Weird, Wonderful Thailand

[cdnvic]

I got a flat tire on my motorcycle on Doi saket road one night. I pull into this gas station and try to fix it but my luck isn't too good and I finally give up on it. No worries, I'll walk to the road and flag down one of the 1.5million songtaews that inhabit the road when I'm trying to drive somewhere.

An hour later one comes by and I flag him down, explain my problem, and get quoted an outragous (ok, maybe just high) price to take me and the bike home.

While I talked to the 70yr old (approx) driver his 69yr old (approx) wife struggled to lift the bike into the back, and seemed grateful when I came to help, while her husband made sure that nobody stole the front seat out of the truck.

At the old man's request I sat up front to give him directions (a songtaew driver in CM that doesn't know where Chotana rd is?). Every time we sped up, slowed down, or turned, I'd hear clunking in the back. Turning around I could see the driver's beleaguered looking wife wrestling with my bike, and everytime she noticed me looking, she'd flash a big smile and try unsuccessfully to make it look like everything was ok as it almost dragged her out the back.

She did quite well at getting it half out herself while I was paying her husband who, ever vigilant, made bloody sure nobody took that front seat.

cv

Edited January 29, 2005 by cdnvic

[Boo]

We had a similar problem one night, got a flat half way home, dark road, 4am, not a lot of traffic, hubby called a freind to come & collect me while he pushed the bike home, friend arrived, I went off on his bike & opened the house. 5 minutes later, songtaew arrives with hubby AND motobike in the back. The driver had seen fella pushing the bike down the dark road, stopped, helped him load it in the back, drove him home, helped him unload it & push it into our garage. He refused payment but accepted a shot of whisky for the road There are always a lot of horror stories about Samui songtaew drivers being rip off merchants, but this guy was a king of the road that night

[lampard10]

On the same note but reversed,we were travelling to see our friend Andy,who lives so far in the sticks that you go to the middle of no-where and then 20km's further,when we saw an old lady of around 70/80 dragging a big sack down the road while trying to carry a basket. My wife,who was driving stopped,and asked her where she was heading. Turns out she had gone to visit her son and he didn't want to know her,so she was heading back to town. We turned round,loaded her in and transported her to the main road where she could get a bus. We dropped her off at a road side shop/restaurant/watering hole and I gave her ฿40 so she could get something while waiting for the bus,and continued on our journey.

Three hours later,on our return she was still there,all thoughts of the bus apparently forgotten,but happy again. We drove straight past this time.

[pedro01]

On the same note but reversed,we were travelling to see our friend Andy,who lives so far in the sticks that you go to the middle of no-where and then 20km's further,when we saw an old lady of around 70/80 dragging a big sack down the road while trying to carry a basket. My wife,who was driving stopped,and asked her where she was heading. Turns out she had gone to visit her son and he didn't want to know her,so she was heading back to town. We turned round,loaded her in and transported her to the main road where she could get a bus. We dropped her off at a road side shop/restaurant/watering hole and I gave her ฿40 so she could get something while waiting for the bus,and continued on our journey.

  Three hours later,on our return she was still there,all thoughts of the bus apparently forgotten,but happy again. We drove straight past this time.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

40 Baht ?

What an unbeleivable tightwad...

Bus journey was probably forgotten 'cause she couldn't afford it....

[cdnvic]

40 Baht ?

What an unbeleivable tightwad...

Bus journey was probably forgotten 'cause she couldn't afford it....

Nobody else even bothered to stop.....

cv

[HarryHacker]

40 Baht ?

What an unbeleivable tightwad...

Bus journey was probably forgotten 'cause she couldn't afford it....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nobody else even bothered to stop.....

cv

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Don't worry about that pr1ck Lampard, good on yeah for helping the old girl.

[lampard10]

40 Baht ?

What an unbeleivable tightwad...

Bus journey was probably forgotten 'cause she couldn't afford it....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nobody else even bothered to stop.....

cv

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Don't worry about that pr1ck Lampard, good on yeah for helping the old girl.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks..................We always stop for people out in the sticks and try and help them. I'm afraid though if we gave all of them even ฿40,which incidently is the same as a complete stranger stopping in the UK and shoving 20 quid in your hand,half a days pay,our money wouldn't go that far.

By the way Pedro,when was the last time you did a good deed? And I don't mean giving a sweet young thing ฿500

[pedro01]

40 Baht ?

What an unbeleivable tightwad...

Bus journey was probably forgotten 'cause she couldn't afford it....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nobody else even bothered to stop.....

cv

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Don't worry about that pr1ck Lampard, good on yeah for helping the old girl.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks..................We always stop for people out in the sticks and try and help them. I'm afraid though if we gave all of them even ฿40,which incidently is the same as a complete stranger stopping in the UK and shoving 20 quid in your hand,half a days pay,our money wouldn't go that far.

By the way Pedro,when was the last time you did a good deed? And I don't mean giving a sweet young thing ฿500

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No good deeds since blood & money for the Tsunami victims....

But really - leaving an old woman at the bus stop with 40 Baht - couldn't you stretch to a 100 ?

If I'd have given her just 40B - I would have just claimed bragging rights on the ride, not the donation !!

You did seem to think it was worth mentioning

BTW - the only sweet young thing that gets 500B off me is my son...

[chanchao]

Out of curiosity, just how much do you think public transport costs in Thailand? 40 baht gets you to the next province, a lot further than merely back into town!

[igotworms]

I remember the day so clearly...I was returning home from work, the sky was aglow as the sun was dipping below the canopy of the coconut trees, buffalos were grazing along the side of the road, the echos of children laughing reverberated in the distance as I pulled into my driveway to see a rooster humping a goose.

Strange and wonderful sights indeed.

[lampard10]

I remember the day so clearly...I was returning home from work, the sky was aglow as the sun was dipping below the canopy of the coconut trees, buffalos were grazing along the side of the road, the echos of children laughing reverberated in the distance as I pulled into my driveway to see a rooster humping a goose. 

Strange and wonderful sights indeed.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Trust you to bring sex into it

[lampard10]

You did seem to think it was worth mentioning

BTW - the only sweet young thing that gets 500B off me is my son...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You seem to have missed the point of the whole story...absolutely nothing to do with my wife or my kindness,as I said we do it all the time. The point was,this sweet old lady probably spent the ฿40 on a bottle of Lau Kau before walking the rest of the way. Am I to be severely admonished for not giving her enough to buy two bottles

After all the topic was weird and wonderful Thailand,not how big my heart is

[igotworms]

I remember the day so clearly...I was returning home from work, the sky was aglow as the sun was dipping below the canopy of the coconut trees, buffalos were grazing along the side of the road, the echos of children laughing reverberated in the distance as I pulled into my driveway to see a rooster humping a goose. 

Strange and wonderful sights indeed.

Trust you to bring sex into it

How is that? I'm known to do such things? The sexual habits of the roosters surrounding my house qualify for a topic such as this. I speak the truth.

[ProfessorFart]

I once got a songtaew from the immigration office in Pong Nam Rawn in Chanthaburi heading back to town.

Somehow the driver had recognised me and instead of heading back the direct way into town he took a (slight) detour and actually dropped me at my door!! He wouldn't take a satang over the 20B flat fare bless him.

[NedKelly]

I was walking through a village near the River Kwai one day and came across a sort of local market set up late in the day selling freash produce.......as I walked along a woman started yelling out and pointing in my general direction.......all the vendors around her were laughing and looking at me.......I just continued walking until I got quite close and then the crunch came.......the last gesture she made with her hands was to point at me and put her two index fingers together, much to to delight of the small crowd that had gathered.......she wanted a bit of horizontal action !! haha

Anyway some months later I was in Kanch again and it was valentines day so the local market near the bus stop was awash with flowers and lots of young uni students buying them......plenty of eye candy there.....aaaaanyway........next thing there is a small girl tugging at my shirt sleeve....I look down and theres this tiny little girl holding up a red rose......I accept the rose and smile.......and then look around to try and work out what in the ###### is going on..........then there standing behind the flowers is the woman from the village months before....with a big smile on her face....!! I reckon she looked about 45.......but quite attractive albeit with afew kilos extra....!! ......No I did not take up her offer.....although I did think about it !

[gburns57au]

I was walking through a village near the River Kwai one day and came across a sort of local market set up late in the day selling freash produce.......as I walked along a woman started yelling out and pointing in my general direction.......all the vendors around her were laughing and looking at me.......I just continued walking until I got quite close and then the crunch came.......the last gesture she made with her hands was to point at me and put her two index fingers together, much to to delight of the small crowd that had gathered.......she wanted a bit of horizontal action !! haha

Anyway some months later I was in Kanch again and it was valentines day so the local market near the bus stop was awash with flowers and lots of young uni students buying them......plenty of eye candy there.....aaaaanyway........next thing there is a small girl tugging at my shirt sleeve....I look down and theres this tiny little girl holding up a red rose......I accept the rose and smile.......and then look around to try and work out what in the ###### is going on..........then there standing behind the flowers is the woman from the village months before....with a big smile on her face....!!  I reckon she looked about 45.......but quite attractive albeit with afew kilos extra....!!  ......No I did not take up her offer.....although I did think about it !

You must have had your ploughshare helmet on again.....

[Kan Win]

I was walking through a village near the River Kwai one day and came across a sort of local market set up late in the day selling freash produce.......as I walked along a woman started yelling out and pointing in my general direction.......all the vendors around her were laughing and looking at me.......I just continued walking until I got quite close and then the crunch came.......the last gesture she made with her hands was to point at me and put her two index fingers together, much to to delight of the small crowd that had gathered.......she wanted a bit of horizontal action !! haha

Anyway some months later I was in Kanch again and it was valentines day so the local market near the bus stop was awash with flowers and lots of young uni students buying them......plenty of eye candy there.....aaaaanyway........next thing there is a small girl tugging at my shirt sleeve....I look down and theres this tiny little girl holding up a red rose......I accept the rose and smile.......and then look around to try and work out what in the ###### is going on..........then there standing behind the flowers is the woman from the village months before....with a big smile on her face....!!  I reckon she looked about 45.......but quite attractive albeit with afew kilos extra....!!  ......No I did not take up her offer.....although I did think about it !

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ahhhh, Kancha,

Now I know kwai it is called:-

Land of Peace and Love.

Yours as always

Kan Win (win13 )

P.S. Val day is a week on Monday. Will you be back ? once again Khun Ned Kelly