With so many scams, I couldn’t just leave you hanging with a handful of words.<\/p>\n
One of the more popular scams is called the Gem Scam. Lets say you’re a happy tourist, walking around Bangkok, heading towards a popular tourist destination. Now a Thai man walks up to you and says ‘its closed’. He answers a few of your questions, basically to convince you that the tourist destination is closed because ‘today is Thai holiday’. But you’re lucky, he knows a special secret tourist destination, and just so happens to have a taxi or tuk-tuk (\u0e15\u0e38\u0e4a\u0e01\u0e46<\/strong>) waiting to take you there. So you hop in, and after a few minutes ride, hop out at a jewelry store.<\/p>\n Now, the scammers will give you a host of different reasons why they need to stop there. The more honest scammers will tell you that they’ll get a cut of anything you buy, giving you a sob story about all their starving children. Whatever. Point is, nothing but \u0e42\u0e01\u0e2b\u0e01<\/strong>, \u0e2b\u0e25\u0e2d\u0e01<\/strong>, and \u0e02\u0e2d\u0e07\u0e1b\u0e25\u0e2d\u0e21<\/strong>. So lets talk about what you’ll see during this adventure.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The word for diamond is \u0e40\u0e1e\u0e0a\u0e23 <\/strong>(pronounced like the English word ‘pet’). The word for jewel is \u0e1e\u0e25\u0e2d\u0e22 <\/strong>(pronounced like the English word ‘ploy’). Both of these words are names commonly given to women.<\/p>\n Any beaded jewelry would be called a \u0e2a\u0e23\u0e49\u0e2d\u0e22<\/strong>, followed by the part of the body its wrapped around. For example, a necklace is \u0e2a\u0e23\u0e49\u0e2d\u0e22\u0e04\u0e2d<\/strong>, and a bracelet is \u0e2a\u0e23\u0e49\u0e2d\u0e22\u0e21\u0e37\u0e2d<\/strong>. Gold is \u0e17\u0e2d\u0e07<\/strong>. A \u0e2a\u0e23\u0e49\u0e2d\u0e22\u0e17\u0e2d\u0e07<\/strong> is a golden necklace. A store that sells gold will typically only sell gold. It’ll have glass walls, where nothing but \u0e2a\u0e23\u0e49\u0e2d\u0e22\u0e17\u0e2d\u0e07<\/strong> is hanging from the red walls. The name of the store will be written in Thai using a Chinese-style font.\u00a0Thais like to buy and sell gold because its more stable and secure than the value of the Thai Baht (\u0e1a\u0e32\u0e17<\/strong>).<\/p>\n Jewelry stores (\u0e23\u0e49\u0e32\u0e19\u0e1e\u0e25\u0e2d\u0e22<\/strong>) are much harder to find, probably because Thais don’t trust them.<\/p>\n Silver is \u0e40\u0e07\u0e34\u0e19<\/strong>, the same word for money,\u00a0and the color grey. A ring is called \u0e41\u0e2b\u0e27\u0e19<\/strong>. Remember, unless you’re a jewelry expert, assume everything to be \u0e02\u0e2d\u0e07\u0e1b\u0e25\u0e2d\u0e21<\/strong> and way overpriced (\u0e41\u0e1e\u0e07\u0e44\u0e1b<\/strong>).<\/p>\n Vocabulary<\/span><\/p>\n \u0e15\u0e38\u0e4a\u0e01\u0e46 <\/strong>tuk tuk (the three wheel taxi)<\/p>\n \u0e40\u0e1e\u0e0a\u0e23 <\/strong>diamond<\/p>\n \u0e1e\u0e25\u0e2d\u0e22 <\/strong>jewel<\/p>\n \u0e2a\u0e23\u0e49\u0e2d\u0e22\u0e04\u0e2d<\/strong> necklace<\/p>\n \u0e2a\u0e23\u0e49\u0e2d\u0e22\u0e21\u0e37\u0e2d<\/strong> bracelet<\/p>\n \u0e17\u0e2d\u0e07 <\/strong>gold<\/p>\n \u0e2a\u0e23\u0e49\u0e2d\u0e22\u0e17\u0e2d\u0e07<\/strong> golden necklace<\/p>\n \u0e1a\u0e32\u0e17<\/strong> baht, currency of Thailand<\/p>\n \u0e23\u0e49\u0e32\u0e19\u0e1e\u0e25\u0e2d\u0e22<\/strong> jewelry store<\/p>\n \u0e40\u0e07\u0e34\u0e19 <\/strong>silver, money, the color grey (all related)<\/p>\n \u0e41\u0e2b\u0e27\u0e19 <\/strong>ring<\/p>\n \u0e41\u0e1e\u0e07 <\/strong>expensive<\/p>\n \u0e41\u0e1e\u0e07\u0e44\u0e1b <\/strong> too expensive, overpriced<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With so many scams, I couldn’t just leave you hanging with a handful of words. One of the more popular scams is called the Gem Scam. Lets say you’re a happy tourist, walking around Bangkok, heading towards a popular tourist destination. Now a Thai man walks up to you and says ‘its closed’. He answers…<\/p>\n