Practically Thailand’s national emblem, the humble tuk tuk is at the heart of the Bangkok experience for most first-time visitors
– and plenty of repeat returners, too – as well as serving as a valuable mode of transport for locals and residents.
Tuk tuks are the successor to the earlier human-powered rickshaw, known in Thai as samlor (literally 'three wheels')
but the English-language name of which is said to be derived from Japanese, since it was Japan that first developed them.