Rides

The Thai people seem really concerned about how we are getting places. They are really concerned when they find out we are going to walk somewhere. Often they hurry around to give us a ride, usually on the back of a motor scooter. We’ve both had a few rides sitting behind the driver, usually without a helmet. Once we both squished in behind the driver. They were a little concerned about how low the motor scooter was riding after Gary got on that time, and he has

lost a lot of weight!

You can tell we are inexperienced in this riding on the back, though, because we hold on to the rail that goes around the back of the seat. The people used to riding that way don’t hold on to anything! Even their dogs know how to ride on the motor scooters. They don’t ride on the back, though.

Some ride in the front basket. One I saw in the space in front of the driver, standing on his back legs with

his front paws on the handle bars.

At first, when I would leave BSF after working on school things, I would tell someone I was going out to the road to catch a songtaew. Either one of the teachers would offer me a ride right away,

or one would come after me on her motor scooter to give me a ride. I never did catch a songtaew home. Gary caught one a few times, but he was much better at sneaking out. Once, one of the helpers at BSF saw Gary walking off and asked if she should go give him a ride on a motor scooter. She thought it was a long way to walk out to the road to catch the songtaew. I told her that walk wasn’t too long, and that Gary probably wouldn’t accept the ride anyway.

Other times we have been waiting to catch a songtaew to go out to BSF and someone has given us a ride. One day it was the housefather returning from taking one of the 7th graders to her new school. He recognized me waiting and stopped to pick me up. Another day it was the PE teacher seeing Gary waiting and stopped. Gary thought he went awfully fast. I was surprised when a local man we have talked to a few times insisted on giving me a ride one morning so I wouldn’t have to wait. He didn’t realize how far I was going when we started, but insisted on taking me where I needed to go anyway. Finally we passed a songtaew I could take, so he was willing to let me off there and not go the whole way.

They have a much greater appreciation for the power of the sun here, and are concerned that we are walking or standing in it too much. One morning we had ridden a songtaew and then walked 40 minutes to a department store to do some shopping. After eating lunch there, we were lugging our purchases back out the 40-minute walk to the songtaew route. We were feeling how hot the day was after about 20 min, of walking when a van pulls over just ahead of us. It was the old man who had been supervising the sheet rocking of the ceilings in our house, along with his crew. He had directed the van driver to come pick us up when he recognized us walking. He gave us a ride the whole 5 k or so back home in his air-conditioned van.

There is an old saying, “Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.” It’s probably from the time the English were in India. That saying makes a lot more sense to me now. That’s probably why these Thai people keep giving us rides too. They realize how crazy we are to be out in the sun too much.

:J