Knife Attack!

I have many and varied taxi experiences on my travels. I am sure I will recount many here. Most involve cases of misunderstandings, arguments, wrong destinations or routes, getting lost and on occasion some pleasant experiences. As I live in Bangkok I am most intimately knowledgable on taxi antics here.

Today though was my first truly scary experience. On a routne trip to a well known destination I was busy hunkering down with my iPhone in the back seat unaware of my driver’s performance although I was aware enough that he was going in the right direction and was somewhat pacer through the traffic than I usually enjoy.

Upon arrival at the security gate at my destination a Song taew driver approached the car flung open the driver door and as he spoke (in Thai of course) soon realised not all was well. He then lurched at the taxi driver grabbing his throat. I made some disapproving ‘hey’ vocalisation from the back seat only to notice a knife in his left hand and quickly reverted to being silent by-stander.

Amazing I remained quite calm (I have a history of panicking! I will recount the Seattle earthquake story sometime!) and observed quietly for a few moments. As my Singapore distributor would say the guy turned out to be more ‘mouth than trouser’ and a Thai lady of unclear relationship pulled him back to his vehicle.

Maybe because I spend the most time here but Thailand roads bring many and varied and mostly unpleasant experiences. One more for the list….