Monday, February 15, 2010

Mini bus capers.

To treat myself I hailed a cab rather than taking the Sky Train to the Victory Monument for a minibus ride back to Ayutthaya. What should have been a half hour ride stretched well over an hour when we hit a traffic jam, that at one point, didn't move for 45 minutes.
The minibus doesn't make much provision for luggage. On the minibus the crabby lady said, "Buy two tickets, one for you, one for your bag." As my friend Steve says about himself "I'm not cheap I'm frugal." Me too. I scrunched the bag in front of my knees and put my carryon in my lap and shot the crabby lady a smug look. Smugness abounded when the passenger next to be soon got off and gave me space for my bag.
The real story, however, is the kindness of strangers. Jammed into my seat with my knees pressed against my bag I struggled to reach my money to pay the fare. With some effort I was able to do so and pushed some bills back in my pocket. About twenty minutes into the ride I felt a tap on my shoulder as the woman behind me handed back the 600B ($18.) that had slipped from my pocket.

1 comment:

Steve said...

Well, sometimes I am cheap. I would have asked you to hold my bag if I had been with you. You would have declined of course....