00:00When you think of Thailand, what first comes to your mind? The temples, the street food,
00:05and of course the iconic tuk tuk. But did you know that these 3 wheel wonders didn't actually
00:10start in Thailand? The story begins in Italy 1948. Meet the Piaggio ape, a little 3 wheel
00:17vehicle designed after World War II to help shop owners transport goods cheaply. Affordable,
00:22small and practical. From Italy, it traveled east to Japan and soon enough made its way to Thailand
00:28in the 1950s, known back then as Sam Lo Kruang or Motorized Dricycle. It was used to haul people
00:34and cargo through busy city streets. In 1965, the Thai government even tried to face them out,
00:41calling them inefficient. But the protests from drivers and locals kept the tuk tuk alive.
00:47So why tuk tuk? Tourists cannot pronounce its Thai name so then they named it after the sound
00:52of the exhaust which go tuk tuk tuk tuk so then the name stopped.
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