I went shopping yesterday, Dec. 19, 2007

From the hotel, I took a cab and went to Siam Center. Then I proceeded to Siam Discovery and MBK. I shopped for souvenirs.

Ajin, one of the project managers in Thailand, lent me his BTS card for the Sky Train. So going back home I wanted to try it.

I went out of MBK and headed for the train stop. Unfortunately, I couldn’t understand some of the directions. I only understood “National Stadium”. Since it’s a train stop, I went in. The bad thing, it was for the wrong train line. I asked a guard for directions but all I could understand was “Siam” and “Mo Chit”. My destination is Mo Chit. But they way he said it gave me an idea that I had to transfer trains.

Inside the Sky Train I asked someone for directions and I was lucky he spoke English and he told me to transfer to another train by going up another level. And so I did, I went up and saw the train for Mo Chit. I took the ride and went down the Mo Chit station.

From there I still didn’t know how to get to my hotel. I asked a guard and he pointed to one direction. So I walked. While walking, I noticed that there were no people walking with me. Am I in the wrong direction?

Then someone came out of an alley and started walking in front of me. As he was walking I noticed he was holding something. I dunno but maybe with safety in mind, anyone’s senses would increase as adrenaline my shot up. And just like in the movies, my eyes zoomed in on his hand and saw he has a knife. Man, I prayed all my martial arts that I took would pay off.

Then I remembered what my Kung-Fu master told me… if you can avoid conflict then do so. Thus, I tried to walk slowly to gain distance. I stopped at a grocery store and watched where he went. He turned right at another alley.

As he turned, I left the store and proceeded on my way. After a few minutes I noticed I was getting near the Ericsson office. And from there, I could take a taxi.

I got to the office safely. But I don’t have change for a taxi fare of 40 baht. So I went in the Ericsson office to buy dinner at Au Bon Pain and get some change. The taxi came and I was back at the hotel. That was a close call. I’ve been here in Bangkok, Thailand several times already and this time I was alone. And it was only this time that I had this experience.

Today has been a safe day so far. hehe!