A Suitable Epic

I have had some hesitation about posting this, and at the end you may see why.
Also, sorry for the length haha.

In order to properly tell this story I will have to venture back to when Aubrey and I first arrived in Bangkok. On our first day, the plan was just to walk around and eventually make our way to Chinatown – a market district where you can buy cheap souvenirs.

Our plans became sidetracked when we stopped an asked a man on the street for directions. He greeted us enthusiastically with near perfect English, explaining that he too was on vacation in Bangkok and that we were very lucky to be traveling because that day was actually a national holiday. He was from the north of Thailand and was visiting his mother and sister in the city. He eagerly took our map from us, circling all the tourist attractions that he had visited earlier in the week, giving us the time it should take for each adventure and the cost so we wouldn’t get ripped off. Wrote down and recommended a riverboat ride to see the city, a stadium to watch Moi Thai boxing, a cashmere suit factory (very popular in Thailand), and two major temples that we should see. He then called over a tuk-tuk for us and negotiated a really good price for us to go to the riverboat place. This was one of the really nice people we met, someone who helped us without expecting anything in return, as mentioned in the last post.

So, we embarked on our first journey, getting a taste of Bangkok from the river. The mix of what we saw was extremely interesting. Amongst the elaborate gorgeous temples and five star hotels were modest stilted Thai homes and a river filled with fish ready to gobble up and bread thrown to them by boat-ridden tourists like ourselves. We left the boat ride happy that we had done it and thankful to the kind man who had helped us.

We then walked around for a while longer, weaving through markets and eating the amazing street food. Around 3 hours after our encounter with the Thai tourist, we decided to go to one of the temples the man had told us about. This temple was famous for its 3 huge gold Buddha statues, one standing, one seated, one laying down. As soon as we got to the temple we were greeted enthusiastically by another Thai man who spoke near-perfect English. He was excited we visited the temple on the holiday and explained how he was taking the day to worship. He told us about the core concepts of Buddhism and showed us inside the temple. We talked for quite some time, him explaining that he was a “master”… meaning that he had obtained a masters degree and worked for the Bank of Thailand and had actually recently returned from a trip to New York. After a while, he asked us what else we planned to do while in the city and asked to see our map. He pointed to many of the same locations and then stood up excitedly. “How did you hear about this place?” he said, pointing to the marked cashmere factory that the man before had mentioned. He told us that that is the place where he buys his suits. He explained that it is a factory only for export for high name brands like Gucci and Armani and that once a year their showroom was open to the public. He said that the quality is so good that he waits to buy it during that time each year, which is planned around the week of the current national holiday.
And so, we thought we would check it out. The man told our tuk-tuk driver where to go and we headed there. We entered a beautiful showroom where the walls were filled with beautiful fabrics and the mannequins were sporting really nice suits. The men greeted us and welcomed us to the shop on the holiday. They were both very smooth, and you could tell that they were very good salesmen. I am doing this trip on a very limited budget, but I had flirted with the idea of buying a tailored suit in India before I left, and these guys looked like they knew what they were doing. After a lot of humming and hawing I decided to make a purchase. The deal was: 1 three-piece cashmere suit (light grey), 2 silk or high quality cotton shirts (one plain white, one flashy dark green), all tailored for me specifically and 1 silk tie for around $400. I left after them taking all my measurements unsure about the purchase; I knew the quality and price would be unmatched at home, but I was on a tight budget. Oh well… I got a good deal.

So after that, we caught our train south and left for the beach and had an amazing time there. When we returned a couple days later, and I went back for the fitting. Everything fit really well, and I was very happy with it… only a few minor alterations were necessary and they had to put the final touches on: sew the buttons in place etc. So, we caught our train north to Chiang Mai to play with the elephants. We had an amazing time there, as I’m sure you can see if you have me as a friend of Facebook. We arrived back in Bangkok, and the next day we went to pick up the suit. I tried it on and it fit really well, so did the shirts. Happy with the purchase, I even wore one of the shirts out to dinner on our last night.

The people that helped a long the way, including the salesmen at the tailors were incredibly nice. Our experience in Bangkok was to end in the theme described before, one of a very positive nature. And then, I missed my flight because of a wakeup call that never came. It wasn’t a problem rescheduling it to the next day, thank goodness, but it meant that I would have one day alone as Aubrey left that morning. I planned on just relaxing and maybe getting another Thai massage ($4 for one hour…. WOOO). After I dropped Aubrey off at the airport, and we said our goodbyes for another three months, I went back to the hotel, checked in for another night, and hoped on one of the computers in the lobby. I was greeted by a screen that said something of the following:

Beware of the Thailand Tailor Scam, people have been making money off this for at least a decade. This is how it works:
A man who speaks English very well approaches tourists on the street and tells them it’s a ‘national holiday’, he then gives them some legitimate information about tourism in the area, but also slips in the name of a tailor. The man then calls another man in on the scam and tells him the appearances of the tourists and the place they seemed most likely to go from his recommendations. The other man then waits at this separate location, and once the tourists arrive, earns their trust by conversation and information about the attraction, once again confirming the supposed holiday. The man then excitedly talks about the tailor casually mentioned before and provides falsified information about a one time only sale for the holiday. The tourists are then tricked into buying counterfeit products from the tailor, usually polyester suits claiming to be cashmere at mark-up prices. The tailoring done is often very poor, and in some cases, the product is never delivered.

My heart sank; my stomach went into my throat. Never have I felt so embarrassed and betrayed. I had been conned. The very people we had met in Bangkok that we believed to be so selfless and nice were really just part of an elaborate scam, which I fell for. I consider both myself and Aubrey to be good tourists. We don’t typically overpay for products; we can usually sense when tours are fake, and we know that if a taxi driver/man on the street offers to take you to his shop, its probably not a good idea to go. I would also say that I am very good at reading people – being able to tell if someone is being sincere or bullshitting. Still, even now, I look back and cannot believe that these men were lying to us. They seemed so honest and genuinely helpful – something I can truly not convey through this blog. But, I had been had. I was alone in Bangkok, no computer of my own, no phone to call someone. I have been alone before, but never had I felt that feeling of loneliness that accompanied my embarrassment. All I could do was go to my room and cry. It wasn’t really even about the suit. It was about the lies. The fact that humanity repeatedly shows me that no stranger can be trusted. That is such a depressing thought, one that I really try my best not to accept as truth.

Now, days later, I consider myself very lucky. My suit actually fits very well and looks good, and the shirts fit better than any I have had before, regardless of their fabric. After researching the scams online, many involving the same tailor shop, most people received a much worse product. I think the only saving grace was the fact that I went in twice for fittings, thus making sure the product I was getting was well made… even if I was not able to tell the difference between cashmere and an imitative synthetic.

The sad part is that after an amazing vacation, this experience left a real sour taste in my mouth. In my last post, I described the Thai as beautiful selfless people, but a great deal of that thought was based off of the two ‘nice’ strangers who had helped us on our way. I am sure this may be still true, but I might not be so quick to feel at home at another place again – a protective, yet very depressing thought.