88,782

Rayong province, South Eastern Thailand

so the konductora for the sangthaew (thai version of a jeep)
called out for passengers.
we waited for a few minutes,
then she took out the placard over
the window, got in
and drove! :-) haha, nice.

anyway, again, i find myself thankful for
the kindness of strangers.
i think i survive only through this.

when i got off the bus from bangkok,
a tout approached me immediately
saying "holiday? ko samet?" repeatedly.
then he led me to his pick-up,
motioning for me to get in.
i'd already read that these private
transports to the pier cost so much
more than a sangthaew, so i said no
and walked away.
but he kept following me and (ugh, i hate
it when people do this) made me kalabit (sorry
for the taglish, i've thought long and hard
for an english equivalent pero parang wala).
motioning to his pick-up, he kept saying
"ko samet! you go ko samet!".

but i kept walking away, totally clueless as to
where the heck the sangthaews to the pier are.
all the signs were in thai.

finallly, one sangthaew with passengers
pulled up in front of me and the driver
asked me something in thai.
i assumed he was asking where i was going
so i just said - like an idiot - "Ban Phe, ban phe".

"Ban Phe?" then he points to the opposite
end of the terminal.
satisfied with this, i started heading in that direction.
but he even gets off his sangthaew,
shouts out to a conductor while pointing to me
"blablabla in thai..ban phe ban phe.."

So this other guy the driver shouted at
walks towards me, smiles, then walks me to
the right sangthaew. and only after making me
bilin to the conductor of this sangthaew,
and making sure i get on does he leave! :-)

thank you God for nice people.

i remember when Ana and i went to Baler.
after getting off the bus, we had to ask several indifferent
people where to get a ride to the town itself.
and also when we were looking for a beach in Batangas
and hit Matabungkay first,
the people who were being "kind" to us
were tricycle drivers or cottage owners
who kept pressing us to rent boats or
take a room in cottages that give them commissions.
tapos the tricycle driver stiffed us pa.
PLUS, they would make kalabit too.
grrrr!
really, people with ulterior motives are everywhere,
but thankfully, kind and simple people aren't rare here.