Asian Boot Parade

Usually when I say "Asian Boot Parade", I'm referring to the long sleek black boots worn to the knee by some hot asian girl. Not 4 meters of rusty chain wrapped twice around my bike and thru both tires.



I swear when I pulled up, there were six other bikes there. I guess they all left about 5 min later, right as the cop pulled up with his rusty chains and twisted bits of rebar, leaving me a parking ticket and Thai style car boot. The parking ticket explanation being held to the seat by the weight of the chain.

I'm not sure what I did wrong. I couldn't read the ticket. No one that could read it knew english. After having it explained to me in thai by 4 different people, I finally grabbed a tuk-tuk and went to pay my ticket at the police station. The driver kind of explained that depending on the number of the day, you can only park on one side of the street. Even/odd I think, but he kept saying 1 / 2. Whatever, it all added up to 400 baht anyhow.

If it'd been the day before I'd have been in luck. The police station had been flooded and they certainly weren't giving out parking tickets. Sand bags were still all about, and I could see the river continuing to slip over it's edges at the end of their lot. So close, so close. I paid the ticket. Got back to my bike. Had the chain removed. And still found time to pick up something for lunch.

• Two hours internet and two cha manao: 180 baht
• Round trip tuk-tuk ride to police station: 80 baht
• Parking Ticket - wrong side of the street: 400 baht
• Getting food to my hungry wife before noon: Priceless