Twelve In A Row Part 7

The "V.I P " Baggage

Inside the van, we were quietly settled feeling the cool soothing air after those looong  tiring walk plus the double dealers.  Bye -bye Ratchaburi.

It's nearly 12 noon and the van would  leave for Victory Monument. One,two,three passengers were coming at a time. I was supposed to close my eyes when I spotted a mother and her baby. They were the last passengers and were heavily loaded. The husband was dealing with the driver. From my seat I overheard their conversation.

This was what transpired during the conversation:

Husband:  My wife and my baby are bound to Victory Monument and this is their luggage.Where shall I put this?
Driver:  At the back but  you have to pay.
Husband:  But why? We could just put the luggage at the back compartment.
Driver:  It could  be but still you have to pay 100Baht same as the passenger's fare.
Husband: That is a dead thing! How come you charge the same,50 Baht ,O.k!?

The husband  finished the conversation by slamming  the door after putting the luggage at the front seat then left.
We left silent but the driver's still unease with the luggage beside him. After a ten -minute drive of  pondering , he stopped and put the luggage down away from its throne. Lol! I took a photo but it was too late for  it took me a minute to dig for  camera inside my stuff. The luggage was already away from its throne.

The "V.I.P" luggage deprived of its throne.

Shh! Stop giggling . Sleep  or else the driver might turn on you and drop you off the highway. Lol! PEACE am joking.....

Twelve In A Row Part 4

Another Double-Dealer

We were getting late for our appointment  but we couldn’t just waste our money to another double- dealer.

We almost toured around the market when we saw another pick-up. We were  hoping he isn’t a kin of that  beguiler man.

As I was the one who can speak Thai fluently, it was then  my duty to inquire and to bargain.  Before I could complain ,the two pushed me near  the pick-up.  I hesitantly asked the man for a ride but unfortunately he was bound to another side of the globe.  Lol!  In his hope to gain more money , he  persuaded us  for a single trip of 400Baht. It would mean 800Baht for  two ways.   It seemed that  as we walked  farther the more these  double dealers wanted to milk us.

We were on the go when we heard him in his coaxing  tone ,” Ao mai nu? Mai mee rot laew na. Tur atjai pai mai tahn nad kadai na.” (Do you want to take  a ride ? There’s no available trip and you might be late in your appointment.”  I smiled and  said in my gracious humor, “ Thank you, uncle and never mind.  There’s nothing  to worry about.”( the priest  will be in the church anyway.)

Another treacherous man!

Did we make a wrong decision to turn down the offer of the first man? What shall we do? Take it or leave it?

Happy wandering  with us…….To Daruna Nu Kroh.

Twelve In A Row Part 3

The Pick-up Driver1

Early Sunday morning at six, we(Elia,Koko,Me) walked to the market to get a "Song tew" pick-up truck  to Daruna Church for an appointment with the priest.

We had been walking for a long distance but we couldn't see any "Song tew " around. Elia was happy to spot one. I presumed the man, shaving his beard with his mouth tilted infront of a tiny mirror   was the driver. "Kothot na ka, Kun loong ka, Rao ja pai Daruna Nu Kroh . Tae rao tawng nag rot tee nai dee ka?'' ( Excuse me. Uncle ,were going to Daruna Nu Kroh. Where shall we take a ride?) Uncle put down his blade and told us there weren't  any trip today since it was a Sunday.I decided to ask his car rent but it seemed to us that he over priced. He suggested for 300 Baht per trip. Quickly my brain did the calculation.

 Oh, uncle must be  taking advantage for there were no other cars available yet. We thanked him and left. After a few steps I looked back and saw him shaving. Hehehe. I'm used to dealing with people like him.

Twelve In A Row Part 2

At The Van station

Thanks God. After the confusing directions by the bystanders, we're able to locate the right place.

At the van station,the ticketing woman noticed we're not Thais so, she tried her English. "You go to RATBURI?" I was astonished by her English so, I said"Yes, we are going to Daruna school.''. The woman understood and gave us our ticket of 120 Baht  each.  My hubby paid and she gave him back his  60 Baht change. She sent us inside the van. After waiting for some passengers, the ticketing woman approached to us and asked my husband if how much change he gave her. My eyebrows met and my eyeballs began to move from left to right.Unluckily Koko  himself couldn't remember. Old Age syndrome? I butted in. I explained that Koko gave her  bills by the hundreds but wasn't sure,too if 2  or 3 bills in hundreds. She seemed to recall and she apologized and left. I discussed it with my husband but it seemed Koko couldn't rewind his memory. (proof of old age)

I got off from the van and asked the woman in my friendly tone but she just said,"sorry, sorry. Nevermind."but I couldn't be at peace if it was unsettled. I was afraid she might be repaying her boss if she did the miscalculation.We  pondered inside the van. The 60 Baht is not much to be stolen  from somebody's purse right?
We decided to gave her back the change though she was hesitant . Whether she was playing trick on us but what we wanted was a safe trip and no grudges.

We headed to Daruna-Ratchaburi and after an hour and thirty minutes ride the driver stopped by a food shop and announced to the  remaining passengers ,"Ratburi! Ratburi !" Before I had the chance to ask the man , he told us to get down the van and take the car parked in front or else it will leave and have to wait for another upcoming scheduled van. Both drivers talked with each other and I saw the latter nodded his head.  I began to worry so I went to the older man and told him we were bound  to Daruna School. He explained he couldn't take us but  instead the other driver will take us there and not to worry for the fare.Actually that's what I wanted to know. It's free! So, we had to hurry before the driver changed his mind.

We visited Elia's school.(Daruna school)

Three  Marias! (Elia,Me,Madam Delia)

At Robinson-Ratchaburi

Daruna Church

Me,Elia and the bull

Fasten your seatbelt for more stories at Daruna. Coming up next!.......

Twelve In A Row Part 1

At The Victory Monument

As early as 4.00a .m, we (Koko and me) prepared ourselves for our travel to Ratchaburi.  The van picked us up at 4.30 and safely we reached Victory-Bangkok after the three hours and thirty minutes ride.  Though we were still sleepy, we were able to find the van station after all the confusing directions given by the bystanders.

I rang Elia for the direction to her place and she instructed to take a van under the foot bridge. She was  assuming I got it clearly but as  I looked around the rotonda ,OMG! there wasn't only one or two foot bridges but maybe more than ten! So, which one?

My hubby bought a cell card so we could have something to use whenever we run out of money in our phones.We decided to ask the man near those vans parked picking up passengers.  "Kothot ka,  rot tu ti pai Ratchaburi jot tee nai ka?'' (Excuse me. Where is the van station for Ratchaburi?) The man wasn't so sure so he asked me again, "Ratburi la krap?'( Do you mean Ratburi?) I said to the man clearly that it was RATCHABURI but he got a facial expression  so my hubby said ," Yes, Ratburi ", so I turned to my husband and said "not Ratburi but we're going to Ratchaburi. ,right?" Koko just rembered that Thais accustomed themselves to writing things or names of places the way they wanted to not as the way they arepronounced, like:
            (spelled) Ratchaburi= (they say) Ratburi
                         Chantaburi= Chanburi
                        Pattumthani= Pattong
                        Suvarnabhumi airport= Suvannabhum airport
It's sooooo confusing!  At the end the man understood we were bound to Ratburi so he said it is near the C.R. (comfort room).  Now, we had to go around where that C.R. was. It's sad we couldn't locate.
We saw a bystander and we asked again for Ratchaburi but this time I said Ratburi.  The man was nodding his head and pointed to  the place. We were glad  we didn't need to argue how to say the name of the place. We made sure we were going to the right direction as he instructed. After a few steps we were standing in front of a food shop. We were not buying food ?? No, no, no was that guy joking on us to eat some food first?Oh, enough asking strangers! We'd rather read the placards. Why didn't we did that in the first place the fact that we can read Thai? LOL. A case of stupidity on our part?

 Thank God we're able to find the station. We ended up laughing. The truth is we passed by the station .Haven't we got four eyes. I couldn't imagine ourselves being directed, go straight, to the left ,to the right 'til we were lost.

Oooops! It's not yet the end of my story. What happened next?