During your trip around Southeast Asia, you can be sure you will get around in countless ways, including by train and bus. The more adventurous may also choose to rent a motorbike to travel between towns quickly and comfortably. However, the mode of transport par excellence, especially in cities, is without a doubt the tuk-tuk. Of all Thai cities, Bangkok has the highest concentration of tuk-tuks, so during your visit to the country’s capital we encourage you to get around by tuk-tuk at least a couple of times.
The history of the tuk-tuk in Thailand
The tuk-tuk is the motorized version of what are known as “rickshaws”, the two-wheeled cart pulled by a person that became popular in the late 19th century. The rickshaw first appeared in Thailand around 1870, when it was already common to see them in other parts of Asia (mainly in China). In fact, rickshaws were so common in China that they even appear in comics such as Tintin and The Blue Lotus, when the adventurous reporter and his dog Snowy visit the city of Shanghai in 1934. The advantage of the rickshaw over a regular horse-drawn cart was that, although its load capacity was lower, it did not require an animal to transport people or goods around the city. For that reason, many lower-class people who could not afford the expense of buying and maintaining a horse or ox chose this new version of the transport cart. In this way, Thailand filled with handcarts for transporting travelers, and rickshaws quickly became an icon of Bangkok.
From the hand-pulled version to the motorized version
Over the years, the tuk-tuk was modernized—especially the versions intended for passenger transport—to improve passenger comfort. After the Second World War, with improvements in industrial processes and the spread of combustion engines, the first motorized tricycles appeared. The first manufacturer to launch a motorized tricycle on the market was Piaggio, with its Ape motorized utility vehicle, almost at the same time as it was succeeding with the Vespa. Ape vehicles are still ubiquitous throughout Italy, especially in villages. Its simple air-cooled engine made it a robust, tireless, and almost unbreakable transport machine (even if at low speed). Asian markets were quick to copy the Ape’s successful design to start producing what is now known as the tuk-tuk.
Tips if you are going to take a tuk-tuk
Tuk-tuk drivers are shrewd and will always try to charge you extra baht on every ride. There are also other tips you can follow to fully enjoy your tuk-tuk rides:
- Avoid rush hour: being stuck in the middle of a huge traffic jam sitting in a tuk-tuk and breathing in car fumes is not very pleasant.
- Avoid tourist areas: the prices they will try to negotiate with you for rides are outrageous.
- Always negotiate the price before starting the ride.
- Do not book activities from inside the tuk-tuk: the vehicles come with advertising brochures for tours, massages, or activities that are usually more expensive than booking through an agency.
