DAY
4
On day 4, me and my fren ventured into hua lamphong mrt stn to
visit chinatown famous golden buddha. With a help of the map, we
were easily able to find the temple located not far from the stn.
On our way back to the stn, we were again approached by a so called
teacher which speaks good english. And the beginning, I wave him
off thinking he's another tuk tuk driver trying to con us. But he
wasn't. He told us he was having his lunch break and ask us where
we were going. We told him we were just sighseeing around and ask
is there any place where we can get a reputable buddhist amulet
that is of real quality. He told us of a place, where only thais go
and no tourist goes. Later, the topic again sneer to a jewel house
called pansiamese. Nevertheless me and my fren were not really
interested in the jewel investment but more interested in getting a
thai amulet. So again, he signal to the driver to bring us to this
temple not far in chinatown. This time was different, the tuk tuk
driver didn't bring us to pansiamese or any jewel houses before
visiting the temple, in fact we went straight to the temple. Hence
this lowers my suspicion level of what the teacher said. However we
didn't really bother abt that issue in the tuk tuk as getting a
good amulet was our sore purpose of boarding.
So he brought us to this royal temple. Indeed, there was no tourist
and few ppl. It looks like a peaceful sactuary that the monks stay
and pray. There was a counter that sells this amulets. Again we let
our defences down at this temple as the amulets were very fairly
priced. ONly 200 babt for one amulet, lesser than 10 sing only!!!
We know it was fairly priced as the exact same one in the chinatown
golden buddha we went a while ago was like 7000babt!!! what a
difference. we talk to the monk with really broken english and even
requested he chant prayers to power up the amulet in front of our
eyes. After that, feeling everything was fine we went into a
praying hall with a big buddha. there was a person inside there
already. Feeling nothing amiss, we sat down and pray for a while.
Then the man in the praying hall sitting beside me ask us why we
are here where tourist don't know of this area( cos we look tourist
of cos). We said we are here to get amulets. He talk to us very
long, almost an hour. Abt buddhism, what kind of amulets are good,
what are the powers. The thing is he never even bring up the story
abt gems!! (what a professional con artist!!) He said buddhist got
5 laws, of which one is cannot lie. Later, I ask him why was he
here?We again trust him as he seem very good and knowledgable and
he claim to be a thai living in australia that come back every yr
to pray and of cos do some gems investment! (Oh man, there are so
good that they are able to make you bring up the topic yourself).
When I ask that, 30 mins is already gone talking abt buddhism,
hence we see no loopholes at all, as he is just a person praying in
peace. So again I ask him in details, what is all these abt,
everyone is talking abt this..
This is the summary so called investment oppt:
the govt wants to help thai students studying abroad, so that gave
thai students tax free gems to buy and sell when the study abroad
so as to finance their education. The govt will even tell them
where to sell.
This week is a special sale, why this so called wholesale centres
also allow foreigners to buy, no more than 2 pieces for souvenires.
They do not allow foreigners to sell abroad, however you can claim
you are buying for yourself and secretly sell back in your country
as it is tax free. Wow, at first, I didn't believe , then he
started to explain how thai businesses works. He said, any man that
want to do business in thailand got to first open an account in
thai bank with a sum of money. The amt of money inside determines
your credit ability and also determines the amt of gems you can
export for your shop (singapore gem shop i mean). Hence of cos he
even mentioned poh heng, taka jewellery being big players can
export alot to sell back. He added that since small shops can't
export alot, they got shortage and will willing take your gems.
Why? as there is 152% tax when you export gems out for commercial
reasons but no tax when buy in this special period for personal
uses. So that asshole said that there is a loop hole in this system
and he uilitise that to make money, abt 100% profit back in
austrailia(meaning the shop save 52%, that is why they will pay
from you). As I studied business, I think thru the process, it
sound so damn logical. The worse thing is that I believe him as he
say that in front of the praying hall, in front of the big
buddha!!! WTF. they are using religion and sacred places so ppl let
down their defences. Shame on them buddhist and shame of them
respecting their king. The thing is me and my fren being students
look poor, so we couldn't figure out why he wanna con us, as there
is not much money we can con out of. And this is where I lost the
battle.
Being professional cons man, he just wrote the name of the shop:
pansiamese. And just leave us alone to think abt it. He was so pro
that he was no pushy at all. At the time when he wrote the damn
name, we already engage in an hour conversation. So the story goes,
me and my fren thought we were so smart and of cos lucky that
things went so smoothly (neither have I thought that this aus thai
man and the teacher just now was one gang!). We ourselves told the
tuk tuk to bring us to pansiamese gems house.
The smart thing of the aus thai guy is that he called us not to
talk abt the investment at all in the place, as they won't sell if
you say you used for resale! so thinking the pansiamese was taken
aback by our intelligence, even though we wear like poor freaks, i
freakin bought a ruby which cost near 500 sing!!! They gave me a
certifcate and I look and look at the ruby. It looks not fake at
all. The fking sales man called ISSY( OR SISSY I would say cos he
looks like one) served us with perfect service. I claim to buy this
for my mum, and he was extremely happy and said that I am filial. I
of cos laugh in my head, thinking I go back to see for 500 bucks
profit. Cut the story short, there was a caucasian couple inside
that also looking for gems. ( later i knew everyone was con artist
, including the caucasian couple). So I happily bought and went
back hotel.
In singapore, I started to get worried abt the whole thing as it
seem too perfect. i brought to lucky plaza to value my piece. Damn
it was worth only like 80 bucks!! Knn, wtf. those assholes sold me
below quality rubies. I heard from some shops that some students
bought like 12k worth of gems and worth only a fraction of the
price back home. I was damn pissed with myself and my naiveness. I
ponder abt the issue. I did do my research on online, read like 8
guide books, surf the net on bangkok, but why I, being so careful
person usually can be duped. There is only one answer, they are so
professional that they use religion( claiming buddhist cannot lie)
to con you. And the thing is that the same story even though
different gems houses was told to us on different days. Most
importantly, this news is not disseminate enough. And I am sad that
some students wanting to leave off some burden off their parents
invest in these gems but later got con and got into debt. What a
sad case. I mean they are just being filial to their parents and
not greedy.
I hope this can be a warning sign to everyone and sincerely hope I
am the first and last to be con be the scam that lasted for almost
20 yrs.
