
Picture this: you wake up to start the first day of your dream trip to Thailand. You plan to visit the Grand Palace and the riverside temples of Bangkok, but as you approach, a man in a Tuk Tuk smiles at you and tells you that the temples are closed for the day. Frustrated that your dream trip has fallen apart, the man says not to worry. He knows some other temples that are open and can take you to some hidden-gem locations that no one knows about.
This is the start of one of the easiest scams to fall for in the whole country. Hundreds of visitors to Bangkok become victims of the same scam every single day. I mean, who doesn’t want to ride in a Tuk Tuk while in Bangkok? The problem is that although they may take you to some interesting spots you’ve never heard of, you may also spend a big chunk of your day either stuck in traffic or in their friend’s jewelry store or gold shop, so that they can get a kickback from taking you there.
Perhaps a bigger problem, though, is that even though you may have agreed on an acceptable price beforehand, these drivers will quickly change the rules. They may argue that they took you to some extra places, or they may say that the price you agreed upon was actually per person. Recently, some Japanese tourists were made to pay 1,500 Thai Baht per person for a 5 km trip taking about 20 minutes. The total cost of the trip was 6,000 Thai Baht, which is roughly about $170.
This is even harder to stomach when you eventually find out that the palace and the other temples were never actually closed in the first place, and if you had just ignored them, your dream trip would have gone on as planned. If you want to ride in a Tuk Tuk in Bangkok, the best way to do this is by pre-booking an organized tour. These tours know exactly where to take you, how to avoid rush-hour traffic, and have clearly defined and agreed-upon terms before you start the tour. They also have a web presence, meaning they don’t want to rip you off because they don’t want to get a bad review.
2: Smoking Cannabis in Public
On the 9th of June 2022, Thailand officially decriminalized cannabis, completely changing the drug laws that had previously been some of the strictest in the world. Pretty much overnight, thousands of cannabis dispensaries popped up all over the country.
Despite being decriminalized, it’s still illegal to smoke in public, but many visitors are either completely unaware of this or simply disregard the rules. Recently, the number of arrests for smoking in public has been on the rise. Violators of this law can face up to a 25,000 Thai Baht fine, which is around $700, and up to 3 months in prison.
This is a problem for a lot of tourists because technically you’re also not supposed to smoke within the dispensaries. However, these are much safer options than openly smoking in public.
3: Disrespecting Temples and Thai Customs
Have you ever had a nightmare that everyone is furious at you and you don’t know why? Well, this nightmare became a reality for two 28-year-old girls from Poland when they were arrested and forced to apologize to the Thai people in front of the Thai national media for something they were completely unaware was even illegal.
The one place that you absolutely cannot offend anyone in Thailand is a Thai temple. The Thai are deeply religious people, and even though many temples in Bangkok have become tourist attractions, they’re considered sacred places of worship and you need to be extremely attentive to Thai traditions. In fact, most temples won’t let you inside without covering up your shoulders or tattoos.
This hasn’t stopped some tourists from breaking the rules. In 2017, two US citizens were arrested at the airport as they were trying to leave the country. A week earlier, they had posted a picture of themselves on their Instagram page at the famous Wat Arun. Their page was named The Traveling Butts, and they had spent the last few years traveling the world taking pictures of famous landmarks with their asses out. Little did they know that after posting this picture, it had gone viral within Thai social media and had enraged the Buddhist population of the country. The couple narrowly avoided jail time after being threatened with a 7-year sentence and are now blacklisted from Thailand.
But remember the two girls from the beginning of the section? Well, they weren’t even in a temple when they got arrested. Bangkok, believe it or not, is an extremely hot city, and instead of finding an air-conditioned bar or coffee shop, these girls decided to do a spot of sunbathing. The problem was, however, they didn’t stop to think whether it was a good idea to do it outside Bangkok’s Grand Palace. A woman took a picture of the pair, and again the photo went viral. The girls were tracked down and arrested a week later in their hotel in Chiang Mai and forced to apologize to the Thai public on national television. Whatever you do, please always be respectful when visiting temples in Bangkok.
4: Starting a Physical Altercation in Bangkok’s Nightlife Areas
And that’s only what happens when you upset a Buddhist. It’s no secret Bangkok has a seedy side, and you need to be very careful how you act when you’re around here. There are much shadier characters residing in Bangkok, and things can end far worse for you if you mess with them.
Despite having one of the largest red-light districts in the world, prostitution is actually illegal, yet there are parts of the city that openly flout these rules, meaning they have a very strong connection with law enforcement. One of the common complaints in the area is overcharging on the bar tab, usually in the form of lady drinks. This is bad enough and can leave you with a bar tab running into hundreds of dollars.
But the one thing you absolutely cannot do is start any kind of physical altercation. Just recently, there was a gruesome video released of two British tourists who refused to pay their bar tab because they believed they’d been overcharged. They were quickly beaten to a pulp by security, with the video ending with one of the bouncers kicking the tourist in the head while he was on the ground, knocking him unconscious and leaving him with severe head injuries. And even though this video went viral, the guard only got a slap on the wrist.
5: Flying a Drone Near Restricted Areas
Bangkok is not just a tourist hub; it’s also one of the most economically and politically connected cities in the whole of Southeast Asia, and it’s not uncommon for world leaders to visit or make appearances in the city. However, it appears that one tourist in 2022 was unaware that there was a very important meeting taking place between the leaders of Asia and Vladimir Putin. This tourist, like me, likes to take to the skies when he’s traveling. Unfortunately, he flew his drone in an area that was off limits during the meeting, leading him to be tracked down by the Thai and Russian authorities, where he was jailed and interrogated for over 2 weeks.
It’s not just when malevolent dictators are in town, though, that you need to be careful. You need to register your drone with the Thai authorities, and if you’re caught flying anywhere near a government building or the Grand Palace, you’re likely to see a hefty fine or jail time.
What is especially misleading is that, for some reason in Thailand, this is the only country I’ve flown in where these areas are not clearly marked on the DJI app, meaning that there’s no way of knowing whether it’s technically legal or illegal to fly. So you have to be especially careful.
