Word: bangkok
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...other hand, reside in Bangkok and know what I'm getting into. Against all better judgment, I've undertaken this ride to determine just what it is about these rust-ridden motortrikes that commands such fondness, and whether the ubiquitous vehicles can survive a future full of cheap air-conditioned taxis, gleaming bus fleets, Skytrains, subways and road-safety committees...
...road." Ratana has noticed a price increase in recent years. "I think some of the drivers have become a bit greedy. They are used to getting big fares from tourists, and you have to remind them you're Thai." She worries that someday tuk tuks may vanish altogether from Bangkok roads: "It's true, a lot more people are taking the Skytrain or taxis. I know a lot of my friends think tuk tuks are too dangerous and smelly, too low class to be seen in. But I'll be out of business if they ever disappear...
...companies manufacturing tuk tuks in Thailand, by far the biggest is Bangkok-based Watt Industrial. "We can make up to 50 new tuk tuks a month," says owner Anuwat Vo-onsri. "But it's usually fewer than that. No new operating licenses have been issued in Bangkok for more than a decade, so we don't get much domestic demand for new tuk tuks. Mostly it's spare parts and repairs." Even if local demand is falling, Thailand remains the world's foremost exporter of the three-wheelers, shipping up to 5,000 new and second-hand tuk tuks...
...ordered a complete ban on the pint-sized three-wheelers to take effect four years hence. He claimed they were a noisy, dangerous menace; however, he died in 1963, before the ban could be implemented, and his successor, in the face of strident protests from drivers and owners, decided Bangkok could live with the tuk tuk after...
...month shy of 70, he quit driving only two years ago and remains president of the Tricycle Association of Thailand. "I miss driving every single day," he admits. "I'd never have retired, but my eyesight was going. And you need all your faculties to drive in Bangkok...