Aug 01, 2004 (Sunday)

It was an unplaned adventure. We were with the Pasambas and a lady who works in RAIS. The Pasambas were heading towards the airport so they dropped the three of us in Future Park. A big place that was and the lady seemed clueless about getting the bus to Ramkhampaeng. So we walked across FP and headed towards the crowded cineplax. Then I was clueless. Caught a sight of a police man and asked for directions. Suddenly that guy seemed to recognize Ropoy. After a few chat, oooo...the police man remembered Ropoy because Ropoy taught him and and a bunch of police English in Saraburi's academy. So he helped and found a van to MinBuri for the lady. Since we were too lazy to go back to FP, we made up our minds and went with the lady to MinBuri. Never been to this place. Reached Minburi, took 113 bus to RAIS. Then from there, Roy and I took a Song-teaw (and dibawa keliling dunia first) to Bangkapi The Mall. By then, our tummy was already too hungry and we still managed to quarrel in front of Sizzler. :lol: Anyway, while we were about to finish, we saw Haze, Farrel & Damien coming in Sizzler. What a small-small world! And they were with Uncle D and Auntie T and Farrel's parents. :)

After our favorite Auntie Anne, we decided to take a bus to Ekamai or maybe even better Sukhumvit. The bus number listed on my hp were 22,122,115,126,514, 95,145 and 8. Well, out of so many buses, we hop on bus 95 assuming it will pass through Khlong Tan and we could get off and take another bus. Things went really wrong when we were on the bus. First, we didn't pay our tickets. Second, the bus conductor didn't collect money from us. Third, instead of getting off in Khlong Tan's junction, we followed the bus this time hoping it would stop 'close' to Khlong Tan. But it didn't. It went on. Roy was furious, I was telling him not to worry because the bus usually would do a circle and would come to the same route. It didn't!!! What? The sign says Bang Pa In, then bla..bla..bla...and bla..bla..bla... Oh...now we know for sure, we were nowhere close. Now the bus - passing through some strange of the stranges kampung! Looked around, nobody left except us on the bus, the conductor and the driver of course. Where? This is the end route? Go down? Ok! As we looked around, scary, eaary, it's a kampung for sure, no other buses, it's getting dark, close to 7pm, pray...

A good turn! We just stand across the road from where we initially got off, the bus made an unofficial U-turn, we were too ashamed to hop into the same bus, hoping a taxi would stop by. Instead of a taxi, the bus stopped. "Aw zhe pai nai?" the conductor ask. "eh, ah..." then he noticed that we were foreigners. Down came the bus driver. "zizizhuzhuzhizhizhuzhu...(fast-forwarded). Since we don't know how to explain that we were lost, out of nowhere we said we were heading towards our friends house and he's waiting for us somewhere close to Ramkhampaeng and we want to go there but still dunno how to get there. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" the driver said. "Come, we'll take you to the main road. The place here is very-very dangerous, plus it's getting dark, there's no other buses and taxi is very expensive." "It's free ride" the conductor added. Ashamed and showed the guilt on our face, we once again got into the bus. Both the bus conductor and and the driver were really worried about us. They really wanted us to get hold of 'our friend'. After knowing that where we were heading, they stopped a taxi driver for us on the main road and told the taxi to take us safely there. Since we didn't pay earlier, I decided to give both the bus driver and the conductor an amount which equals to a 6 rides fare. They refused to take the money and said they're really determined to help and it's from their bottom of their hearts. Didn't know how to make them understand that I felt bad inside, I said "huo zhai mai sa bai...so take it!" :lol: :lol: He gave us a hand shake, and say good-bye. We almost knelt down when we thanked them, the thank you meant more like a "sorry and thank you" followed by a thousand echos.

That was not a mere adventure. It was a big lesson and a great reminder for us. If it wasn't for that turn the driver took, we would never have experienced this turn in our life. A turn from dishonesty, disgrace, greed, judgemental, generalizing, unforgiving, etc. to being the opposite. The bus conductor and the bus driver have repeated the act of the Good Samaritan in the Bible to remind Roy and I that the story was not there by accident or by chance. It was there to remind us to do good all the time, even to strangers.

Monday Aug 02, 2004

Supposed to be a public holiday. But how come some machines are on duty?

Tuesday Aug 03, 2004

Went to ChongNonsi Standard Charted Bank. What kind of document is i-50? Stopped at Emporium and went ot Peterson. Watched the rain pouring...

Wednesday Aug 04, 2004

Watched King Arthur. A must-watch movie. My rating: 9.3/10

Today Aug 05, 2004

Movies watched throughout the week:

Movies Rating

Along Came Polly 7.6/10

The Bourne Supremacy 8/10

Spiderman 2 (2nd time) 6.8/10

Harry Porter 3 7/10

Van Wilder 8.5/10

Lost In Translation 2/10

The Fighting Temptation 9/10

Daddy Day Care 8/10

Love Actually 8/10

King Arthur 9.3/10

Wanna Watch:

I'll Be There

Mean Girls

Anne (Disney)

Letter

CD Warehouse pick:

Wang Lee Hom