IVAN ANWAR says he will come back to visit Thailand again, but he will give Phuket a little more thought before making a decision.
Perhaps when the bandages come off the wounds on his face, inflicted in an altercation with a tuk-tuk driver, he may feel more affection for the island where his holiday went wrong.
''Thailand is not the problem,'' said the 51-year-old Canadian, who has taught English in Tokyo for 16 years. ''Thailand is a wonderful place for a holiday.
''My wife and I come here often. We thought we'd give Phuket a try this time . . . I can't work out why transport here is so expensive.
''It was a one-minute ride. I would have walked if I'd known it was that close.''
Mr Anwar and his wife arrived on the island on January 4, spent one night in a small hotel in north Patong, but decided to move because there was too much noise after dark.
So they planned to move to quieter Kalim yesterday. Mr Anwar said that when he and wife hailed the tuk-tuk about 1pm, they agreed on a 150 baht fare to move to their new hotel.
But when he arrived on the beachfront in Kalim and realised how short the jouney was, he walked to the passenger's side of the driver's cabin and complained loudly.
''It was such a short journey,'' he said he told the driver. ''150 baht is too much.'' The driver's friend and the driver had a brief conversation in the cabin, Mr Anwar said.
The driver left his seat, walked around to Mr Anwar, and punched him in the face repeatedly. When Mr Anwar tried to kick the driver, the driver's friend restrained him by grabbing his arms from behind.
The staff at the hotel saw what was happening and called the police, at which point the tuk-tuk driver took off.
Another tuk-tuk took Mr Anwar to hospital while his wife checked in at the hotel.
''He broke my $650 sunglasses,'' Mr Anwar said. ''I don't think tourists expect to be attacked when they come on holidays. If it wasn't for the tourists, the tuk-tuk drivers would have no jobs.
''I still don't understand why he chose to punch me rather than talk. That seems to me to be unnecessary violence for no good reason.''
Mr Anwar will fly to Hong Kong and Tokyo tomorrow. His wife is heading for New Delhi.
The accused driver, Tadsanarid Damtong, 33, was to be held in a cell at Kathu Police Station in Patong overnight after Governor Wichai Praisa-ngob intervened in the case and prohibited bail being permitted.
Natdanai Chaowana, a prominent tuk-tuk owner in Patong, told Phuketwan yesterday: ''In Patong, everybody knows that it's 200 baht just to start the engine of a tuk-tuk.''
When asked why the cost was so high, he added: ''Look at the economy of Phuket, everything is expensive here.''
Khun Natdanai said Khun Tadsanarid should be allowed bail ''because he is a Thai. Nobody knows yet who is right and who is wrong in this case. Let the court decide.
''In some cases people kill each other, and they are allowed bail.''
Khun Natdanai said Mr Anwar should have also been charged because the driver said Mr Anwar insulted him, and struck the first blow.
Khun Tadsanarid comes from Krabi, although tuk-tuk organisers on Phuket usually say only locals are employed as drivers.
Patong police chief Colonel Grissak Songmoonnark said that there were too many tuk-tuks on Phuket. He said there were about 500 in Patong alone, not including unregistered vehicles.
''Two hundred tuk-tuks would be enough for the whole island,'' he said.
''Problems arise because of the rivalry between the tuk-tuk groups, which means they often cannot make pick-ups so return trips are usually made empty.
''The return trip empty is built in to the price. It should be 150 baht to travel from Karon to Patong, but because the driver has to return empty, he charges 300 baht.''
The structure of village-based monopolies in the tuk-tuk trade needed to change, he said. Vehicles should be registered to go from zone to zone once the numbers are drastically reduced, he said.
The economic downturn should have reduced the number of drivers because fewer tourists are coming to Phuket, and they are spending less money.
Instead, the opposite has happened. There are many more drivers . . . and some of them charge excessively high fares because they sometimes only have one fare a day.
Phuketwan believes the times has come for Thailand's government to intervene to rationaise and modernise Phuket's outmoded transport system before serious damage is done to the tourism industry.
Perhaps when the bandages come off the wounds on his face, inflicted in an altercation with a tuk-tuk driver, he may feel more affection for the island where his holiday went wrong.
''Thailand is not the problem,'' said the 51-year-old Canadian, who has taught English in Tokyo for 16 years. ''Thailand is a wonderful place for a holiday.
''My wife and I come here often. We thought we'd give Phuket a try this time . . . I can't work out why transport here is so expensive.
''It was a one-minute ride. I would have walked if I'd known it was that close.''
Mr Anwar and his wife arrived on the island on January 4, spent one night in a small hotel in north Patong, but decided to move because there was too much noise after dark.
So they planned to move to quieter Kalim yesterday. Mr Anwar said that when he and wife hailed the tuk-tuk about 1pm, they agreed on a 150 baht fare to move to their new hotel.
But when he arrived on the beachfront in Kalim and realised how short the jouney was, he walked to the passenger's side of the driver's cabin and complained loudly.
''It was such a short journey,'' he said he told the driver. ''150 baht is too much.'' The driver's friend and the driver had a brief conversation in the cabin, Mr Anwar said.
The driver left his seat, walked around to Mr Anwar, and punched him in the face repeatedly. When Mr Anwar tried to kick the driver, the driver's friend restrained him by grabbing his arms from behind.
The staff at the hotel saw what was happening and called the police, at which point the tuk-tuk driver took off.
Another tuk-tuk took Mr Anwar to hospital while his wife checked in at the hotel.
''He broke my $650 sunglasses,'' Mr Anwar said. ''I don't think tourists expect to be attacked when they come on holidays. If it wasn't for the tourists, the tuk-tuk drivers would have no jobs.
''I still don't understand why he chose to punch me rather than talk. That seems to me to be unnecessary violence for no good reason.''
Mr Anwar will fly to Hong Kong and Tokyo tomorrow. His wife is heading for New Delhi.
The accused driver, Tadsanarid Damtong, 33, was to be held in a cell at Kathu Police Station in Patong overnight after Governor Wichai Praisa-ngob intervened in the case and prohibited bail being permitted.
Natdanai Chaowana, a prominent tuk-tuk owner in Patong, told Phuketwan yesterday: ''In Patong, everybody knows that it's 200 baht just to start the engine of a tuk-tuk.''
When asked why the cost was so high, he added: ''Look at the economy of Phuket, everything is expensive here.''
Khun Natdanai said Khun Tadsanarid should be allowed bail ''because he is a Thai. Nobody knows yet who is right and who is wrong in this case. Let the court decide.
''In some cases people kill each other, and they are allowed bail.''
Khun Natdanai said Mr Anwar should have also been charged because the driver said Mr Anwar insulted him, and struck the first blow.
Khun Tadsanarid comes from Krabi, although tuk-tuk organisers on Phuket usually say only locals are employed as drivers.
Patong police chief Colonel Grissak Songmoonnark said that there were too many tuk-tuks on Phuket. He said there were about 500 in Patong alone, not including unregistered vehicles.
''Two hundred tuk-tuks would be enough for the whole island,'' he said.
''Problems arise because of the rivalry between the tuk-tuk groups, which means they often cannot make pick-ups so return trips are usually made empty.
''The return trip empty is built in to the price. It should be 150 baht to travel from Karon to Patong, but because the driver has to return empty, he charges 300 baht.''
The structure of village-based monopolies in the tuk-tuk trade needed to change, he said. Vehicles should be registered to go from zone to zone once the numbers are drastically reduced, he said.
The economic downturn should have reduced the number of drivers because fewer tourists are coming to Phuket, and they are spending less money.
Instead, the opposite has happened. There are many more drivers . . . and some of them charge excessively high fares because they sometimes only have one fare a day.
Phuketwan believes the times has come for Thailand's government to intervene to rationaise and modernise Phuket's outmoded transport system before serious damage is done to the tourism industry.
Phuketwan's Comprehensive Tuk-Tuk Coverage
Will This Photo Give Phuket Real Public Transport?
Defining Moment The fare was 150 baht for a one minute trip. The tourist objected. The tuk tuk driver would not take 100 baht. He lashed out. But the outcome may be positive: the start of Phuket reform.
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If this story is correct, then the tourist is in the wrong, he agreed to pay 150 baht, doesn't matter how long or short the journey. The price might be a rip-off, but there was clearly a verbal contract here. So now he has a banged-up face and $650 worth of broken glasses for his trouble.
Editor: Breaching a verbal contract (and perhaps a little irritation) warrants punches to the face? The violence is the central issue, surely.
Posted by Antz Pantz on January 6, 2010 11:53