Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Back to Bangkok and Rayong to get our rear wheel carrier fixed by ARB, and then to collect Reuben from the airport! Well, what we hadn't experienced before in the big city we did with Reuben! We even went into Cockatoo (a lady boy bar on Cowboy Soi). He and Fintan went looking for new cameras, I found a watch made from wood to replace my broken plastic watch. We ate and drank a lot! Then we went to Pattaya to meet up with Reuben cousin and a driller friend, Teflon.
Pattaya is a beach resort town southeast of Bangkok, and it is purely a tourism town. Go-Go bars, jewellery shops, tourist tat and eateries everywhere. There are a couple of sections of beach, although the best parts seem to be private according to the hotel resorts. This is really the Bangkokite weekend getaway. But we were also surprised by how many Russian tourists we saw. There are so many that a lot of the signs are in Cyrrilic!
Reuben's cousin and his family were staying at the Birds and the Bee's (the Condoms and Cabbages place in Pattaya), so we went there for lunch and down to the beach there. Then met them that evening again for a seafood supper at a Thai place and it was spectacular... if only I knew what it was called!
On Monday we went back to Bangkok because Fintan decided he wanted to buy a new camera. We pulled up to the hotel and for some reason decided it would be ok to let the valet park it. Whether we were tired, had gotten blase or whatever... anyway it was a bad decision. Just as we got into the room, some members of staff knocked on the door to inform us of 'a problem parking the car', but not to panic there is just 'some small superficial damage'.
So we went downstairs to have a look. O, what a sight! the valet had valiantly tried to park the car in the multistorey car park, even though the sign clearly states only vehicles less than 2m should be going up here, and Fintan had clearly said to him 'It is 2.4m high'. The valet had made it up the first ramp, around the flat and up onto the second ramp before hearing/realising/being told to stop. During which time he had deformed the roof box, which in turn put pressure on the roof rack and deformed this, as well as ripping the roof bag and destroying the gerry can holder. My first thought was that the terms 'small superficial damage' had been used a bit too liberally here.
On the parking ramp taking photos of the car and standing around were myself, Fintan, Reuben, the front desk manager, the concierge manager, and at least 6 others. First we made it clear that this was not superficial damage, and that this stuff is expensive and probably impossible to purchase in Thailand, especially the roof box which had been made to measure. Then once that was clear and the hotel staff assured us of compensation, they waited on their insurance personnel to arrive and asked for our insurance details. Now, seeing as it was a member of the hotel staff that parked the car, and damaged the vehicle and the hotel property, and this member of staff was informed of the height of the vehicle I didn't see what it had to do with our insurance coverage. In any case, we left the car where she was and were given a 'complimentary lunch', nice. After this we were told the car was inconveniently placed for other guests... well, let me tell you it's inconveniently placed for us too!
After we got the all clear from our insurance guy, we let down the tyres and Fintan reversed the car down the ramp and out onto the flat. We then removed most of the equipment except the roof rack and roof box, reinflated the tyres and parked the car in one of the spaces outside the hotel. A much more appropriate place. Unbelieveable.
As you can imagine, Fintan and I were upset, angry (with the valet and ourselves), and kind of in shock that this had happened after travelling so far with no problems. We decided the best thing to do would be to go drinking with Reuben... try to forget about it until tomorrow. And it was a pretty good plan. We had a good night out; went for curry, had cocktails at the jazz bar, and went drinking on Cowboy Soi.
The hotel were very good and did compensate us, but it tainted our visit to Bangkok this time. At least we put Reuben to work!
- comments