The driver of the train which derailed in Hua Hin said he fainted (“pen lom” in Thai) before approaching Khao Tao station. The investigation is still going on and the driver will have to take a medical exam to confirm his claim. A lot of people “pen lom”, like this old man in my neighbourhood who died after he fainted, and was found lying under a tree. Was it a heart attack? Did he fall and hurt himself? Nobody knows. He just… pen lom!
I went to Hua Hin yesterday and didn’t notice anything particular concerning the upcoming ASEAN meeting. But when I got back home I found the soldiers were at my house! Only two of them, from the “Soldiers police and civil association in Bangkok”. They were here to raise money for hospitals who take care of soldiers in the South. I sponsored half a wheelchair (boy these things are expensive!) and got an official receipt. I will keep it in my car, it migh come handy some day if I get stopped at a checkpoint… 😉
As I’m writing these lines the weather is beautiful over Cha-Am, but it rained a lot yesterday and I almost lost control of my car on entering the bridge over the railway. When it rains, all the water falls down and stays at the bottom of the flyover. When you leave Cha-Am in the direction of Bangkok, you have to pass through a big pool of water, but the road is straight so it’s not much of a problem. When coming into Cha-Am, though, the road is still bending. I was not driving fast but I went aquaplaning for maybe one second, while I was still taking the curve, and in a split moment I saw myself hitting the rail. I almost pen lom!!! Fortunately I got the car back on the track. Then I remembered seeing a car which had crashed and spinned round at that same spot. At the time I didn’t understand how it had managed to do that, as no other vehicle was involved. Today I took a closer look and I saw that the kerb was bearing the marks of many accidents, and there was still broken glass and pieces of bumpers on the ground. There are plenty of watersports available in Cha-Am already, aquaplaning we can do without!
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