20 November
Today was a good day. I went to eat lunch at Pi Baby’s café opposite my apartment and met a young lawyer who asked if I could teach him English. It turned out that he lives in the same apartment as me – he is one floor above me. He is only 22 and has just started working in Silom.
We agreed a price of 350 baht per hour as it was so convenient. He booked 30 lessons and offered to pay for them in full upfront. If only all my students were like this! He also told me that his company wanted an English teacher to come in twice a week and check their letters and emails. I told him I would do it for 600 baht per hour.
I met up with my friend June in the evening. We went to Siam Paragon to buy a map of Bangkok. It’s amazing how useless most of the maps of Greater Bangkok are. They are almost all invariably confusing and never show the sois where your students live! The best map by far is made by Nelles.
We had coffee and muffins at Au bon pair at Siam Discovery Centre, took a table by the window and people watched.
“I never can understand why tourists go for tuk tuks,” I said as we watched a gesticulating tuk tuk driver trying to lure a bemused looking young couple into his motorized buggy. “They’re dangerous, dirty, you breathe in all the fumes, no air con and the drivers always try to cheat the farangs.”
I spoke from bitter experience.
“You’re much better off taking a metered taxi,” I added. “It’s more comfortable, you’ve got air con and you pay the same price as everyone else.”
“I prefer the bus if there is no skytrain or MRT,” said June. “Taxi drivers sometime deliberately go a longer route so that the meter runs up. When my mother was dying in Ramathibodi Hospital, I used to go there by taxi everyday from Nonthaburi. It used to cost 260 baht to 280 baht depending on the traffic. But never more than 280 baht.
“One day, I went and the driver went this way and that way, down this soi and whatever. When we arrived at the hospital, the meter read 300 baht. I gave the driver 260 baht and told him that if he wanted the extra 40 baht then he could go to the police!”
I laughed. “What did he do?” I asked.
“His face was very red. I don’t like people cheating me! I guess I’m jai rawn sometime,” she added.
Today was a good day. I went to eat lunch at Pi Baby’s café opposite my apartment and met a young lawyer who asked if I could teach him English. It turned out that he lives in the same apartment as me – he is one floor above me. He is only 22 and has just started working in Silom.
We agreed a price of 350 baht per hour as it was so convenient. He booked 30 lessons and offered to pay for them in full upfront. If only all my students were like this! He also told me that his company wanted an English teacher to come in twice a week and check their letters and emails. I told him I would do it for 600 baht per hour.
I met up with my friend June in the evening. We went to Siam Paragon to buy a map of Bangkok. It’s amazing how useless most of the maps of Greater Bangkok are. They are almost all invariably confusing and never show the sois where your students live! The best map by far is made by Nelles.
We had coffee and muffins at Au bon pair at Siam Discovery Centre, took a table by the window and people watched.
“I never can understand why tourists go for tuk tuks,” I said as we watched a gesticulating tuk tuk driver trying to lure a bemused looking young couple into his motorized buggy. “They’re dangerous, dirty, you breathe in all the fumes, no air con and the drivers always try to cheat the farangs.”
I spoke from bitter experience.
“You’re much better off taking a metered taxi,” I added. “It’s more comfortable, you’ve got air con and you pay the same price as everyone else.”
“I prefer the bus if there is no skytrain or MRT,” said June. “Taxi drivers sometime deliberately go a longer route so that the meter runs up. When my mother was dying in Ramathibodi Hospital, I used to go there by taxi everyday from Nonthaburi. It used to cost 260 baht to 280 baht depending on the traffic. But never more than 280 baht.
“One day, I went and the driver went this way and that way, down this soi and whatever. When we arrived at the hospital, the meter read 300 baht. I gave the driver 260 baht and told him that if he wanted the extra 40 baht then he could go to the police!”
I laughed. “What did he do?” I asked.
“His face was very red. I don’t like people cheating me! I guess I’m jai rawn sometime,” she added.
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