Motorcycles and Accidents

In the last two months, I am aware of three motorcycle accidents in my area.

Tonight, coming out of Ploenchit Centre onto Sukhumvit Soi 2, there was a bunch of people clustered around the point where the driveway meets the road. There was an overturned motorcycle, which looked suspiciously like a police motorcycle, as it was creamy-white and had a red beacon light on a post. There were at least 8 people standing around, three of whom looked like uniformed security guards.

One young lady was lying on the ground, sitting up, and holding another who was whimpering and obviously in pain and probably shock. The one holding her was obviously trying to comfort the injured girl but not having much success. I didn't see any blood, and the girl's jeans and shirt were not torn, so I suspect she got hit by the white motorcycle and knocked flying.

I stood there and watched for a good ten minutes, wondering if I should help or intervene to get the girl to a hospital. No taxi pulled up and no ambulance either.

Finally I decided that she was well taken care of by the 7 or 8 people standing around, and I began to leave.

Just at that moment, a motorcycle taxi came out of the parking lot beside and behind me, trying to go out the entrance rather than driving another 8 or 10 meters and go out the exit. A security guard jumped into his path and told him sternly not to drive there, to go out the exit, not the entrance. The motorcycle taxi driver said "I'm just going over to the Rajah Hotel" and pointed down Soi 2, and the guard let him go. If I had been the security guard, I would have rapped the motorcycle driver on the knuckles and enforced the rules, but this is Thailand, and I am not a security guard.

A couple of weeks ago, my assistant came to work one day, limping, with her face scratched up and with her left eye swollen and bruised. It looked like she had been in a fight. She said she had been walking on the sidewalk on Soi 4 and a motorcycle taxi had come up behind her and knocked her down. The bike ended up on top of her, and somehow she ended up with a black eye.

She said the driver was most concerned and drove her to Chulalongkorn Hospital. Bumrungrad is much closer, but Bumrungrad charges farang rates, whereas Chulalongkorn charges Thai rates. He stayed with her at the hospital and paid her bill. You see, there is at least one gentleman in Thailand. Then he drove her back to Soi 4.

I asked if she sat on the motorcycle like a man (legs on both sides of the bike) or like a woman (side-saddle, a particularly dangerous and unstable way to ride a motorcycle, especially after you've been in an accident and are unsteady). She said "sidesaddle, of course". Sigh.

I told her that if a motorcycle on the sidewalk knocks me down, the first thing I would do is punch the idiot in the face. But that's just me. They're not supposed to ride on the sidewalk in the first place, but they take it as their personal roadway with all these stupid and annoying pedestrians blocking the way.

About six weeks ago, I happened to be at the corner of Sukhumvit and Soi 4 waiting for the light to change so I could chance crossing the road. I was right beside the police box.

A motorcycle carrying a large load came up fast along Sukhumvit, no more than a metre from me, and then zigged right, immediately in front of a car. He hit the bumper of the car and the bike went flying. The car driver slammed on the brakes, which was fortunate, as the driver, bike, and cargo were scattered immediately in front of the car. The bike rider rolled a few times and came to a stop face down.

Within seconds, a policeman emerged from the police box, and walked quickly over to the car, said something to the driver, and then motioned the car to go around the mess and leave. He walked over to the motorcyclist, who was now sitting on his bum, trying to get his helmet off. The policeman yelled at him, then helped him stand the bike up and push it off to the middle of Sukhumvit, which has a wide median and concrete pillars holding up the SkyTrain. They stood the bike on its stand next to a pillar. Then they went back and gathered up his cargo, which turned out to be bolts of material. Then, are you ready for this? The policeman pulled out his pad and wrote the idiot driver a ticket. I was impressed.

Now if we could somehow teach the other 4 million motorcycle drivers about the rules of the road, I would be extremely happy. Sphere: Related Content

Troubles with a Thai Woman

I don't think there is a farang in Thailand who got into a relationship with a Thai woman and then did not regret it. This is the story of one of my assistants, whom I will call "R".

My relationship with her was not sexual, strictly business. When she got pregnant, supposedly on the first sexual experience with her boyfriend, she did not want to tell her aged father, so she lived at my place, in a second bedroom, and I treated her like a daughter as her pregnancy advanced.

Nevertheless, she stole a lot of money from me.

She did it in a subtle way: we were supposed to participate in the IT trade show at Muang Thong Thani in July 2006. I worked nights to get Speak Easy Thai done on time. "R" made the arrangements; she said the booth was free, as the Ministry of Industry had a promotion to help small business start-ups, but there were certain expenses.

I paid for a security deposit for the booth, although the rental was free. I also paid for an advertising sign, 300 CD-ROMs with packaging, promotional T-shirts, and 1000 brochures. All together, it was over 30,000 baht. However, "R" said she found a sponsor with her sister’s help (her sister works at the German Embassy) that would help defray the costs.

I worked nights until 3AM to make the deadline.

Then at the last minute, "R" said the Ministry had cancelled the booth; she said they wanted to set up a display honouring the Queen for her birthday.

But the security deposit did not get refunded. The CD-ROMs did not get produced. There were no T-shirts, brochures, or a sign. And there was no sponsor.

One day, "R" called and said she was in the office of the CD-ROM company waiting while they did the final packaging. She called 5 times, every two hours, saying she was still waiting. Next day, no "R" and no CD-ROMs. The day after that, the CD-ROM company called and said, “When are you going to pick up your CDs? They have been sitting here all week.” I said, "R" said she was there waiting for them all day, two days ago. He said, “No, nobody has been here all week. And by the way, they are not paid for yet.”

So I went there, and sure enough, the CDs are sitting there in boxes, waiting. I got money out of the bank and paid for them again, and took them away.

No word from "R".

Finally, she gets in touch and says she has the T-shirts and brochures and sign, but her boyfriend is driving around with them in his van. I say, “Put them in a taxi and send them here, and I will pay the taxi on arrival”. Next day she calls and says she put them in a taxi, and paid the driver for me. No taxi showed up. She said the taxi driver must have stolen the stuff.

This is beginning to sound like a Monty Python sketch.

She also had my notebook computer which I had loaned her for two days. After 6 weeks, she would not give it back.

I got in a taxi with my other assistant, "P", and we drove out to her parents’ area, near Mall Number One. I called her several times, saying I was coming. She did not want to give the computer back. I insisted, saying I was in a taxi and coming to her parents’ house. She panicked, would not let us go to her parents’ place, but met us at the Mall with the notebook. So at least I got that back.

I never did get the 30,000 baht back and I know I never will. Sphere: Related Content