Okay this is what happened if a fraud songthew guy want to messed with two Indonesian girls.
It wasn't nice at all.
The story begun when we just finished visiting Wat Phrasingh. We decide to go to Doi Suthep by our own in stead taking tours. After went to seven eleven infront of Wat Phrasingh we ask an old white guy about the songthew that goes to Doi Suthep. He said it wont be more expensive than 40 baht for both of us from there.
So we stop one of the songthew (van/pickup public car), we ask wether he could took us to Doi Suthep. But he stop another songthew that coming from different lines and ask (??) that 2nd songthew driver to take us to Doi Suthep.
We cross the street to get to 2nd songthew, and don't want to made silly mistake we ask again wether the 2nd driver want to take us to Doi Suthep, he said yes for 40 baht for both of us.
We then jump in to his songthew. There's no other passenger at the back its only two of us. We quite happy that we could pay 40 baht instead 500 baht just for Doi Suthep.. well.. its out of town, its about 7 km's away.. but we could do it with songthew anyway.
So suddenly just like after 5 minutes ride with songthew the 2nd driver stop and ask us to get to another songthew that said could took us to Doi Suthep for 40 baht (what the heck ???!!!!!!!)
First Maria tought we could just jump in without paying the 2nd songthew but i could see the driver insist for his 40 baht. Maria get really angry !!
I told him its okay if we pay 10 baht for each, but not 40 baht. But he insist. We know they want to fool us, and Maria still get mad at him and give him 10 baht for both of us.
This 3rd songthew driver face turn red and said "if you don't want to pay my friend, he will took you to police station" both of us right away say "YES !!!" we want to go to police station. Its just wont going toi happened to us AGAIN (read in Bangkok)
And, amazingly he did drive us to Police station. I still chilled out, because i could see Maria is still really mad. But when we got to the police station, and we jump off, the driver talk to both of us and try to scare us that he will really told the police that we don't want to pay him. He make his eye bigger and high his tone RIGHT INTO MY FACE.
Okay, that's it !!!!!!!!!!!
He saw how mad Maria is, but he surely don't want to see me mad... but he did made me MAD !
We rush to go inside. I know from his body language actually he is not really want to get in. So i push the door, i could see few police guy inside. My brother inlaw is a policeman. I am not afraid. I didn't do anything wrong.
I step in, and talk to the first police that i see, and unpolitely before i FINISHED what i said that 2nd songthew guy cut what ever i said and try to talk at the same time, i said to my self... oh.. okay.. you are toatll wrong, want the asty part of me, allright, here we go.
I went crazy, and unstopable. Both of us Maria and me talk at the same time very fast in english. Made the police statioon so noisy. Until one of the police ask if there's anyone could speak english and translate what we said in english to thai language.
We did fnally find a couple tat could speak both thai and english. We told her what happened.
First she still thought it just a missunderstading until we told her that the driver absolutely said yas when we ask for Doi Suthep. If he can't take us there, he could say no, like the first songthew driver that we see before him.
After few minutes argueing, and explaining, yelling, and sighning, the policeman infront of us maybe thought "okay, thats all, this is all to silly.. better to send this two crazy girl out of my office". So he did ask the girl that translate us to ask us to go and not to pay anything since were not going anywhere AT ALL.
We go. I said thanks to her and her bf (nice guy). And to the police (that looks like really upset with all the noise), and SORRY to the songthew driver (that not succeed to fool another FARANG just like he always did). We rushing go outside, and think that we're too "hot" to think where else to go.
Still mumbling at street finally we went to our guesthouse, and take a rest for a while.
After 1 pm we were hungry so, we decide, mac love is our choice (read Mc D's), i want cheese burgers and ice creammmm ! after this hassle and heat... i deserve it.. hehehehe
I have huge back pack on my back(80ltr), one in front of my chest (30ltr)and we still had to drag other bag (50 ltr) to the MRT station, and then sub way. Have to walk on sky walk before reach the subway.
Nightmare !
Its the other price to pay when you're a shopohoilic. I got tshirt for my family, sisters, evern small tedy bear for my niece.
We check out at 10.30 from Central Shukumvit 25. We had our break fast there, also lunch after we get to internet first to back up our cameras memory. Maria camera already full so she have to move half of the datas to a new sony micro flas disk that i just bought (390 baht).
We bought KFC for our dinner at train ( no more "is this cooked with pork?" question at least). The KFC located outside the station. When you get your ticket you have to seek very carefully to the KFC sign on the other side of the waiting room of the station, its on the corner of the food court stairs (the food court on the 2nd floor).
We went here yesterday. We quite supraise to see a white guy as a cashier of the KFC. Ofcourse it could be anywhere, but not at Indonesia for sure. That white guy speak very fluently Thai language, that we even re-thought that he might 50% Thai (he is absolutely physicly 100% white guy).
Our train number was 15. We got the last seat. Its not really a seat, at night it will become a bed. Both of us choose the upper bed, with fan and its rapid train. The ticket price is 491 baht for each.
The train leaving the bangkok station at straight 2.30pm and we will arrive at 6.00 in Chiangmai.
The journey ?
Feels almost the same like a train that i used to go to Palembang from Lampung. Business class.. but you could see lots of "non-passenger" get thru you offering foods, drinks, etc. But at least they were more nicely than you see on Palembang-Lampung train. They don't push you or threat you to buy anything for sure.
I can't really sleep because outside the window the scenery is beautifull. Its not all jungle like in Sumatra. You could see rice field, jungle, yes, and small towns.
I don't want to missed that. Also the sunset for sure.
The ticket guy is really nice to us. He said that his brother went to Indonesia for working (i'm grinning because there's alot of Thai guys working on our plant shutdown job).
There's none pick us up. We check my mail from the raiway station internet (10 baht/15minutes), its fast enough. The internet just looks like a vending machine.
The guest house said that they were probably wont sent anyone if theres none at the station using yellow shirt with julie guest house name. None.
So we ask the information about the tuk2 price to the guest house they said it was 60 baht.
We went outside and theres a woman offering songthew (pickup van) for 100 baht but Maria insist for 50 baht. They left us. But after about 15 minutes the guy back and agree with 50 baht (good job maria !!)
At the first sight when i see the guest house, its alittle bit dark, and Maria also said.. "errrhhh... is this the same guest house that we see online???" well i don't know for sure.
The office is seemed still closed as they said on the net, they will open at 8 am.
So we're trying to sleep pn the hostel looby. That morning there's several people sitting, or just lying down the bed or sofas that the put outside the hostel.
There's several people also seemed just arrive just looks like us with loads of backpack on their back waiting, and trying to get some rest. But same just like us they have to wait.
At 7.30 then they open the front door of the office and i ask about my booking confirmation. They said there's only double room but without hot water. I don't feel i was booking a room without hot water, so i insist to get one. They said they will arrange the room but we should wait until 11..
Posted by
Fico
,
8:11 PM
Bangkok-Chiangmai 31 Agustus 2007
Kita berangkat ke Chiangmai naik kereta setelah survey dan beli tiket satu hari sebelumnya di stasiun Hua Lampong (cuma ada 1 stasiun kereta, kita kemaren naik BTS dan lanjut naik MRT tapi dari stasiun .... ke stasiun Hua Lampong lumayan jauh so selamat berjuang kalo punya bawaan kayak kami kemaren). Kita memilih kereta 2nd class sleeper rapid train (491 baht) soale jam berangkatnya jam 2 siang so nyampe Chiangmai sekitar jam 6 pagi. Ada juga se yang berangkat jam 8 malam, kereta Express, coba cek websitenya aja biar lebih jelas!!! Keretanya ga mewah, sama aja kayak Parahyangan Jakarta-Bandung tapi yang ini punya tempat buat tidur so bisa istirahat de. Hati2 dengan bawaan, kita kemaren spare gembok gede buat jaga2 J.
Chiangmai 1-3 September 2007
Di Chiangmai sama aja kayak di Bangkok, semua hostel buka jam 8 pagi so kita nunggu dalam keadaan ngantuk, capek, dekil plus pusing (train lag J). Sambil nunggu kita ke warnet dulu, disini warnet 15 baht/jam dan cepat banget, sangat murah sekali dibanding dengan Krabi or Bangkok yang rata2 40 baht/jam.
Kita nginap di Julie’s hostel, kita nyewa 1 kamar dengan hot shower 179 baht/kamar tapi kamarnya mah kecil banget apalagi kamar mandinya. Menurut gw ga terlalu nyaman se tapi banyak banget yang nginap disini bahkan ada yang rela balik lagi kesini walo da nginap ke tempat lain karena kelamaan nunggu front office buka. Mereka punya restoran so kita ga perlu repot keluar mo makan or beli minum, harganya mang lebih mahal tapi cuma beda 10-15 baht dari warung luar so ga masalah kali ya.
Tadinya mo ikut tour keliling kuil dan tempat kerajinan sutra tapi karena kita pesan buat hari minggu so harganya jadi 3250 baht, halah, mending ga jadi. Tapi kalo hari biasa 2800 baht, mang mahal banget se tapi da dapet makan siang+malam plus menyaksikan tarian tradisional Thailand. Karena ga jadi so kita bertualang sendiri lagi, sorenya kita mulai dengan keliling pasar malam dan seperti biasa semua ada di jual disini.
Perjalanan ga jauh dari ’wat day’, kebetulan tempat kita nginap dekat dengan berbagai kuil yang cukup ternama dan masuk dalam rekomendasi buku yang kita punya dan kuil2 yang akan kita kunjungi kalo pake tour. Dimulai dari Wat Chedi Luang, disini kuil tua, ada 4 patung Budha yang gede lagi duduk dan ada replika patung Budha tidur tapi kemaren lagi renovasi. Wat Phra Singh, kuil tempat ibadah dan banyak dikunjungi masyarakat setempat tapi ga terlalu besar. Habis dari sini kita ga ada rencana lain tapi waktu masih siang dan ada ide mo ke Doi Suthep, kuil tertua di Chiangmai. Kita nanya2 ma bule yang lagi belanja di 7 eleven dan bilang ada songthew yang langsung kesana dan bayar ga lebih dari 40 baht. Mulailah memberhentikan songthew yang lewat dan bertanya dengan bahasa inggris yang singkat padat dan jelas..’doi suthep???’, dia bilang ga tapi memberhentikan songthew lain dan kami bertanya lagi...’we want to doi suthep??...’yes!’...’how much???’...’40 baht 1 person’...’ok, 40 baht to doi suthep for 2 person???’...’yes!!’. Naiklah kami ke songthewnya dan meluncur dengan pasti kearah jalan yang pernah kami lalui. Tiba2 berhenti dan nyuruh kami turun dan nyambung ke songthew lain mo ke doi suthep tapi kami harus bayar dia 40 baht. Gw marah dan jelas tersinggung, ga lagi2 gw diboongi ma supir. Gw bilang ga mau bayar dan supir lain malah marah2 karena ga mungkin kami diantar kesana dengan mobil itu. Gw bilang ’bodo amat, dia janji mo antar kok sekarang berubah dan kami harus bayar lebih, kalo ga bisa antar bilang ga bisa dari awal!!’. Dia malah ngancam, ’kalo ga mo bayar kalian diantar ke kantor polisi!!!’. Gw dalam keadaan emosi, makin berang aja ’hayo!!!!!’. Beneran kami dibawa kekantor polisi dan waktu fico bilang gpp kalo kami ke kantor polisi, gw tetep maju membela kebenaran. Sebelum masuk, supirnya melototin fico dan yang jadi berang malah fico. Masuklah kami menghadap pak polisi dan si supir ’terhormat’ itu yang merasa ada diatas angin, ngomong langsung dengan bahasanya tentunya dan waktu gw mo ngomong...huahhhh...ternyata ga ada yang bisa english tapi untung ada seorang wanita yang lagi mengantar seorang bule yang habis kecelakaan dan dia bisa english sedikit. Pertama si wanita berfikir kami ga mo bayar padahal da diantar, kita ceritakan semua kronologis dengan english secepat kereta dan kami berdua semakin panas dan suara meninggi. Awalnya si wanita sulit mengerti dan si bule membantu kami menerangkan dengan suara yang tenang dan lambat sehingga si wanita mengerti. Si bule juga berkata disini memang sering terjadi seperti itu, si supir sering membohongi para turis dan jarang yang melapor ke polisi. Akhirnya si wanita menjelaskan keadaan dan si supir ga berani membantah, mungkin bapak2 polisi merasa menghadapi kasus yang aneh dan bingung plus pusing mendengar fico dan gw ngomong dengan ’kekuatan bulan’ J akhirnya nyurh kami pergi setelah si wanita nanya ’kalian mau bayar bapak supir ga??’, gw dengan rasa marah dan BT bilang ’ga akan!!’...’kalo gitu kalian boleh pergi!!’. Gw heran, gitu aja??? Dan yang paling ga nyambung si wanita sambil megang tangan gw bilang ’Thailand is beautiful, the people is good’....’maksud??!!!??’ Kami keluar duluan, sedang si supir masih tertahan didalm, mungkin si polisi takut kami dicegat ma si supir kali ya ??!! kami berdua berjanji…cukup sudah kuil2an!!!!!!!!
Untuk menenangkan diri kami kembali ke hostel dan membagi pengalaman ini ma front office, eh dia malah ga percaya dan rada BT ngeliat kami. Negara yang aneh dengan penduduknya yang aneh pula. Karena emosi dan rasa pusing plus lapar, kami merindukan McD kami yang tercinta, panas terik ga menghalangi kami untuk sesuap burger dan kentang goreng dan tak lupa segelas besar coke. Makan siang menjelang sore sekitar jam 3 kurang dan kami melanjutkan perjalanan mengitari jalan yang belum pernah kami lalui dan menemukan ’Pantip Plaza Chiangmai’, mall alat2 elektronik dan fico tergiur dengan laptop yang lagi sale…hehehe…. Oia, disini ada internet gratis so lumayan buat ngecek email dan browse tentang taksi dari bandara change ke hostel. Petualangan Chiangmai kami tutup dengan mengobok2 tiap kios pasar malam dan kembali ke hostel sebelum jam 8 malam karena harus packing semua beban dan kembali ke Singapore sebelum kembali ke negaraku tercinta.
