I still can’t believe good sumaritans still exist.

I mean there are people who “try” to help you, like friendly locals suggesting to farangs where the best place to get cheap gems is. Or you know the guy who volunteers to get rid of the condo’s stench of cat feces by drowning two-month old kittens. Or maybe a guy who stops in the middle of a stranded road to help a girl with her car problems by suggesting she takes a ride with him to the nearest gas station for her “safety”, like we see in the news many times.

If I was driving alone that day, the following incident would have turned out differently. I would have turned him down and blocked the traffic while waiting for help.

We were driving on Ramkhamhaeng yesterday afternoon when suddenly one of the famous Bangkok Holes appeared out of nowhere on the road, causing our car to take a little dip, completely punctured our right front tire. We found ourselves on a bridge already when we had to stop on the side of the road.

With emergency lights turned on, I called my mom, asking whether I should call Honda or my insurance company for this when suddenly a black Jeep stopped right in front of us, with his emergency lights turned on too.

“Do you need help changing the tire?” he asked.

My mom, who was still on the phone, warned me. “What does he look like? Is he trustworthy?”

Since it was in the afternoon and traffic was heavy, if he was gonna kill us then we would still at least have a handful of witnesses. So I said yes to him.

He went back to his Jeep, opened the rear trunk and dragged out a jack and a tool box, then approached our car.

While we were getting out the spare tire I asked the boyfriend, “Should we pay him?”

It’s logical. Sumaritans these days either want money or something else and I’d rather give them my money than my iPhone, credit cards, or my life.

Not even five minutes passed he was done, and already dragging his gear back to his trunk. I signalled the boyfriend to go give him the monetary thank you.

The guy turned around, shook his head frantically, said “It’s OK. It’s OK.” and got onto his car.

I shouted back “khob khun mak na ka” just before he closed his door.

Then he just drove away.

“What just happened?” He didn’t say one word after that first sentence. Didn’t ask any question. Didn’t chit chat. Didn’t complain. Didn’t ask for anything.

And mind you, all this happened just when it started to rain.

People actually do this? I for one wouldn’t, not only that I don’t have the skills or the tools like he does, I also don’t want to risk getting myself into a situation that might be hard to get out. Even if I were a guy, what if the person having the accident IS the trouble? What if they were doing something illegal and we got involved? And like the boyfriend said, how did he know we didn’t just stop on the side of the bridge because we were selfish idiots, wanting to look at the view for no reason or talking on the phone? Hey it’s Bangkok.

I managed to take a photo of his car just before he drove away. Wish I could take a photo with him though, but I wasn’t sure of his motive at the time.

Has this situation made me trust my fellow Bangkokians more? Hell no. But at least I now know Bangkok drivers aren’t all selfish idiots.