Dao the Taxi Driver

Here's my father with his new friend/taxi driver, Dao.  When we were in Chiang Mai, the hotel set up a driver to take us to Tiger Kingdom & the Maesa Elephant Camp.

He was very friendly and spoke pretty good English. Like many drivers in Thailand, they love finding repeat customers who will use them for multiple trips.

Luckily for him (and us), we were going to a few different places and would be in need of his services for the next few days we were in Chiang Mai.

The hotel set up the first trip to the Tigers & Elephants for 1,200 THB (~$40 USD).  Personally, I think $40 for 9 hours is an amazing deal (but I'm a New York City baby, so my sense of value is warped by Manhattan).  My father got offers from random guys on the street for only 500 THB (~$17 USD), but I reminded him, "If you don't want your daughter going off with random guys on the street, then you shouldn't either."

So we paid up and got a hotel-sanctioned driver.  While only scheduled to take us to Tiger Kingdom and Maesa Elephant Camp, he also suggested we go to the Monkey Center and the Long Neck Village since they were on the same road.  And also, on the ride back from our Animal excursion, my father asked if we could stop by the bus station to buy tickets for Chiang Rai the next morning.  "No problem."

He even went inside with my father to help make sure my father didn't f- things up due to his lack of Thai language skills.  The bus station had a lot of English signs but it was very helpful having someone translate and explain anyway.  We got our tickets for the 10:15AM Green Bus and then agreed that Dao would pick us up from the hotel the next morning at 9:30AM.

On the drive back to the hotel, however, he offered to take us to the REAL Chiang Mai Night Market, the Wua Lai Road (aka Walking Street) for the Saturday Night Market.  This bazaar was more for locals and didn't have as much of the fake touristy trinkets that the other Kalare Night Market had.  Since part of traveling is avoiding all things touristy (ironic, no?), we agreed and asked if Dao could drop us off at the hotel now and to come back at 7PM.  "No problem."

Walking Street was also more open because they didn't have all those stalls along the sidewalk making you feel like you were walking through a tunnel.  This weekend market (only open on Saturday and Sunday nights) was on the actual street that they closed off to cars and tuk tuks.  We didn't end up buying anything that night, but my parents did get some local street food for about 15 THB ($0.50 USD).

The next morning (Sunday), Dao showed up at our hotel right on time and helped us with our luggage.  He took us to the bus station and then even went inside with us to make sure we got onto the right bus.  My father asked, "Are you sure?" and of course, Dao responded, "No problem."

We watched him stand there waving as the bus pulled out like a proud parent watching his child go off to college.  Now, I'm not old enough to talk to NYC cab drivers, but I'm pretty sure Tariq or Emeka wouldn't park on 8th Ave and wait for us inside Port Authority.

And when we returned to Chiang Mai at Monday 6:30PM, Dao was waiting for us at the bus station as agreed and took us back to our original hotel (Le Meridien) to get the luggage we left there and then drove us to the Holiday Inn where we were staying our final night in Chiang Mai.

And finally, Dao picked us up the following afternoon (Tuesday 2PM) to drive us to the airport.  Since we were early for our 4:40PM flight to Bangkok, he offered to stop by the nearby shopping mall so my mother could shop look around while Dao waited in the parking lot, but we said we were fine just going to the airport.

As he dropped us off at BKK Airport and unloaded our luggage, my father asked him how much for everything after the 1,200 THB Animal Tour on Saturday (since they had not agreed on a price before).

1. Stop at the Bus Station on the way home
2. Drive to the Walking Street Saturday Night Market
3. Drive to the Bus Station
4. Pickup from the Bus Station to Le Meridien
5. Le Meridien to Holiday Inn
6. Drive to the Airport

Now most 1-way taxi trips are about 150 THB each.  So for the list of trips, Dao would have been fair to charge my parents 750-900 THB ($25-30 USD) in addition to the 1,200 THB for the Animal Tour.  But Dao said simply, "200 THB" which is just under $7 USD!

Shocked, my father gave him 2,400 THB ($80 USD) for everything.  Dao's eyes revealed his surprise and asked "It's OK?" and my father replied, "No problem."

If you're ever in Chiang Mai and want to use Dao, his contact information is below:

Dao - Taxi Centre
088-4345234 or 085-0373330
taxicentre.cm@hotmail.com