My continuing adventures in Thailand’s Rayong province, where I am staying until November …
Today I went to Klaeng. I didn’t mean to go to Klaeng, but I did.I caught the “baht bus” from Mae Ramphung Beach to Sukhumvit, where I crossed to road and hailed another baht bus heading in the right direction. I said to the driver, “Ban Phe?”, my intended destination, but didn’t get any reaction. That’s OK, I thought. I probably said it incorrectly.
But when we whizzed past the Ban Phe turnoff, I knew something was wrong. To cut a long story short, I ended up in Klaeng — about 40km from where I wanted to be. I was tweeting along the way, because the vehicle was speeding and I was worried that that was the last anyone would hear of me. But, of course, even before I worked out where we were going, I knew it wouldn’t make sense to get off, because I’d be in the middle of nowhere.
Also, baht buses — basically pickup (utility) trucks with benches at the back — have a limited range.So, when I got to Ban Phe, I found another baht bus to take me to Ban Phe, my original destination. Except, he dropped me off on the main road and directed me to a motorcycle taxi. I don’t take motorcycle taxis, because they are uncomfortable (especially due to my larger-than-average size) and they are dangerous.
So I used my Grab Taxi app, and got a private driver, who took me to the Makro supermarket, which was my original destination, and back to my lodgings in Mae Ramphung.
The driver was a young woman named Bo (“spelled B.O.”, she helpfully informed me), and I discovered that she had two children, aged 3 and 6, and a husband. “Is he a nice guy?” I asked. She replied with the Thai equivalent of “meh”, and we had a good laugh.
So I got my groceries (she was impressed with how quick a bachelor can shop), and we went on our way. As we were travelling, I pointed out a closed-to-traffic street and asked: “What’s down there?”
I swear she said: “The accordion museum.” I wrote it down, because that seemed like a crazy idea, but since this is Thailand, it could have been true.
Sadly, it turned out the be the aquarium.
