I went there originally with a view to seeing "Wat Arun," the locale of a book written by Yukio Mishima, but being disgusted with the foul air and the heat, I ended up going to the Riverside Cafe in the Oriental Hotel everyday in the afternoon, and drinking beer while enjoying the scene of the Chao Phaya River at dusk. The only thing that excited me was Muay Thai.

Yet, I thought of going to see the sights briefly at least, and headed for Wat Pho, which was famous for its gigantic Buddha statue. Just as I was about to cross a road, a man approached and asked me "Where are you going?" As I said "To that templeÉ" and pointed the building right in front of me, he started to explain what it is famous for, what the main points are, and so on. But he suddenly looked at his watch, and regretfully said "Oh no. It is actually lunchtime for the Buddha. So it is closed right now." Then in the next moment, he told me "Well, I just remembered something. There happened to be the biggest jewelry festival in Southeast Asia going on today. Why don't you go and take a look? Oh, how lucky you are."

Hmm, I guess he is a barker. But he spent quite a long time before getting to the point.

I thought so, but I happened to believe what he said about Buddha's lunchtime to some extent. Because I was traveling for pleasure and not on business, I was off the alert in that respect.

Moreover, suggesting "Charter a samlor (three-wheeled taxi) to get there," he promptly began to negotiate with a driver of one of the samlors there.

There was one more temple I wanted to visit, and it was a little away form there. He then suggested me to charter the samlor for two hours to go to the temple and the jewelry festival, and then to return to where we are now for something like 100 or 200 yen if I remember right.

A samlor is a remodeled version of Daihatsu Musette that runs noisily, and it certainly is a typical car of Bangkok. So, I always wanted to have a ride on it once at least, but at the same time, I was also concerned that it would be troublesome to negotiate for a fare as most drivers would not understand English. In addition, I would have to take a taxi anyway to go to the distant temple, and I was also tempted to see how he would deceive me. Then I made up my mind to try falling into the trap after all.

Now, as I arrived at the distant temple, I had a young man wearing a white polo shirt approached me. He said "I work for a national tourist bureau of Bangkok. I can give you a tour." I instantly thought that someone from a tourist bureau would never be hanging about in such area like this during the daytime, but as I was not sure what intention he had in his mind, I kept talking with him. In short, he just wanted to take me to the aquatic market. Well, this too was a sort of touting. But something like this is not an interesting deceiving technique.

Now, as I was praying in front of a different pagoda within the precincts, a man dressed in a suit carrying a briefcase in his hand came up to me. "I am a banker. I just came back from Seattle this morning." He introduced himself abruptly.

It appears that those fellows in Bangkok commonly begin with self-introduction and try to make people trust them. I feel that they are making themselves look even more suspicious by introducing themselves without even being asked. Yet, how he mentioned Seattle and not Los Angeles or New York was adding reality to his story.

He began talking to me, and suddenly said "Oh, I just remembered something. Yes. There is an extremely big jewelry festival going on right now. I believe it is the final day today. Oh wow, you are lucky. You must go and take a look."

Hmm? What is this?

Are they all accomplices?

However, that would be too much work only to deceive a poor couple from Japan. Suppose if they have arranged all this in advance, the timing would be just too excellent. Well, even though if this man did not appear, I have already planned to go to the jewelry festival because it was a deal. From that point, I assume that "the jewelry festival" might be the most common pretext used in Bangkok.

Leaving the man with a briefcase, I finally headed for the jewelry festival. Just as expected, it was just a dull jewelry shop in an antiquated building. I went in just to be polite toward the driver, but made one round and came out in 3 minutes. That did not particularly put me in trouble.

Now I came back to the point where I was at first. As I had the driver taking me around quite much like this, I was worried if he would ask an unreasonable price, but he simply accepted the amount he has originally promised, and it actually came out very cheap that was as low as a Japanese traveler would never be able to get by negotiation in ordinary circumstances. I was even determined to jump out of the window in case if the car turns to some suspicious road on the way, but I turned out feeling that it was totally pointless.

Now, as I entered the temple, which I was going to visit at first, and checked the truth of the Buddha's lunchtime, I found that it was a downright lie as expected. But, I wonder what profit that man made. To me, it seemed that the driver of samlor did not benefit much from this either. Perhaps, he might be able to get some margin by selling a piece of jewelry, but as he does not even go in the shop, I feel that this deceiving method is such an awkward plan that is considerably time-consuming and unreliable.

On the following day, when I was standing on the street with an intention of catching a taxi, a young couple happened to pass by.

"I am a staff of Shangri-La Hotel right there." (Again! He began with self-introduction. But there really is the Shangri-La Hotel in the direction he was coming from. Moreover, he speaks fine English, and is neatly dressed as well. And before everything else, he certainly seems like going on a date as it is the evening time)

I asked something like "I am about to go to Isetan." He started to explain the direction "You go straight along this street, andÉ," but then abruptly said "Oh, yes, I forgot about this. It is a Buddhism holiday called  (I could not get it as it sounded Thai) today. So, all the department stores are closed. If you want to buy some souvenirs, I can take you to a shop I know" just as if he suddenly thought of it. (It seems that this is also one of their techniques to pretend as if they suddenly think of something)

I wonder if he can get kickback by bringing a customer to the souvenir shop.

But, like I have already said it before, the way he appeared was just very natural. It was an inefficient spot to lie in wait for someone to cheat, and the girl apparently wanted to go on a date. In addition, as I told them that I did not need to go to a souvenir shop, they just left at once.

Yet, I happened to believe the information about the department stores being closed. For Thailand is a country full of monks, I imagined that it would be only natural if there were a variety of special holidays. Well, as I was not so crazy about going for shopping anyway, and I thought that it would be waste of time in case if it was really closed, I just went to have a dinner and back to the hotel. But it is needless to say that, being anxious to find out if it was really closed, I went to Isetan on the following day to check the truth. Of course, it was not closed though.

But, I do not see the point in their actions. Their method is quite inefficient. To me, it seems to have an incredibly poor success rate and not to be very profitable. But as labor costs must be low anyway, they might be approaching as many people as possible with a notion that the more people, the greater possibility to make a hit. Or I wonder if that is their original constitution, and that is why they cannot resist telling a lie and imposing on anyone they meet by nature.

Oh well, I enjoyed the trip in many ways after all.

Translated by Maiko Noda