On an Island known where there is talk of mafia making people disappear, what happened this morning was not a good thing. We couldn't get the argument out of the back of our minds. (Don't get us wrong it was hardly nothing, but we had engrossed ourselves in the media attention that the island gets and read stories of the Mafia). We feel we need to give more details about the rental/flat tyre incident. Especially after walking past the rock where the two Europeans were found face down in the water, murdered last year.
A few days before, when returning the scooter we had rented to the shop the guy behind the counter demanded money for the flat tyre that we had the day before. That was fine as we had signed a damages form which stated that we had to pay 500 Baht (£10), only the guy demanded 3 times that. He claimed that on the signed document which read "Flat Tyre - 300/500" that the forward slash was a "1" and he had crossed out the "300". This meant the the document now read "Flat Tyre - ---/500". Of course because of the guys aggressive nature and demands an argument took place. It was not in Matt's interest to let this Thai guy take us for a ride. Matt kept calm, a technique that is vital in any argument in Asia.
Thai - "1500 Baht, only one price" Matt - "it clearly says 300/500 and you have crossed out the 300" Thai - "It is now 1500 and that is a 1" Matt - "I'll happily pay 500 because that is what we agreed" Thai - "1500 only, now give me money" Matt - "No, you have altered a legal document and I'm not paying that amount" Thai - "1500" Matt - "Ok, do you want to go to court in Bangkok?" Thai - "If you do that I'm keeping your passport" Matt - "Keep the passport, I will just go to the embassy and get a new one, do you want to go to court?"
This went on for a bit longer and although Matt was being cocky and over the top his argument was carefully structured from experience. Thai people like to scam for money. If they smell weakness they capitalise but if they see that you are not going to pay and it could cost them money their attitude changes.
All of a sudden his tone changed and he said "All I want is five hundred" at which point Matt threw the money at him and grabbed the passport and walked off victorious.
We hung at the pool today and got the night boat to Surat Thani. We felt like little children on the boat tonight, we were forced to go to sleep at 9am when all of the cabin lights were turned off.
WE EVADED THE KOH TAO MAFIA. Kind of......

M & C xxxx