A tourist was driven 600 miles in the wrong direction after he made a big mistake while ordering a taxi in Thailand.
Jack, 22, was visiting the country for the first time and booked a taxi from Bangkok to the island of Koh Tao in Surat Thani province on February 12.
The backpacker told the driver his destination and settled down for his journey to the tropical shores of southern Thailand.
Jack fell asleep in the car but was confused when he woke up hundreds of miles away from any kind of beach and surrounded by mountains instead.
The Frenchman quickly discovered that a very silly mistake had cost him over £140 and caused him to travel hundreds of miles in the wrong direction.
While ordering his cab Jack had mispronounced Koh Tao and due to the language barrier the cabbie had been unable to correct him.
So he set about driving to ‘Doi Tao’, in the north of the country.
Koh, which sounds like cho as in chocolate, and Tao, which sounds like wow, could be mistaken for Doi, as in toy, and, Tao, also pronounced like wow.
Jack (pictured), 22, was visiting the country for the first time and booked a taxi from Bangkok to the island of Koh Tao in Surat Thani province on February 12 but was confused when he woke up hundreds of miles away from any kind of beach and surrounded by mountains instead
Jack also seems to have not realised that it would have difficult to drive to Koh Tao anyway. As he would need a ferry to reach the remote island.
Footage shows the lost tourist speaking to local police who offered to help him reach his destination.
He said in the video: ‘Tomorrow, I go to Koh Tao. No Doi Tao. Koh Tao, the island.’
Jack said he took the situation in his stride but wondered why the cabbie had disappeared after dropping him and collecting the fare of more than 6,000 Baht (£142.10).
He said: ‘I woke up and I was already in Lamphun near Chiang Mai. I was shocked to see mountains instead of the sea.’
Officers taught Jack how to say the name of the island correctly and they drove him to a hotel. They then helped to find him a ride back to the capital on a cabbage delivery truck leaving the next morning.
Police Corporal Teerapat Modjod said: ‘We received a report that a foreigner had left his wallet behind at a restaurant. We tracked him down and found out about his situation.
The frenchmen quickly discovered that a very silly mistake had cost him over £140 and caused him to travel hundreds of miles in the wrong direction
The tropical beach island of Koh Tao where Jack was trying to get a cab to but ended up in the north of Thailand instead (file image)
‘We took him to a resort to stay overnight and escorted him to the bus station so he could finally reach the island.’
Koh Tao, is also known as Death Island, due to the staggering number of unexplained deaths on the island.
In 2014, two British tourists were found dead on the island and two migrant workers from Myanmar were charged and found guilty of murdering the pair.
However, hundreds of thousands of tourists a year still visit the idyllic rocky outcrop with its crystal clear waters and breathtaking marine life.