Do Not Argue With Thais, Pay and Walk Away
My friend from the UK got in touch with me in February 2018.
He wanted to visit me in Australia while he was on vacation here.
I said, “Sure, no problem.”
I asked, “When are you coming?”
He said, “November.”
We talked on Skype for about a month.
Then I suggested, “What if we meet up in Thailand?”
Keep in mind, both of us are married to Thai women, and we’ve been to Thailand many times before.
My friend Josh said, “Why not? Let’s do it.”
Three Weeks In Thailand
So, we picked the dates and places to go.
We decided on a three-week plan: three nights in Bangkok, followed by four nights in Hua Hin, two nights in Chiang Mai, and then four nights in Ao Nang.
After that, we’d return to Hua Hin, visit Bangkok again, and head back home.
I got to Bangkok two days before Josh did, and I had already booked a hotel called the Dream Hotel on Soi Sukhumvit 15.
Anyway, the day before Josh was supposed to arrive, I went to the Sportsman’s Bar and Restaurant on Soi Sukhumvit 13, which is a great bar.
Checking Out The Beer Bars On Sukhumvit Road, Bangkok
So Around 1 pm, I had two beers at the Sportsman’s Bar, Then, I recalled there was a cheap bar on Soi Sukhumvit 15 called Speakeasy.
It’s the first bar on the left as you enter the soi from Sukhumvit.
It’s the same soi as the hotel, so I went there and ordered my usual beer, Leo beer.
A lady who appeared to be in her 50s started talking to me and mentioned, “At night, we have girls.”
I thought to myself that she must be the mamasan, or the manager of the bar.
After having a Leo beer, I headed back to the hotel.
The next day, I went to the airport to pick up my Josh.
His flight was landing at around 6 p.m.
Thai time, but he didn’t get out of customs until around 7:30 p.m.
Afterward, we took the train back to Sukhumvit, and he checked into the same hotel as me.
We were hungry, so we went to the Sportsman’s Bar and Restaurant and had a great meal.
Then I told him about the Speakeasy bar, and he said, “Let’s go.”
We arrived there and were immediately greeted by a couple of lovely ladies.
Paying For Drinks Straight Away, Do Not Get A Bill
We ordered our Leo beers and started drinking.
Unlike most people, Josh and I preferred to pay for the drinks as we went along, even though some places didn’t like when we did that.
During happy hour, we paid 60 or 65 baht for a beer.
Josh seemed quite interested in one of the bar girls, but he was tired from the long flight from the UK and just wanted to get some rest.
After about eight beers, we decided to call it a night and headed back to the hotel.
The next morning, we enjoyed an awesome breakfast and made a rough plan for the day.
We decided to start the day by going to a cafe and then returning to the hotel before going on a walk around.
Later on, we planned to head to Hooters for a drink and then continue our evening with drinks at the Speakeasy Bar.
Around 6:30 p.m., we went to the Hooters on Soi Sukhumvit 15, which was just a short three-minute walk down the road.
We had dinner there, and while it was a bit pricey, the views were spectacular, if you catch my drift.
After our meal at Hooters, we decided to head to the Speakeasy Bar.
When we arrived, the same girls recognized us and seated us.
We ordered our Leo beers, but something didn’t seem right.
They had a happy hour sign outside the bar, advertising 60-65 baht a beer, just like what we had paid the night before.
However, they were charging us 85 baht this time.
We had two Leos anyway and paid for them, then we ordered another one and asked where the pool table was.
They said it’s upstairs, so we went upstairs, and one of the girls came with us.
It happened to be the one that Josh was particularly fond of.
About halfway through the game of pool, Josh asked her how much it would cost for the bar fine.
She replied that she’s not that kind of bar girl.
Josh said, “Okay, no problem. I’m sorry.”
After that, she started acting strangely towards us.
We had two more beers, and Josh settled the tab.
We then went downstairs, and I finished my second beer.
After about an hour, I asked for the bill.
It was my turn to pay, and when the bill arrived, I used a 1,000 baht note because it was all I had.
The total bill was around 300 baht.
The bar girl went to the cashier, returned, and gave me 110 baht in change.
Here Comes The Thailand Change Scam
I began to wonder if there was a mistake with the change they gave me, so I politely said, “Excuse me, but I gave you a thousand baht.”
The mamasan responded, “No, you gave me 500.”
I insisted, “No, I gave you a thousand.”
Then, a guy sitting behind us, who sounded German or Australian, chimed in and said, “No, I saw him give you one thousand, I saw it.”
However, the mamasan still denied it.
I considered suggesting that we check the till or call the police, but then I realized it might not go in our favor, so I decided it was best to just leave.
Josh had just returned from the toilet, and I told him, “Josh, we’re leaving right now.”
The mamasan and one of the girls grabbed onto him, but he managed to break free.
We started walking up the soi, but the mamasan and two other girls chased after us, insisting that we owed them money.
I firmly told them, “Get lost, I gave you a thousand baht, and you gave me the wrong change.”
After a minute or two, they eventually went back.
Looking back on it now, I realise that things could have escalated into a much worse situation.
Do Not Argue With Thai’s, You Will Not Win
It’s a common rule among foreigners never to argue with Thai locals.
I’m just glad I had the sense to leave and consider my 1,000 baht as lost rather than risking further trouble.
We were nearly at the Irish pub on Soi Sukhumvit 15 when a Canadian guy approached us and said, “I saw the whole thing.”
He explained that the same thing had happened to him, so now he only pays with a maximum of 500 baht to avoid such situations.
After that incident, we stumbled upon a bar on Soi Sukhumvit 15, tucked away in a little alley just beyond the 7-Eleven.
Both Josh and I were proud to be cheap, and some might even call us “Cheap Charlies.”
We considered Nana and Cowboy areas to be too pricey for our taste.
This bar we was in was run by a friendly Aussie guy.
Josh enjoyed the company of one of the bar girls there, and we ended up going back to that bar another four or five times.
Well, I suppose the advice here is if you want to avoid this kind of scam, try to pay with a maximum of 500 baht notes.
If you need to break a 1000 baht note, consider going to a 7-Eleven or Family Mart to get it changed, but make sure to buy something small as well, like a bottle of water.
Alternatively, you might just want to avoid going to the Speakeasy Bar on Soi 15 altogether.
