In the midst of all the doom and gloom here in Bangkok this week, I still managed to have a good laugh, albeit for slightly disturbing (if typically Thai) reasons.

It all started when I got back from my trip to Tioman to find my car battery dead. No real surprise there, but after getting a nice taxi to jump start me Thursday morning, the car still wouldn’t start after work that day. So, after getting another jump from one of the lads at the office, I headed straight to a garage to get a new battery, or so I thought.

When getting the second jump, I noticed that the brake lights were on, and on reaching the garage and shutting off the car, I noticed the lights were still on. The mechanic at the shop saw me looking at the lights, and exclaimed "Ah! I know" in Thai. First, though, he wanted to get the car re-started, so he sent a couple of his assistants to fetch the shops back-up battery. These two guys shall henceforth be known as Laurel & Hardy.

So, little Laurel returns with a small-ish car battery, and a couple of rods that look like socket wrench extensions. "What are those for?" I thought. So, Laurel hands the rods to Hardy and steadies the battery on the fender. Oh no, he’s not going to use those rods to… is he?

Yes, he is. Hardy begins to hold the rods – in his bare hands – against the terminals of my battery and connect them to the spare Laurel is holding. Fortunately, Hardy seems to be having second thoughts, and a little bit of arguing ensues. After pausing a moment to laugh and mentally slap my forehead, I inform the boys that I have jumper cables in the car.

They seemed relieved.

The boss soon returned and replaced some plastic washer in the ignition, and assured me I didn’t need a new battery. Just run the car for an hour or so and it would be good as new. The best part is, all this entertainment was completely free.

Posted by michael under Life in Thailand
Tags: Humor
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