Thailand forum

Hi everybody! I wanted to share the following experience with all of you, so that you don't get scammed or ripped off when booking trips while in Bangkok!
My girlfriend and I sayed in Bangkok last week and during our stay we wanted to visit some places near Bangkok, especially the floating market and the tiger temple . While visiting a temple in Bangkok, we were approached by a person, which advised us that a good place to book trips would be a government travel agency, as these do not have high commissions. A tuk tuk took us there, to an agency called sun sea travel, with the address 5-5/2 Rongmuang soi 5, Patumwan, Bangkok, 10330, tel. [url=tel:0-2612-5593-7]0-2612-5593-7[/url], email: sun_sea@truemail.co.th. We paid 11000 baht for a two day trip including accommodation to the floating market, tiger temple, elephant riding and rafting. We were supposed to have a guide with us and the accommodation was supposed to be clean, have ac and all in all nice. This was what we agreed upon.

Well, it all came differently. The so-called guides were mainly drivers and all in all, we could not communicate with any of the people involved in this, as they did not understand or speak English, apart from a few standard phrases. While on our trip, we learned from the other fellow travelers that they paid under half of what we paid and this for a three day program. The accommodation was horrible, it was a hut made of all kinds of materials, cheap, dirty and there were rats all around, including one in our room. We could not move to another place, as we were in the middle of nowhere and it was evening! The tour was "organized" by another agency called Mamtours! You can see their so-called hotel advertised on their site, www.mamtours.com! We exchanged several buses and minivans during the two days and were dropped off at the respective locations, without any guide or explanation!

I wrote them an email after returning from our trip, complaining to them and asking for a refund of what we paid too much, that is 5500 baht, but I did not get any answer until now.

We learned this on our own, but the lesson for everybody would be not to trust any "friendly" people offering anything on the streets, as they are probably trying to scam you! Very often, they will approach you, ask you where you wanted to go and tell you this or that tourist spot is closed and offer to bring you to some other place, which is open! Always go to at least three travel agencies and take your time to compare prices, as they can differ significantly!

Thank you for your help and cooperation!
Florin Badea