The Tale of Two Taxis Two Times

I'm certain nearly everyone has a taxi horror story.  So we want to throw our hat in the ring with yours : )  One day last week after our morning class we were headed for downtown Bangkok.  We asked the office staff to write down our destination, so we could show the taxi driver.  So one of the staff walked us out to the curb, flagged down a taxi, and talked with him in Thai, gave us the nod to get in and said "call when you get there".  That was the first red flag, for Lynne anyway.   So we hop in, trusting the exchange has been made, the driver is clear, traffic is good and we will at our destination, get done what we wanted to do and be back in record time to teach class at 1:00.  Well, as we pull away from the curb the driver is saying something about the address, he was not familiar with it and did not know how to get there.  We are processing this and he continues to drive.  A while later he asks for the written note, so we oblige.  As he is reading it he is shaking his head and letting us know he does not have any idea where this is; and could we call them?  Well, the place was not open at that time and we did not have access to a phone; we told him this.  So he drives on, all the while mumbling that he did not know this place and needed to call.  At this point he begins to look for a phone booth to call.  He pulls over into a gas station parking, gets out and goes to the phone booth.  While he is away we devise a plan, to have him abandon the plan and take us home.  When he gets back into the taxi he tells us no one is answering.  (Ever feel like nobody is listening or understands you?)  So we ask him to turn around and take us back, which he was more than happy to do.  We were thankful to God, for the fact that he admitted he did not know where he was going and that he was happy to take us home. Whew!  So less than an hour later we are back at our place, we called the school to let them know and found out that they were praying for us, apparently they were not to certain of us arriving at our planned destination.  

Later, after our afternoon class, we attempt this again.  This time someone from school took us to the other side of the road, and began to flag down taxis.  Each time, the taxi would stop on the road, traffic piling up behind, while they discussed where we wanted to go; only to have the taxi deny us entry into their taxi and speed off.  After the third taxi, she told us to pray, and we did~ not wanting to repeat the mornings experience.  The next taxi would be our ride to our destination, without incident.  We got home without incident, thanks to a kind person where we were, who flagged the taxi and told them where we were going.

Taxi 2 coming............