How to spend a night in Bangkok without getting scammed

Khao San Road at night, © Justin Vidamo , Flickr ,  (CC BY 2.0)

Bangkok is both famous and infamous for its night life in Bangkok for a reason, with some entertainments establishments being more trustworthy than others.

One way to separate the good nuts from the bad and avoid being scammed without having to suffer any consequences first hand, is to check out reviews of a place beforehand.

There are many sources of information on Bangkok and its nightlife scene on sites such as My Entertainment Hub and similar others. The other way to avoid being scammed, is rather obvious, really. Keep to the classier establishments.

While you don’t need to always go for the outrageously high-end night clubs, go-go bars and the likes, avoid the really low end ones, like you would the plague.

You know the ones – they always try to lure you in with seemingly unbelievably great deals on alcohol and such and promise you a night beyond your wildest imaginations.

While it may be true that some of these places might turn out to be pretty legitimate, most of them are full of scammers trying to trap unwary tourists into unexpectedly unfavourable deals.

For example, some bars may bait you with the promise of dirt cheap booze, only to slap you with a hefty bill at the end of the night when you’re inebriated and helpless, having drunk your fill of what you thought to have been cheap beer.

At this point you’ll have your hands full between trying to keep your head off the ground and formulating a coherent argument in your favour.

Now, this is likely to happen only at the shadiest and seediest of establishments, which to be fair, exist in almost every major city in the world. So, if you learn to spot the warning signs and stay clear of them, you’ll leave Bangkok having had the best time of your life.

The moral of the story here is to remember to make smart choices when you’re heading out for a night on the town, and everything will be A-OK.

Damon Starky is a creative nomadic travel writer, who is well informed and experienced on a wide range of interests that would connect to the needs of any type of traveler. Google+