Jump to content

A Road Trip, and My Encounter with the BiB


rchapstick

Recommended Posts

The GF convinced me that we needed to go upcountry for her cousinâ??s wedding. The family is from a small village near Khon Kaen, and I had not yet been (though I had met most of them at the GFâ??s uni graduation party). Interesting family in that, despite being rice farmers, all the kiddies have gone to university and have nice middle class jobs (nurse, lawyer, policeman, chemical engineer, immigration officer, and accountant).

 

We could have flown to KK, but would have needed to rent a car anyway, so I decided it would be better to rent a car in Bangkok and drive. Picked up the GFâ??s sister (immigration officer) and we were on our way. Neither the GF nor her sis drives, so I played chauffer.

 

After fighting the traffic out of Bangkok, I found it easy to settle into the rhythm of driving in Thailand. It is certainly different than driving in California, but once you come to grips with the â??unwritten rules of the roadâ?Â, I found it pretty easy. BTW, I was driving a Honda Jazz, and thought it was a pretty nice car for the class of car.

 

I had somehow convinced myself that I would be plying dirt roads and dodging buffaloes, but it was all 4 and 6 lane highways up until the last 5km, and even then it was a well paved 2 lane road. A nice surprise.

 

At the suggestion of others, we stopped at Chok Chai, a well know roadside farm/restaurant/tourist place outside of Korat. GF and her sis loved it, but as usual I found the Thai beef to be sorely lacking. I cannot figure out how they manage to screw up raising cows.

 

It was smooth sailing thru Korat and up towards KK. I was getting kinda tired from the drive, and traffic was moving briskly, so I sped up to the rest of the traffic to around 125kph. Ooops, big mistake! Five minutes after making this ill-advised choice, I came upon a very large, organized speed trap. Theyâ??d equipped and old farm truck with radar, and about 1km down the road, had set up with coppers waving people over, and 5 or 6 chase cars for those foolish enough to ignore the wave over. Sure enough, Iâ??m getting waved over. I was seriously screwed, I know, and was mentally calculating how much I would be contributing to tonightâ??s beer fun for these lads.

 

One of the lads spots me quickly, and immediately has a HUGE grin. Now I am seriously fucked. My only hope is that I can apologize profusely, and hope that a purple will suffice. Somchai and written down 129 in big numbers and is pointing and grinning. I am about to begin my big suck up, when sis in the back opens her window and starts dressing Somchai down. She pulls out her ID, and then it dawns on me (DUH) that my â??get out of jail freeâ? card is riding in the back. Now Somchaiâ??s grin has been wiped away, and he is wai-ing and apologizing profusely. â??OK, slow down bossâ? he says, and waves us on. GF and I break out in laughter, and sis goes back to sleep. I keep my promise and stay below 90 kph for the rest of the trip.

 

On other notes, the wedding was lotsa fun, and I only managed to get one string tied on my wrist (by GFâ??s 1000 year old grandmother â?¦ an unavoidable occurrence). GFâ??s family was genuinely nice to me, and I did not get hit up for cash once (though I did slip grandma 100 baht which seemed to please her no end). I few of the neighbors did start to sniff around me, but were promptly shooed off by GFâ??s family. All in all, a fun and interesting time.

 

BTW, our hotel stay at the Sofitel in KK was top notch. Great hotel if you ever head upcountry.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I make similar trips over to Amnat Charoen, I prefer the lamb chops at chok chai as its a treat to find outside of BKK.

I'm regularly caught up by these police check points especialy during holiday periods, but rarely anything happens as my wifes ID and status gets us some respect. One time the officer browsed my International Driving license and was totally bemused by its contents, he then required his fee which were the only small notes I was carrying, totaling 80baht. He was so funny in his attempt to engage me in conversation in explaining how much he liked 'foreigners' and 'I give you good service and shook my hand' I drove away thinking Thais are so friendly when they are extorting money out of me and I gave my lovely little pooying a glancing look but decided not to pursue that thought :smirk: .

 

JP

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I drive that road about twice every few months, it's a very good road, KK is a great little city, worth a few nights, and the area around KK is quite interesting, from Dinosaur parks, snake farms, and of course, Pattaya Beach 2~!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting family in that, despite being rice farmers, all the kiddies have gone to university and have nice middle class jobs (nurse, lawyer, policeman, chemical engineer, immigration officer, and accountant).

 

Has the family given any thought to pursuing the international drog smoggling? They seem to have lined up all their ducks in a row, assuming the chemical engineer can handle some basic stuff... But what use they would have for a lawyer in Thailand, I have no idea....

 

YimSiam

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...