IT-Hora » Thailand

I’m a catastrophy magnet

Pal — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 13:19:02 +0000

I was in New York in 2001. Later they crashed planes into houses.
I was on Bali in 2002. Later they bombed my favorite restaurant.
I was in Spain in 2003. Later they bombed the subway.
I was in Phuket in 2004. Later a tsunami flooded the city.
I was in Kolding in 2004. Later their fireworks factory exploded.
I’m in Montreal now, and a few days ago there was a school shooting at the McGill’s University.

Tomorrow I’m going to Toronto. Stay away.

Trading bills

Pal — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 12:37:35 +0000

The bars here have a system where they put a small vase or something in front of you, and every time you buy a beer they put the bill in the vase. When you’re about to leave, you pay all the bills. The vases are cheramic, so you can’t see the bills without pulling them out. After a night out, there can be a lot of paper in the vase.

Yesterday I got this great idea. What if I walked around, “buying” those vases? That is, I negotiate a price for a vase, without looking at the bills in it. Then I get the negotiated amount of money from the bar visitor, and finally I pay all the bills. I do see approximately how many bills there are in a vase, but there’s no way to see the amounts on the bills, so it’s sorta gambling.

So, I did this all night long (in conjunction with creating my own bills). All together I “bought” vases with bills for 21500 baht, and in the end I paid off 18500 baht to the bartender. 3000 baht profit, and a lot of fun along the way!

Baht

Thaik away bike

Pal — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 12:10:32 +0000

I’m in Thailand right now, and the hotel has got my passport. But I have an expired pink temporary passport that I sometimes use when I don’t have my ordinary passport. I went to rent a bike, and the rental guy asked me for passport. I gave him the expired pink temporary passport. He smiled. He asked for a drivers license. I showed him my license, with pictures clearly announcing that it is only for cars and not for bikes. He smiled. He mumbled something about “Noo insoolens” that I didn’t understand. I smiled. He smiled. He handed me a bike.

Later on, I gave two of my colleagues a ride. One on the parcel carrier and one on the handlebars. The car in front of me hit the brakes, since there suddenly was a police road block ahead. I was kinda heavy loaded, so we bumped into the back of the car. A woman jumped out of the car and started yelling in Thai. I didn’t understand much (nothing, in fact), and was frankly more worried about the police opinion on my overcrowded bike and non-existing bike drivers license than about her. The cops had noticed us, and was coming our way.

But apparently I was worried for nothing. They yelled at us, complaining about us stopping the traffic, and told us to move on quickly. We moved on quickly.

Update: The woman texted me a couple of weeks later, asking about money for damages on the car. I replied that I’d be happy to pay, if she provided paperwork from the insoolens company. I never heard from her again.