We sat just out of sight from him and ordered three cappuccinos. We’d peak our heads around the corner and there he’d be, smoking a cigarette and typing away on his phone. We kept checking even after we were done with our coffees. He was always sitting right there, waiting for us.

Then, he was gone. Quickly we stood up and walked out of the cafe and around the corner near where our motor bikes were parked. We weren’t sure if he had seen us since we kept our heads down and tried to evade him as subtly as possible.

As we approached our motorbikes, we remembered his friends hung out just down the beach from them. We detoured into a convenience store to figure out what to do. We had lost him and just needed a way to get on our motor bikes without his friends noticing us.

He drives by, calmly scanning the area for us and to make sure our motor bikes were still there. We hide behind the shelves and the Thai lady working the store smiles at us awkwardly.

Rainy season is living up to it’s name in Thailand, so we aptly buy three different colored plastic ponchos to keep dry, but mainly to disguise us. We see him drive by again, this time going away from us. That’s our cue and we exit the store one at a time and calmly walk to our motor bikes and start them up.

Feeling like we can see the finish line, we cruise towards the end of the street to make our escape back to Phuket town. As we come to the intersection, he steps into the street yelling at us to stop. At first we go for it, then we see the police and begin to slow down. We look at them with confused faces, they respond with “Go!” and we do.

We’re riding as fast as the bikes can, but soon realize we don’t know where we’re going. We arrived in Thailand less than 24 hours ago and got lost on our way to Kata even with a directional crash course from our local friend. He pulls up next us, clearly frustrated that we tried to lose him.

We motor on, trying to remember our way back. He follows closely for the entire 45 minute ride to Phuket town. We all ponder ways to elude him, including the thought of kicking him over. He’s set on staying with us, and always keeps one hand in the backpack that he wears on the front of his chest. The gun tattoos on his back give us an eerie feeling, even though we out number him three to one.

We become frustrated. We know we’ve been scammed by this con artist. He rented my friend a surf board, which snapped in half as we were paddling out. He hadn’t even ridden a wave before the spray painted piece of wreckage folded like a styrofoam plate. We’ve been surfing for years and immediately knew what happened. This board was broken before. It was make-shift reassembled and layered with a coat of paint to hide the cosmetic work.

We took the board back the him and explained what happened. He told us to pay him an outrages amount for the damaged board. Again, we’re surfers, we know how much these things cost (we’ve bought boards in various countries and economies around the world). This board wasn’t even worth a third of what he was asking for. He reassures us by saying we’re from a rich country, we can afford it. We tell him we know his scam, or his business if you well. He says nothing and demands the money or he’ll call the police. And so we tell him we’re staying 45 minutes away and will be leaving later in the day. He can follow us back if he wants his money.

We arrive in Phuket town and park around the corner from our friends place. My friend begins to negotiate and says he doesn’t have that much money with him. My friend returns from the apartment with a third of what the he demanded for the board. Visibly upset, he threatens to call the police. We agree at this point and I call the tourist police (my friend told us they are less likely to be corrupt). The tourist police tell me they can’t do anything. The actual police tell us all to walk to the station. No one’s moving, nothing’s settled.

It’s getting restless now. We’re at a standoff in a Thai alley and his hands are moving around a lot more inside that backpack on his chest. Feeling exhausted and thinking “it’s not worth it”, my friend goes and gets a little more money and angrily says, “Here, this is all I’ve got”. He takes the money, thanks us, and drives off.

We sit back that evening, over a couple Singha’s, thinking about our experience. We conclude that he is not an accurate representation of Thai society. The people, customs, and culture are much more than that. So pure and welcoming, it would be wrong to let this exerience jade our perspective of an incredible culture. It’s an experience we’ll remember for the rest of our lives. It’s an experience that represents the beauty of travel.