Srinakarin road is known for some crazy driving. Well to me at least because that’s one of the routes I use to get home on Pattanakarn. The Srinakarin I’m talking about is the one between Ramkhamhaeng and Pattanakarn, with an intersection in the middle that branches out to Krungthep Kritha on the left and the big wide road that leads to ABAC Hua Mak Campus on the right.

I was coming from Lam Sali in Ramkhamhaeng going home. It was raining pretty badly so the roads were flooded so the traffic wasn’t as flowing as it usually is. I was nearing the said junction, right behind a taxi, when suddenly I saw a silver pick-up with a dented left door quickly approaching the taxi in front of me from the right. At this point we were greenlight, so it was more than wrong for this pickup to want to cut off the taxi to get into Krungthep Kritha.

I thought he was drunk. That’s a pretty logical thinking, considering the amount of crazy drivers, wicked accidents and manic races I had witnessed in this area. Everything seemed rather “normal” for an intense Saturday night in a rather rugged neighborhood until I saw that there was another car right behind this crazy pickup, equal at speed, ready to cut off the traffic like the one in front of him.

Then right when both of them were trying to get pass the slow moving traffic, my traffic, into Krungthep Kritha, I heard, loud and clear, two gun shots.

Gun. Fucking. Shots.

View Shooting in a larger map
(Me pink, Taxi blue, flame shooting, and red line for the chase from left of map to right.)

The pickup behind it had its passenger window down. I didn’t see if the pickup in front was reacting or anything. I didn’t even get to see their license plates.

Mind you this is a rather busy junction. At that moment, there were buses, motorcycles, loads of passenger cars, a guy on a bicycle and a big windowless song thaew full of people.

No one moved. No one reacted. When they went into the Soi, everyone just went and continued along the traffic.

I called Jor Sor Roi, which took me a good 3 minutes before it finally got through. By the time someone picked up I was already on Pattanakarn away from it all. And according to Jor Sor Roi, this had not yet been reported. I mean come on, taxis with radios and no one tipped the station?

That was just surreal. The gun shots sounded exactly like in the movies. I have had my share with crazy drivers but this was just off the wall. Has my hood turned into the ‘hood?

I don’t know how to get the followup on this, except to watch out for the news of a dead guy in a silver pickup in Krungthep Kritha.

Funniest thing. One of the first thoughts was pick up my iPhone, snap and tweet. But then conscience kicked in so dialed traffic report radio instead. And all this happened at a busy junction, with a huge ass police station right smack in the middle of it all.

Amazing Thailand.