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Published: August 6th 2007
Bangkok
how huge is this place20/3/07 to 22/3/07 Bangkok
Hot and sticky again. After our travels a few days by the pool seemed very inviting. It kind of worked out that way - we got roped into a shopping expedition with a tuk-tuk driver, but managed to escape his clutches quick enough that we only wasted a few hours with him. Lorenza indulged in some things like pedicures, a visit to a hairdresser, etc. I got myself a full body massage (with no happy ending) plus a manicure and “oh, what the hell” a pedicure.
We lazed by the pool, tried some local seafood, found a bar down the street with some cold beer and avoided any more shopping.
This man is a thief!
We had the cab ride from hell back to the airport on our last day. We made sure we got a metered taxi from the hotel, no problem the driver seemed friendly enough. That was until we were one block away form the hotel and he said “Mister, no meter, to much traffic, I just charge 500 baht ok”. My response “No, we use the meter”. His mood and behaviour changed in a flash and so did his
Bangkok
panorama - they don't come up too well on here driving style.
He repeated many times “no meter” while I replied “we use meter”. I gave up trying to argue with him and began scribbling down his taxi number and details from his registration card on the window. Wow, did that set him off - he tried to grab the paper form my hands, so I stuffed it inside my daypack. He then began swerving in and out of the lane, roaring up behind the car in front and then slamming the brakes on and on the expressway speeding up to 140km/h then slowing down to 50km/h (all in an 80km/h zone). He kept glancing over at me trying to see if I was getting intimidated by his actions - I did my best to be calm and just smile back at him like his driving was normal and life was great.
This went on the entire trip to the airport. Just before we arrived I told Lorenza not to get out of the taxi until I had the luggage out of the boot and definitely not to hand over any money until we were both out of the car (with our luggage). On arrival I spotted a
Bangkok
taking in the view from tallest building Military looking security guy standing not so far away and jumped out of the cab yelling to him that “this man is a thief, he is trying to rob me, help he is a thief”. The security dude came over, with his machine gun slung across his shoulder. The taxi driver started talking to him in a very agitated manner while I kept pointing to the boot (trunk) saying “you open and I pay, you open and I will pay”. Next thing the security guy says something in Thai to the driver, he put his hands on his gun and with it pointing to the ground moved it in the direction of the taxi driver and “Voilà” the trunk popped open and I grabbed our luggage. Lorenza then leapt from the taxi and I threw 150 baht at the driver (the exact amount showing on the meter).
My blood was boiling and the absolute stupid part of this was that I only had 400 baht left and was going to give it all to the taxi driver - until he decided to play his stupid game. Many thanks to the Thai military for being so scary!
Thailand redeems
Bangkok
Rob in his fave "Asean Conference" shirt itself
into the terminal I was calling Thailand and everyone in it every name that came to mind - none of them nice. We checked in our bags and I was still fuming, we grabbed some sandwiches and my blood pressure was still dangerously high.
We took a seat in the terminal to eat the sandwiches and were approached by two school teachers, who showed us their ID cards and asked us if we would mind if their students talked to us for a few minutes to practice their English. They were lovely kids, they had a set list of questions they had to ask us and had to write the responses down on their answer sheets. There were about ten of them, five talked to Lorenza, while the others talked to me. Then they swapped and asked the same questions over again, copying down the answers. After they had completed the sheet we tried to engage them in normal conversation, asking them about their families and how many brothers or sisters they had.
They were such friendly, happy kids, with such gorgeous smiles - they had no idea they had just redeemed the reputation of Thai
Bangkok
refreshments people and Thailand in our eyes.
That’s it - c’est fini - bugger!
Back on the cattle truck to Sydney, we got chatting with the folks around us, including Heather who was on her way for a few months in Australia from Scotland. It is always good to talk with people who are so happy to be visiting our country. She was very excited as the plane circled around the city of Sydney, as were all the first time visitors on board.
A great trip - but our mountain home is always a great place to return to. Now we count down to .... our next adventures ... such a big world ... my dream is to create a clone of us both, the clones can do all the mundane stuff (work, pay bills, etc) while the real Lorenza & Rob does all the good things - come on science catch up with my dreams!
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an88e
an88e
thailand redeemed
hi! interesting story on a cab driver in thailand. here in the philippines, you may also encounter such cab drivers who will also try to charge you through a "contract" (we call it "pakyaw" - literally means buy the whole thing). glad to hear you met nice local people at the airport.