A Bangkok experience

It was only two days prior to this unforgettable episode that I read in the 'Post Bag' column of the daily paper 'Bangkok Post' a letter by an American tourist by the name Len Witham under the caption "In praise of Thai hospitality" which fascinated me so much that I was eager to enjoy an experience myself.

After three days stay at Hotel Niagara we shifted to another in Silom owned by an Indian married to a Thai lady. There were a number of Sri Lankan tourists and we felt at home.

On March 30 we joined a party of Sri Lankans staying in the same hotel to visit the world-famous Siam Park. We boarded the bus bearing Route No.2 at central Silom and the conductor of the bus - a nice looking young girl - led us to our seats with a pleasant smile on her face. While collecting our tickets, we requested her in English to drop us at the closest halt to Siam Park as we were absolutely ignorant of its location. She shook her head gaily which made us feel that she understood our request.

Our journey took over two and a half hours due to the traffic jam in the city. However, we never felt bored as we were entertained and amused by the conductress. At about 2.30 p.m. she gave us the signal to get ready to alight at the next halt.

Getting down at the halt nearest to Siam Park we started walking along crowded pavements crossing vehicles-laden roads. As I could not keep pace with the others who accompanied me, I happened to be the last on the pavement at that time. Suddenly, about 15 minutes later since we set out from the bus halt, somebody tapped my shoulder from behind. Turning back I was amazed to see the conductor girl carrying a purse. Without uttering a word she thrust the purse into my hands, smilingly gestured that it was mine and hurriedly ran back. I shouted to her at the top of my voice that it was not mine, but she did not seem to have heard it, and vanished among the pedestrians. None of the members of our party who went ahead of me knew what had happened behind.

Out of curiosity I opened the purse and found in the inner cover a photograph of a young man from our hotel who came on the trip with his newly-wedded partner. There were a number of Thai currency notes which I did not want to count. Having grasped the situation I kept purse in my trouser pocket to return it to its rightful owner.

When we stopped at a wayside restaurant for a cool drink I suggested to the owner of the purse that he pay the bill. It was only then he felt that his purse was missing from his hip pocket. His face became dark and his better half started lamenting over the loss. Saving them from further anguish I pulled out the purse from my pocket and related all what had happened. Filled with deep sense of gratitude for the conductress the owner of the purse and his wife found fault in me for not rewarding the girl properly for her meritorious act of honesty. He counted the currency notes in the purse and told us that he converted 500 U.S. Dollars into Thai currency and kept them in the purse just before setting out on the journey and that the entire sum was there in the purse.

From that day onwards until we left Bangkok one week later we looked for that conductor girl in the city, particularly in the passing buses, like looking for a precious gem lost in the desert. But to our dismay she was not to be seen.

-T.P. Thiruarul

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